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Who Else Wants to Know How to Build a Great Website?

November 29th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

I just found this article by Jim Edwards, and thought you would enjoy it.

The Ten Web Page “Commandments”

- by Jim Edwards

(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
www.thenetreporter.com
=====================================

“What makes a great web page?”

People ask me this all the time, though they often encounter
difficulty boiling the question down to so few words.

Every serious website operator wants to know how to create
and maintain the best possible website that makes them the
most money and builds the largest subscriber base!

The following “commandments” represent the ideals towards
which every new or existing website should strive.

1. Thou shalt have a Purpose

Clearly define the site’s purpose and ensure all content
(pages, graphics and text) tightly focus on that purpose.
Discard all extraneous material… only give people exactly
what they came for!

2. Thou shalt be Lightweight

Use only small, fast loading graphics. If you must use large
graphics use thumbnails and image slicing to diminish the
size of every file to less than 12-15kb. Use standard
optimized gif’s and jpg’s and avoid anything that requires
the user to download a “plug-in” to view your content.

3. Thou shalt Load Fast

Each and every page on your site should weigh in under
30-60KB total, including graphics and navigation.

If your pages must be larger, such as the case with long,
1-page sales letters, make sure the top part of the page
loads fast so surfers can read your headline and
introduction while the rest of your sales letter loads
further down and out of site.

4. Thou shalt not use False Code

Use only html. Never use java, xml, dhtml or other forms of
code that require a surfer to keep their browser set up
“correctly” to accommodate your page. This is especially
true when using “cloaked” pages that require the use of
javascript in order to work correctly.

5. Thou shalt respect the Search Engines

If you want search engine traffic, use whole web pages that
don’t incorporate frames. Search engines get confused trying
to read content from most frames pages because the designers
don’t set them up with the proper information in the
correct frame.

6. Love thy Surfers and Visitors

Design for “last year’s” technology so surfers using 56K
modems can download and use the site quickly and easily. If
you design only for people with high-speed Internet
connections (DSL and cable) you have eliminated 85%+ of your
potential market.

7. Thou shalt not Annoy

Use only stationary text and graphical layout elements. No
Scrolling text, marquees, or animations of any kind,
including rollover buttons.

This “eye candy” steals valuable bandwidth and adds little
to a site’s main purpose, especially for returning visitors
who just want information, not a carnival sideshow.

8. Thou shalt Not Scroll Left or Right

Design your pages so they never force a visitor to scroll
left or right, no matter what the resolution settings on
their monitor. Sites that read “best viewed at 800 x 600″
really say “look at it my way because I don’t care about
your preferences or limitations.”

9. Thou shalt stay Consistent

Include a standard navigational structure on every page.
Though it may mean a serious challenge for the designer,
users should only need to click once to find every major
section of a site.

Also, this includes using standard link colors in all text
links. Blue: hyperlink; Purple: visited hyperlink; Red:
active hyperlink.

10. Thou shalt Know Thy Traffic

Use a site-wide statistics program that enables you to
determine what brings someone to the site, where they go
once they arrive, and when and where they leave.

This critical information helps with marketing efforts as
well as identifying parts of the site that need tweaking or
adjustment to help you increase sales. If everybody bails
from your site at the same page, knowing this can help you
change the page so people go from “bail mode” to “buy mode”!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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How to Build a Great Website

November 20th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

6 “Life or Death” Factors For Any Website!

- by Jim Edwards

www.TheNetReporter.com
(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
=====================================

Not a week goes by that half a dozen people don’t ask me
what separates a great, money-making website from a bad one.
In response, I surveyed of a number of different websites,
large and small, to find what they share in common to make
them so successful. With few exceptions, every
extraordinarily great website contained the following
elements.

** Testimonials **

Every great website has testimonials from satisfied
customers. These testimonials help set the potential
customer’s mind at ease that the products or services sold
online will perform as promised.

Truly great testimonials not only endorse the product, but
clearly state how the product increased sales, saved money,
or benefited previous buyers in very specific and tangible
ways. Testimonials should present real benefits others can
readily identify with, understand and, more importantly,
want those same results for themselves!

** Headlines **

Headlines capture visitors’ attention and get them involved
in the website. How do you read the newspaper? If you read
like most people the headlines first catch your attention
and determine whether you’ll actually read a story.
Similarly headlines on a website determine whether visitors
get involved in the information or surf away never to
return.

My own experience has shown that the proper headlines can
easily and quickly double, triple, or even quadruple a
website’s sales almost overnight.

** Bullets **

Bullets communicate various and subtle bits of information
about a product or service without making readers plow
through paragraphs of information to get to the meat of a
website’s offering. Bullets arouse interest, build
excitement, and convey a lot of information very quickly to
time-starved web surfers.

** Bonuses **

Every great website offers bonuses to people who buy, apply
or fill out a form. Nothing induces someone to do business
with you online like offering them something extra for
taking the action you want. Offering a bonus report, tape,
extended membership, extra quantities of product at a deep
discount, coupons, or just about anything makes people more
willing to go ahead with the purchase decision.

** Guarantees **

Everyone takes a risk whenever they buy anything from
anyone. The risk centers on whether or not the product or
service will perform as promised. In a retail store most
people feel pretty confident the store will still exist if
they need to make a return or exchange in a few days. On the
web, however, that risk in making a purchase seems much
higher than in the “offline” world.

Every great website makes a point of specifically telling
customers about their return policy and truly exceptional
sites offer 100%, no-questions-asked, money-back guarantees.
People rarely take advantage of such guarantees and I have
personally seen a website’s sales increase by 45% just by
extending the guarantee period an additional 30 days.

** Phone numbers **

Every great website has a phone number with a real live
human being on the other end who can answer questions and
provide product support.

So there you have it! With few exceptions this represents
the formula for creating or identifying a truly great
website.

===============================================
Jim Edwards is the co-author of the NEW
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Copyright © 2007 Jumpstart Your Internet Business

Credits: Make Money Online | Matteo Turchetto | Andreas Viklund