keep your visitors coming backNot a lot is know about Web Surfers but one thing you can be sure of is they're all in a hurry. There's only so much time and too many sites to see. The mission of your site is to grab their attention so they'll stay for awhile, and check out the rest of your site. Then you want to give them reasons to return again and again.Make sure the navigation scheme is simple to follow so they can find what they need easily. Nothing frustrates people more than to have to hunt for what they need. Include a home button on every page and contact information too. You'd be surprised at how many sites forget to include an email and phone number to contact them. Keep the colors of the site consistent on all of the pages. Design the site with your visitors needs in mind, not your own. Provide Free information and a lot of it, everyone wants something for Free.If you're an expert on a subject make a report,or write an article you can give away by auto-responder. Keep the most important highlights of the site on your main page or at least have links to them. Design for the lowest common screen resolution 640X480, if you don't your visitors will have to scroll side to side to see everything. This does not make for a pleasant viewing experience. Another point to consider is scrolling downward, more than 2 screenfulls is just too much, move additional information to another page. Since Web Surfers are in a hurry they usually scan pages instead of reading them word by word. Don't use long paragraphs, break up the text by using highlighted words, bullets and bolding. Label your links as to the type of information your guests will find if they click on them. Don't make them guess, where it will take them by using vague terms, like "click here". If the site is large include a search tool, or a table of contents page. Many of the newer html editors make this easy to do with just a click of a button. Be sure to view your site in different browsers and versions of browsers to make sure all appears as it should. Different browsers tend to mangle certain html code. Do not use frames unless you really have a reason to, not all browsers can deal with them correctly, and older browsers not at all. Search engines also have a hard time indexing framed sites. Fancy animations and javascript can be exciting, but can really aggravate your visitors if they don't have the latest viewers and plug ins to see them. Don't force them to download software just to view your pages, most of them will just leave. Always make sure the content of your site is kept fresh and updated. All visitors like recent information not something that's was written a year ago. Always remember your visitors wants and needs and your site will be one they want to return to again and again!! Keywords: online promotion, marketing, traffic, web site promotion Merle's World http://www.merlesworld.com/ freebies for webmasters Sign up for Merle's Mission Newsletter by sending subscribe@merlesworld.com |
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