FIDELITY-LINK TECHNOLOGIES   WEBSITE ENQUIRY   In today’s marketplace, a business website is often the first point of contact for new customers. While poor design invariably drives prospects away, a professionally designed and managed site communicates that your company is well run and successful, giving new customers the confidence to do business with you. Your website is a key component of your overall marketing mix; it must advance your business strategy.   Your company website must effectively communicate through words and images your visions, purposes, products, and services. It must make it easy for customers to get the information they need and buy the products they want. It must provide actionable performance measures. Your website has to work for your customers and for you. To create an effective high performance site, follow these top 10 best practices:   1.       Choose a domain name A domain name is a unique Internet address for your website such as www.homestead.page.tl choose an easy-to-pronounce, easy-to-spell name that reflects your unique business. Obviously, if your company is already established, you will want to register that name: however, many common words and terms are already in use. Alternately, you can choose a domain name that contains key words that will appear on your site, (e.g. www.fidelis4action.page.tl). This will help potential customers find your site when they search on it.   2.       Plan your site What is the purpose of your website? What do you want to achieve with your site? Establish your goals and priorities. Do you want to share information about your company, products and services? Influence and motivate potential customers to visit your brick-and-mortar location or call your phone number? Brand your company and refine its image? Provide customer service, or some combination of the above. How you answer these questions will guide to design and develop your site.   3.       Create a budget There is no point spending my amount of money on a website that presents an amateurish image and does not function properly. Although a general rule may be that the larger your investment, the greater your return, there is no need to be a spendthrift. Creating a website can be less expensive if you do it yourself, but only if you have the time, inclination, and tools to do a good job. Otherwise, obtain bids from highly recommended designers and developers. Clearly define your goals, style and expectations for these experienced professionals. After you have an acceptable bid, add in promotion and advertising expenses. As your company grows, you can expend your site, spreading your investment over time.   4.       Gather Information Take a look at some of your competitors’ website. What information do you find most useful or compelling? Which design styles do you prefer? Which writing styles appeal to you?   Make sure your site contains plenty of useful information – not just advertising. Give prospective and returning customers the information they need to decide to visit your business or purchase your products and services.   Most website benefit from having the following pages ·        Home ·        About us ·        Products and Services ·        Order Form ·        Contact us or Feedback ·        Photo Album ·        Frequently asked questions and answers ·        News and Events.   5.       Design your site You’ve heard the saying, “one picture is worth a thousand words,” but have you really though about it? In fact, graphic design can communicate just as much, if not more, as the words on your website regarding your business. Your homepage has to capture the attention of visitors, drawing them into your site. The page design and navigation have to be clear and direct to keep them there.   ·        Get attention! Use your homepage like a piece of direct mail. Quickly grab visitors’ attention. Tell them who you are and what they will find on your site.   ·        Make it easy to find information Site navigation plays a big role in determining the “stickiness” of your site (how long visitors stay and explore). Typically, the first thing visitors do on any page is read the content and then look around for other pages that might interest them. Put the substance of your site at the highest navigation levels; don’t make potential customers drill down through multiple layers of links.   ·        Keep it clean A clean layout that uses a lot of white space improves legibility and encourages visitors to read the content on your website. Keep the number of fonts, font style and colours to a minimum. Use animation sparingly. The focus should be on the content, not on the whiz-bang technology. An abundance of font, styles, colours and animation will only project an amateurish image. Your business as well as your website will be judged initially on its appearance.   6.       Optimize load time Customers today are in a hurry. They want information fast and won’t wait more than 10 seconds for a webpage to download. Optimize your website for any web browser by designing each page to be under 40k in size. Use graphics flash animations, and scripts only as needed because they increase file size. Design pages for easy viewing on typical 15-inch computer monitor.   7.       Interact with your customers The big ideal behind most website is to build ongoing relationships with customers to assure repeat business. To that end, list your phone number or email address on every page of your website so customers can contact you with questions and comments. You also may want to create a registration page that gives prospects and customers the option of receiving news and special offers from your company. Finally, it is imperative that you explain your privacy policy on your website.   8.       Maintain your site Your website requires ongoing maintenance to perform optimally and profitably. Update content and improve functionality by incorporating visitors’ feedback. Keep them coming back for more with fresh information and new features. On a regular basis, perform these maintenance tasks. ·        Check the links on your site to make sure they are working. ·        Respond to and act on visitors’ feedback. ·        Update your site frequently (almost daily) if you put a “last updated” date on your web pages. An “update” date displayed at the bottom of each pages assures your visitors that they are getting the very latest information if pages are not updated frequently; these dates make your site look stale. ·        Monitor time-sensitive information. For example, do not leave event information on your site after the even date. ·        Periodically add new information. Many sites accomplish this by publishing a monthly newsletter or daily or weekly tips.   9.       Promote your site The best website in the world does no good if no one knows about it. Effectively marketing your site is just as important as professionally designing your site when it comes to success. Here are a few basis ideas for marketing your site: ·        Include your website address on all of your marketing materials, including your business card, email signature file, letterhead, print advertising, brochures, flyers, coupons and signage. You can even put your web address on a company vehicle with a bumper sticker or custom paint job. ·        Advertise your site. Update your entries in directories and on seach engines. Take advantage of opportunities to cross-link with other sites. It appropriate, participate in relevant newsgroups and forum – not blatantly advertising or promoting, but responding to postings – with your site address in your signature file.   10.     Save Time And Money By Working With Page.tl To Create, Promote And Maintain A Successful Website. We can help your with all aspects of your site ·        Register your domain ·        Provide 24x7 hosting reliability to ensure that your site is always available to your customers ·        Provide easy-to-use tools to help your quickly build an effective website ·        Offer professional design services at an affordable price ·        Build your online store to sell directly to your customers ·        Drive visitors to your website with affordable and effective search-engine advertising ·        Provide friendly, helpful phone support.   Visit www.fidelis4action.page.tl or contact 08037834961 to discuss your online needs with an experienced website consultant. Build your BUSINESS and PERSONAL WEBSITES online today!