Ordinary, unfangled theory that makes a lot of sense when it comes to establishing an online business presence:
The more you go with simple concepts for your website, the better your results will be.
Customers love simplicity. They yearn for simplicity when they’re visiting your website.
They look for it and even thrive on it.
Your online search engine marketing strategy begins with simple selling techniques and a website that is keyword focused from start to finish. Therefore, when it comes to business web design:
- Concentrate on the KISS theory (Keep It Simple Silly).
Think Keep It Simple any time you find yourself duped into believing you should complicate your site with some of “this” and “that.” You don’t. Less is definitely more when it comes to successful web design and internet commerce.
- Slow loading, time-wasting Flash website intros do not equal good sales technique.
Think about it: When you visit a website with a Flash intro on its homepage, do you wait for it to load and actually take the time to watch it?
Your website visitors intent on buying something from you don’t have the patience for it, either. They want to get in, get something purchased and call it a day. Simple as that.
I admit I immediately hit the “Skip Intro” link when I’m surfing as a seasoned internet shopper seeking to make a purchase – right now. I’m in a hurry to find out if your website has what I’m looking for. Being entertained along the way really isn’t of interest to me – and those like me – as serious buyers.
- Website music and sound files are a big No Go.
We all love music. On a website? Not! Music is distracting and annoying when visitors don’t have the option of pointing the mouse and clicking it on themselves.
Brett Beck, owner of NEXTFLY educated me on this many years ago about my own business website when I wanted to add music to my consulting business website.
He emphatically said, “Forget having website music. People just don’t like it.” I now agree completely, mainly because I don’t like it myself whenever I visit a website!
- Automatic pop up ads are the equivalent of junk mail.
Nobody wants to deal with it.
Your site visitors will instantly click that “X” to close these pop ups without reading them or they already have their browsers set to block them as a matter of course.
Why? Because they can’t stand pop up ads!
If you want your visitors to join your newsletter list, give them a decent place on your site to join it. If you have a special offer, put it also in a decent place where it can be found.
Don’t turn your site visitors off from the get-go with a pop up ad that gives them reason to bounce from your site before you’ve even had a chance to share your wares and services with them.
- Bad site navigation because you want something “pretty.”
Your site’s potential customers aren’t looking for “pretty” – they want solid navigation that takes them where they want to go on your website to decide whether or not to make a purchase from your business.
Poor navigation can literally destroy your website’s visitor-to-customer conversion rate.
Adding breadcrumbs (providing navigation that allows your visitors to backtrack their steps through your site’s pages to get where they were previously) effectively keeps them involved with your website.
Without good navigation, forward and backward, you will inevitably find potential customers bouncing from your site before you ever had the chance to sell them on your products or services.
- Hire a web designer with a great track record, get his or her advice and follow it.
You wouldn’t want an electrician to come into your place of business and haphazardly slap wires together simply because you thought it would be cool to have 18 different office machines dangerously overloading one receptacle.
You’d want him or her to advise you on safe electrical usage in the office from a professional point of view. And you’d listen to that advice.
The same professional ethic holds true in web design.
Yes, you can theoretically clutter your business website with every kind of technological innovation in terms of bells and whistles and somehow muddle through in terms of your business.
You can insist on having your way, even when your website designer advises that you are making poor choices for that website and the overall image of your business.
But why would you, when a good, quality web designer will carefully guide and advise you as a result of expertise achieved from years of experience?
Not only because it’s his or her business to know how to effectively build your website and promote strong e-commerce for you through that site, but the reputation of that web design company is also associated with your site.
That web design company wants to be proud of its work.
A professional web designer wants to be proud of the work he or she does for you. If your website looks cheap and cheesy, it makes that web design business lose business.
- Learn from the mistakes other business website owners make.
Remember in the post, New business website tips: Analyze other websites, where I said, “Evaluate other websites. Surf the internet like crazy and visit every kind of website that even remotely seems connected to your type of business?” That’s the best education there is – particularly in terms of what doesn’t work.
Once you feel educated enough on those mistakes, contact one of the consultants here at NEXTFLY.
They create websites locally, nationally and globally with the kind of professional expertise your business genuinely deserves.
NEXTFLY offers a free, no-hassle consultation about your business needs for establishing a strong internet presence and e-commerce solutions which will enable your business to thrive on the internet.
