Engage: Whether you are going to engage people through website aesthetics, content or interactivity your website is doing the impossible; meeting and greeting visitors 24 hours a day 7 days a week. You can now see why it’s got to be good. Attention spans on the web are famously small, so you need to make the right impression to keep the attention of your visitor. To engage your visitor is not necessarily easy, but it is imperative for your website to do this and convert it into results.
Interact: A website is not a brochure, its much more than that. It’s a great way of allowing your visitors and clients to interact with you. This interaction can be as simple as encouraging your visitors to communicate with you via a form, so you can keep in touch with them in future if you have any news. It can be as interactive as you allowing your visitors to post their comments on your website, or to speak with each other using a forum. It can be as sophisticated as knowing each visitors preferences, and giving them their own content customised to these preferences. If they can interact with you, your website is going to go that big step further to being remembered and revisited. Ditch that brochure site…
Sell: Not all websites are going to have products to sell, in fact most don’t. That certainly does not mean that a website is not a selling tool. Get your clients to buy into your organisation, or your ideas. Sell the fact your business is a joy to deal with, or that you can respond to a tough request within 24 hours where your competitors can’t. People will be searching for these things and will appreciate finding you, so make sure you’re in the right place at the right time.
Inform: A key function of a website is to inform. In fact, content is the most important factor your visitor is looking for. You could be writing the best copy in the world, but your website needs to be designed to communicate this effectively to your audience. Its not just as simple making it incredibly easy to navigate content, this challenge includes enticing people to read your content through an attractive design as well as incorporating good usability. In a recent ecademy poll, subscribers voted that clear, concise content was the most significant factor in a good website, but that design was the second most important, so its clear that good design is imperative. Choose your designer carefully and ensure that their portfolio appeals.
Grow: The most unsuccessful sites on the web get built, then they sit, and sit...until nobody bothers about them anymore. Think of your website as a reflection of your business. Chances are your organisation does not sit still, but it grows and evolves. As this evolution takes place chances are your website can assist you. It may be able to streamline certain administrative functions, it might be able to get a new product out onto the marketplace. Whichever way your business grows, your website needs to able to keep pace. Ensure that it can by keeping the design and navigation open for expansion, make sure that any content management system is able to add further functionality and customisation, and that the designer you choose has the technical capability to take you wherever you need to go with your site.
Stickiness: Its a strange term, but one that means your website is doing its job in getting repeat visitors. Think about your website as a tool that reaches out to your audience. How are you going to inspire loyalty? What is the incentive for them to come back to your site? If the answer is nothing then its unlikely that your website is going to be memorable, and neither is your business. If, however, there is an incentive for visitors to return then your website is going to be remembered, and of course then so is your company. Think carefully about what you can offer your audience that is going to be genuinely useful to them. It might be something like a newsletter that drives people back to articles on your site, or it might be a series of help articles that demystify and inform. Whatever you do, getting repeat visitors means that your organisation will benefit from a increased profile.
Interact: A website is not a brochure, its much more than that. It’s a great way of allowing your visitors and clients to interact with you. This interaction can be as simple as encouraging your visitors to communicate with you via a form, so you can keep in touch with them in future if you have any news. It can be as interactive as you allowing your visitors to post their comments on your website, or to speak with each other using a forum. It can be as sophisticated as knowing each visitors preferences, and giving them their own content customised to these preferences. If they can interact with you, your website is going to go that big step further to being remembered and revisited. Ditch that brochure site…
Sell: Not all websites are going to have products to sell, in fact most don’t. That certainly does not mean that a website is not a selling tool. Get your clients to buy into your organisation, or your ideas. Sell the fact your business is a joy to deal with, or that you can respond to a tough request within 24 hours where your competitors can’t. People will be searching for these things and will appreciate finding you, so make sure you’re in the right place at the right time.
Inform: A key function of a website is to inform. In fact, content is the most important factor your visitor is looking for. You could be writing the best copy in the world, but your website needs to be designed to communicate this effectively to your audience. Its not just as simple making it incredibly easy to navigate content, this challenge includes enticing people to read your content through an attractive design as well as incorporating good usability. In a recent ecademy poll, subscribers voted that clear, concise content was the most significant factor in a good website, but that design was the second most important, so its clear that good design is imperative. Choose your designer carefully and ensure that their portfolio appeals.
Grow: The most unsuccessful sites on the web get built, then they sit, and sit...until nobody bothers about them anymore. Think of your website as a reflection of your business. Chances are your organisation does not sit still, but it grows and evolves. As this evolution takes place chances are your website can assist you. It may be able to streamline certain administrative functions, it might be able to get a new product out onto the marketplace. Whichever way your business grows, your website needs to able to keep pace. Ensure that it can by keeping the design and navigation open for expansion, make sure that any content management system is able to add further functionality and customisation, and that the designer you choose has the technical capability to take you wherever you need to go with your site.
Stickiness: Its a strange term, but one that means your website is doing its job in getting repeat visitors. Think about your website as a tool that reaches out to your audience. How are you going to inspire loyalty? What is the incentive for them to come back to your site? If the answer is nothing then its unlikely that your website is going to be memorable, and neither is your business. If, however, there is an incentive for visitors to return then your website is going to be remembered, and of course then so is your company. Think carefully about what you can offer your audience that is going to be genuinely useful to them. It might be something like a newsletter that drives people back to articles on your site, or it might be a series of help articles that demystify and inform. Whatever you do, getting repeat visitors means that your organisation will benefit from a increased profile.
