The 7 Qualities of Highly Successful Websites
The 7 Qualities of Highly Successful Websites
By: Lisa Beers, BeersDesign.com - [web]
Posted 03/15/06
I know it's clich , but sometimes there actually is a good reason for an expression making it to clich status. This is one of those times.
There are seemingly limitless bells, whistles, gadgets, and technologies to use in a website now a days. Sometimes, used correctly, they can enhance your websites. Unfortunately
however, all to often, they overshadow the purpose of the site and cause more harm than good. If you don't remember anything else from this Free Report, please remember that your first and primary concern in your website must be the content - the message you present to your audience.
I can't stress how important it is that you have a plan about what you want to say and how you will say it. This is your chance to speak to potential clients and customers and let them know why they should give you their business. They do NOT want a sales pitch; they want information and relationship. Your ontent must be carefully planned to give your unique audience what they want. Period.
If you get this wrong, nothing else in this report will be of benefit.
An ominous as that just sounded, happily, it's not that hard to get your message right. And
providing great content tailored for your audience has endless benefits such as
Establishing you as an expert
in your field or industry.
Educating and pre-qualifying
customers and clients to save
you time.
Making your website ''sticky'' -
a place where visitors return
time after time.
Overcoming sales objections
automatically.
Creating rapport and proper
expectations.
So don't start thinking about all the technical aspects of your website. First you need to simply think about your target audience and determine what they want
and need to know. The technology should follow the content - the content should create the heart
and soul that defines your website. Everything else has to grow out of that heart and soul, and
When you get this right, it's easy to get everything else right!
Quality 2: Great Design Creates Structure
When I say ''great design'' people sometimes start to think about complicated graphic design and
artsy designers with cool clothes and edgy hairstyles. To me though, great design couldn't be
more down-to-earth. Let me explain.
If your content is the heart and soul of your website, then the design is the skeleton. It
creates the structure that helps you express your message.
Sure, the design is also the ''face'' of your site. It's the nice-looking part that people see. It should have your company's colors and includes your logo. It might have other photos mixed like a collage and an intricate and delicate appearance. It might use few photos, focusing on color and shape and have a sturdy corporate appearance. But that ''look and feel'' is actually on the surface of great design. Yes, that part is very important, however..
Website design's primary function is to create the structure of your website.
Where will your navigation go? How will you make your site visitors look at what you want them to look at? Questions like these raise issues beyond a pretty (or handsome) appearance. With web design, beauty is not just skin deep, it goes to the bone.
I know you've visited a great looking website, that maybe even had great content, but it was just darned impossible to get around in. You got lost. You couldn't find the information or product you wanted. Or you did the first time, but when you came back you had no idea how to get back to what you wanted.
So how do you make sure that your design looks great and makes your website intuitive and user-friendly? Based on your content, you
determine what pages you need
anticipate planned or possible future growth
design a navigational structure that is easy
to use and leaves room for growth
decide on the ''look and feel'' you want for the site
create the graphic design for your site based
on all of the above
Quality 3: Keep It Fresh
If you don't make changes to and put fresh content on your website, your visitors will have no reason to ever come back.
As simple and obvious is that statement is, you'd be amaze how many website owners put up some content and then forget about it. So if you go to their site and look around, then come back in a week and everything is still the same and there's nothing new to see, why would you ever visit again? You've ''been there seen that.''
BUT! If you visit a site and love it, then go back the next week and find more of the stuff you love, wouldn't you keep coming back for more? OF COURSE!
Now the fact that most website owners get this wrong is of tremendous benefit to those who get it right.
Repeat website visitor are GOLD, and you can have the gold by simply doing what most people don't - keep your website fresh with new content!
Repeat visitors will buy more, become your best advertising through word of mouth, and drive excellent referral traffic to your website when they tell their friends, colleagues, and family members about you and your products and/or services.
So how can you keep your site freshly and regularly updated?
You can have someone maintain your site for you. You can do your own writing. You can hire a ghost writer. You can let business partners or employees do some of the updating. There are as many ways to keep your site fresh as there are blades of grass outside my window.
The only limit is your imagination!
If you want to keep your site fresh yourself, the easiest way - hands down - is by using blogging. You can log into your site from anywhere and update your site anytime day or night. It's as easy as using Word, and can also allow for some other very powerful benefits. Look for my Free Report ''Top 5 Reasons Everyone Needs A Blog'' for more information about blogging.
Quality 4: Get Them Involved
The fourth quality of a highly successful website is that they turn visitors into participants!
It is true in any area of sales and marketing that if you can get folks to interact with you, the buy-in rate (and buying rate) will go up. It is also true of your website, but just like keeping content fresh, many sites ignore this.
You can make your site interactive in lots of ways, and what works best for one site may not work best for yours. After considering your personality, goals, and the purpose of the site, you can choose one or more interactive elements and implement them.
Some ways to make your site interactive are:
If you have a blog, allow comments.
If you don't have a blog, provide a forum for your site visitors.
Have an ''opt-in'' box for people
to sign up for a newsletter.
Give away a Free Report of other
''goodie.''
Create a survey for your site
visitors to give you their
thoughts and feedback.
You may hear the term ''stickiness'' used about websites. This is a term used to describe whether or not people stay long and return to your site. Allowing your visitors to post comments or have discussions in a forum will greatly boost the ''stickiness'' or your site. Some people have sites they visit DAILY to read posts and comments. This is fresh content that you don't even have to write! Your visitors can actually create fresh and interesting content for you!
And you better bet that when those visitors want or need to buy what you're selling, they will buy from you!
Opt-ins through newsletters, free reports, and such are excellent ways of creating ''stickiness''
as it allows you to gather email addresses of your site visitors. Then you can email them to
inform them of new content, products, services, and promotions. Be careful with this, not to overload them with email. Also, make sure to contact them enough to stay ''on their radar.'' It's a balance, but this is an exceptional way to keep in touch with your visitors and drive them back to your website.
Quality 5: Search Engine Friendliness
comScore Media Matrix reports that 60 million American adults are using search engines on a typical day.
Forrester Research Inc. reports that in 2005 US online retail sales reached a total of $172 billion.
What if you don't have, or don't even want an ''online store.'' Well, Forrester also reported that Internet-influenced sales generate three times as much revenue as online sales.
Pew Internet and American Life Project show that 78% of Internet users in the US have researched a
product or service online and 67% have actually made a purchase online.
Forrester Research Inc. reports that US online spending is predicted to grow to an astonishing $329 billion by 2010.
So you tell me.. does your website need to be search engine friendly? Certainly. It is imperative that these millions of searchers can find you.
Increasingly, people are searching on search engines to find local business for products and services. The major search engines have added ''Local Search'' functionality (like at
http://local.google.com) to help folks find products and services located near them.
The fact is that search engines are quickly replacing the yellow pages. How hard is it to carry a humongous phone book in your car, your briefcase, your diaper bag?
Now, how easy is it to use your phone to connect to the internet to find the information you need? This isn't Star Trek, it's already happening. And it's gaining momentum fast.
So I ask you..
How important do you now think it is for your website to be friendly to search engines?
I thought so.
Quality 6: Marketing Matters
Wait, wasn't the last Quality about Marketing?
Nope, it was about search engines - that's just one way to market. The most successful websites integrate their online marketing with their offline marketing to leverage every ounce they can get from each.
Sometimes is makes sense to market completely online, like if you have an ecommerce store that sells items and you don't have any way to people to buy from you otherwise. Everyone else needs to understand how to integrate their online and offline marketing efforts so that they support each other, work together, and generate maximum ROI (that's Return On Investment).
Please be careful here. You'll find lots of information on traditional offline marketing and advertising. (Yes, most of that is really expensive.)
You'll also find tons of 'information' on online marketing. Everyone seems to think they are an ''online marketer'' now a day. So just beware, and make sure that you're getting real world information and be very careful of claims you'll read. Most are made up. Ask for references. And remember what Mom said,
''If it sounds too good to be true, it is.''
But Marketing does matter! Big time. So look for sources that are balanced. That focus on getting you a maximum return on investment. That understand small and medium sized businesses, and that know how to leverage online and offline marketing efforts to squeeze the most out of both. On budget.
That understand YOU.
Marketing is critical. It's critical to market.
It's more critical to market SMART.
Do that, and there's no stopping you!
Quality 7: Measure and Analyze
Ugh. I put this last for a reason. It comes last in the sequence. You have to do the other stuff to even have anything to measure and analyze. I also put it last because it's the last thing you usually want to do. You may not honestly even know how to do it.
When I was in college at the University of South Carolina (Go Gamecocks!), I had a terrible advisor. He totally messed me up by telling me that I didn't have to take college level calculus.
He said I could take other classes instead of one class in calculus, and I, wanting to avoid
calculus at all costs, signed up right away for a year's worth of statistics classes.
YAWN!
Yawn, Yawn!!
I was a good student so I showed up, did my assignments, and generally aced the class. All the while wondering ''What the heck does this crap matter to me!?!?'' It was painful at times. Ugh.
BUT! Years later - dealing with site statistics, Google AdWords conversions stats, calculating
ROI - it all clicked!
Unbelievably, I was actually using that college level statistics coursework. Truly, nothing happens by accident. And it was easy to look at the data and break it down to determine what was really and truly going on in my clients' web traffic and advertising
ROI.
And I figured out that if I used that data, I could adjust site content, perform better search engine optimization, run great AdWords campaigns, and generally know exactly what to do to reach a nice return on investment for client.
Who knew? The data actually tells a story.
The absolute BEST, more successful websites know how to read that story.
Oh, if you're wondering why I said the advisor was awful, it's because he was wrong. I ended up having to take calculus anyway. I am happy to report however, that I made an A. So much for my irrational fear of calculus....
Conclusion
I certainly hope this Free Report has been interesting and that it will be of benefit to your business.
If you use the right techniques and knowledge, your website can and will be successful.
There's nothing worse to us Web Designers than seeing a site done badly. I advise people that a bad site is far worse than no site. Bad sites can cost their owners money in lost revenue - revenue that they didn't get because someone didn't hire them or buy from them on purpose because their site devalued what they have to offer
and revenue they could have had as the result of a larger market share gained by a great site and great marketing.
If you commit to doing it right, you will reap the rewards.
Lisa Beers is the founder and owner of Beers Design ( http://beersdesign.com), a firm offering web design and hosting, internet marketing and business consulting for small to medium sized businesses.
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