1. How to Effectively Drive Visitors Away From Your Website
2. Get Other People to Discover Your Website
3. Why have a website?
4. Make me over (Your website)
5. To flash or not to flash?
6. If you build it, will they come?
7. Your Guide to the Hipfish Web Process
8. Just 3 little words - Get a copywriter!
9. Hipfish Website Hosting
10. Website's & Meta Tags
A potential customer finds your website and then quickly leaves – Why?
What is it about websites that annoys and drives away most visitors?
In a recent survey by Hostway, 70% of respondents said that they would be unlikely to buy from a website that annoyed them and refuse to ever visit the site again.
So what is it that causes you to lose visitors and customers from your web site?
The seven biggest irritants are >
1. Pop up ads (93%)
2. Being required to install extra software to view site content (89%)
3. Dead links (86%)
4. Confusing navigation (84%)
5. Required registration to access content (83%)
6. Slow-loading pages (83%)
7. Ineffective site search tools (80%)
More >
• No contact information available (Web form only) 75.1%
• Inability to use the browser’s “back” button 76.0%
• Overdone sites > unnecessary splash/flash screens /animation 69.4%
• Text that moves 59.9%
• Music or other audio that plays automatically 52.5%
The survey also revealed that >
• 71% said they would probably look negatively upon a company whose site annoyed them
• Over half (55%) were likely to complain about the site to their friends and associates
• Almost half ( 45%) said they wouldn’t purchase from the company’s bricks and mortar store either
• Only 25% said they would consider complaining directly to the company
Even more people (74%) said they would probably unsubscribe from the company's promotions or messages too.
So, not only will they leave the site, they will not come back, nor do they ever want to hear from you again!
Your website on the internet
You have a domain name, a web host and a website and when all is complete you upload it all to the World Wide Web, so how does anyone find it?
There are more than 3.8 million website's in the world. Where does your website stack up?
Internet Search engines, such as Google, Excite, Lycos, Yahoo etc help people find relevant information on the Internet. These search engines maintain huge databases of indexed websites.
It basically works like this: a computer program called a 'robot' or 'spider', 'crawls' through the web and indexes web pages one at a time. They follow links from website to website and catalogue each site they visit. Each search engine uses its own criteria to determine what to include in its database.
For example, some search engines index each page in a website, while others index only the main page. Some review only the content of the website, while others evaluate the 'Meta Tags'.
Meta tags
This is the term used to describe an "invisible" collection of words or sentences used to describe the content of your website that help search engines index or catalog your website. Meta tags are programmed into and hidden in your websites source code... they are specifically for the search engines - not the viewer.
Not all submitted web sites are added to their databases, a lot depends on a variety of factors such as the volume of submissions and the evaluation of your website. Considering that a 'spider' must index around 4 billion web pages one by one, before they start over again, (about 3 months or more) it can take several weeks before your submission starts to show up on the search engines.
If your website, is not showing up well or is really difficult to find - hand it over to a professional developer to get it checked and optimized.
Search engine optimisation (SEO)
This is the necessary meta tag creation, programming and tweaking done by professional web builders to get your website listed near the top of those searches.
"92% of people using the Internet query search engines" Nielsen Net ratings
Note: It typically takes at least 3 months for Search Engine Optimization to work properly. The larger search engines offer paid "instant submission" programs for a monthly maintenance fee. If you are willing to wait, then all you need to pay for is your meta tag creation, and the one-time submission fees and your website should stay at the top or close to the top of most search engines on its own.
• To sell a product or service
• To build interactive branding
• To provide e-commerce
• To network
• To make business information available
• To serve your customers
• To heighten public interest
• To release time sensitive materials
• To reach a highly desirable demographic market
• Provide direct marketing opportunities
• To reach the media
• To reach new and specialised markets
• To serve your local market
• To stay in contact with sales people
• To answer frequently asked questions
• To open international markets
• To create a 24 hour service
• To make changing information available quickly
• To allow feedback from customers
• To test market new services and products
• Improve access to information
• Corporate communication
• To make pictures, sound and film files available
Do improvements really add to the value of your Web site?
Are they cost effective?
What about issues like on-line shopping?
The customer attraction value of your Web site may slip-if you don't watch out.. makeover your Web site now-even though you don't intend to sell anything from it!
Does that sound silly? Many Web site owners are learning the hard way that, the attraction value of a Web site is a living thing, likely to shrivel without the care and attention it needs.
Nothing makes the hard facts about a Web site's value clearer than getting potential customers to buy from it. Then, suddenly, it stops.. you feel the lack of a powerful database. Or the navigation becomes too clumsy to accommodate your growing products and services
Here are some facts to chew on >
• Seven out of ten Web sites in this country need some repair right now just to stop customers from moving on.
• In a recent survey one out of every four Web sites in this country needs simpler navigation whilst one in every three needs more comprehensive content.
Why haven't these Web site owners done something?
Is it too difficult, or too expensive?
Many of them must think so.
If they do, they're wrong!
Below are some of the main advantages and disadvantages of using Flash in Websites >
ADVANTAGES >
• Flash uses vector graphics, which means that the graphics can be scaled to any size without losing clarity or quality
• Flash offers the viewer a "high-tech" impression of your organization or product
• Flash can be used to create interactive animation for entertaining "Splash" pages, ad banners and even games
• With Flash you can deliver to your audience engaging applications & web interfaces such as training courses, tutorials & presentations
DISADVANTAGES >
• Flash content may be inaccessible to search engines.
• First, Flash files require a plug-in called the Flash Player and many older browsers don't support this plug-in. Users with those older browsers will not be able to view Flash content.
• The "Back" button does not work. If you navigate within a Flash object, the standard backtracking method takes you out of the multimedia object and not, as expected, to the previous state.
• Link colors don't work. Given this, you cannot easily see where you've been and which links you've yet to visit. This lack of orientation creates navigational confusion.
• The "Make text bigger/smaller" function does not work.
• Flash reduces accessibility for users with disabilities (although the latest version "Flash MX" addresses many of these issues)
• The "Find in page" feature does not work - in general, Flash integrates poorly with search.
• Internationalization and localization is complicated. Text that moves is harder to read for users who lack fluency in the language.
• Many viewers get annoyed when they have to wait for the Flash presentations to load and will end up going elsewhere instead of waiting.
So you've decided you need a web site...
The first question is why do you need a website?
The next question is what do you expect from having a website?
Have you done your marketing research to determine that a website is a cost effective method of marketing your company?
Once your website is built, how will you market it AND who will you get to build it for you? Should you try to do it yourself, get a friend to do it or go to a professional?
Here are some tips to help you choose >
1. Do it yourself
This is the least expensive option, however, least expensive does not always equal most cost effective. If your website is just a 'fun family blog' type thing - go ahead have a go. If it is part of your business marketing strategy - think again!
Consider - if you think you can effectively build your business website, do you also - film and produce your own TV ads, fix your own cars and trucks, do all your own accounting, paint your own offices ... etc? If you do all those things, when do actually get time to work ON your business and just when is it right to bring in the professionals...?
Okay, so you do have some spare time..
Do you understand these terms: HTML, PHP, Googlebots, FTP, SEO, Applet, CGI, CDF, CSS, dpi, kerning, marquee, DHTML, XHTML, SOAP, W3C - all web programming terms.
Hey and this stuff ( below) is some of the real fun stuff you get to build your site with:
function hs(el) {if (window.RegExp && window.encodeURIComponent) {var ue=el.href;var qe=encodeURICom ponent(document.f.q.value);if(ue.index Of("q=")!=-1){el.href=ue.replace (new RegExp("q=[^&$]*"),"q="+q e);}else{el.href =ue+"&q="+qe;}}return 1;}//
...and you thought web designers just pushed around pretty pictures?
If you are not sure consult a pro as you may only have to go back later and hire one to do it over again.
2. Get a friend to do it for you
So everyone has a "friend" who can build web sites... That's great. But one word of caution - make sure your friend has the expertise and the experience to do the job right.
Do you consult other 'friends' to get your teeth fixed - they may not be a professional dentist but have done a bit of this and that, or how about a getting a friend to build your home extension - this one is a dentist and managed to throw down a concrete slab and pop a shed on it...!
If you are about to market your business 24/7/365 to 1,018,057,389.00 internet users in the world or just a mere 53% of the Aussie population - 17,690,762.00 - this is not a potential market to be sniffed at!
3. Hire a professional web development firm
Firstly - do some research.
Look at their portfolio of past work.. Find out who else they've worked with and what their experience has been like. Meet with them and make sure they have the credentials to know what they're doing and the communication skills to be able to work together with you to achieve your goals.. Also, ensure that they include an SEO service.
The Process >
We work closely with you during every phase of the website creation process - from goal setting and concept design to the launching of the finished website.
Here is how >
Firstly, initial discussions and meetings will be held with you. We will determine such things as domain name registration, website hosting services, data refreshment, site reporting and also the needs and basic objectives of your website.
In close consultation with you, we then move on to complete the look and 'feel' of the website. You are involved in the development of the website as much as possible, to ensure it meets your objectives set earlier.
In full consultation with you we will discuss and determine:
Objectives
To identify the needs and goals of the website for the company in areas such as marketing, sales, and information source etc
Look
The interface and layout of the website, to ensure the website is attractive, appealing and reflects the appropriate image.
Loading Time
The time it takes for the page to appear on the computer screen. The website needs to be designed around the premise of 'loading' as quickly as possible.
Browser compatibility
Usually a website needs to be compatible for viewing across a wide range of user platforms and browser software.
Information Structure
A clear, crisp view of available information is paramount in relation to finding specific information on your website. To provide major benefit to the business, the website should have significant amounts of information available to the user. This information must be easily found and presented in such a way as to encourage use.
Interactivity
Without interactivity, a website is purely a book online. Interactive websites capture user details online and monitor what users do inside the system. The more visitors can interact and 'do things' on the website, the more likely they are to revisit.
Website basics
Forget flashy design, great words and an intuitive layout is the key to an 'easy to use' customer grabbing internet experience.
Communicating a lot of information in the limited space of a website is challenging.
Customers and net don't like to scroll on any page. All your information, words and images, need to fit in a single window – ideally OR have tidy 'anchors' which bring your users to their desired information.
Generally speaking, design and navigation elements (with a bit of open space too), take up about a third of the window, leaving a half to two thirds available for text, images and white space. Not much is it?
This is where good writing skills are needed – words have to be chosen very carefully. Well scripted, well structured and well thought out words can mean the difference between having a successful marketing tool or being just another site amongst millions of others.
A good web development team will often have their copywriter write the words first before the site is even structured.
Once the approach and function of the site is determined, the words need to convey this in the most powerful and effective way. The choice of design elements, imagery and structure will follow, to give weight, substance and conviction to those words.
Those 3 little words that can make all the difference – ‘Get a Copywriter’
Engage the customer – tell them what they want to know not what you want to say.
Be a customer for a moment >
You’re on the net searching for that new widget you’ve heard about - the one that’s supposedly going to make your job so much easier
So you’ve done your search for the ‘better job widget’ and here is a list of websites – so you know they have them. You click on ..’Better job widget seller’
What else do you want to know..
* How to find the details of the widget easily on their site?
* What does the widget really do?
* How will that benefit you?
* Why should you choose that brand of widget?
* How much does it cost?
* How can you contact the seller?
* Where are they located?
* Is it in stock?
* How do they get the widget to you?
* How long does it take?
* Who is this company, how long have they been in business, are they trustworthy, stand up to their guarantees, any references to check….?
All the questions a potential customer may pose need to be addressed clearly or in such a way as to get a response - an email or phone call asking for more information directly.
Hmmm – your words can make all the difference between success and failure.
Be sure to choose a web development company that can offer copywriting services and one that has marketing your business as their core value.
After all what is a business website for..?
What’s worse than your website suddenly disappearing from the Internet? How about: Not knowing who to call when it happens!
Website hosting and being a Webmaster is all about service, comfort,
dependability and capability – in a technology proficient wrapper.
Before you deliver your website into the hands of a web host or Webmaster,
you’d better be doubly sure they can perform and deliver for you.
You want a web host and a webmaster who’s ready, willing and able to
maintain your website’s optimum health and fitness, and to fix a “hiccup” if it
develops – any time of the day or evening.
We’ll keep your website up, running – and always ready for business!
If only I had a dollar for every potential client who came to me and said... "Will you fix our Meta tags so our site will rank highly in Google?"
These people don't realize that if it were simply a matter of fixing Meta tags, they could probably do it themselves! Wouldn't it be great if we could simply edit Meta tags and get high rankings?
Sadly, with search engine optimization: There are no quick fixes. Google alone looks at in excess of 100 factors when analyzing your website before it arrives at a ranking.
Why Not Meta Tags? Well search engines don't have a lot to work with when trying to figure out which sites to show in their list of results for any given search. Yet it's pretty amazing how relevant most search results are, given the sheer number of pages on the Internet these days.
Search engine databases contain basically every page on the web that they know about. That’s a lot!
They can't really just trust the Meta tags they find on a webpage, since a site owner's goals may be different from the search engines' goal - i.e., you want your site to show up in search results as much as possible for as many phrases as possible…. but the search engine would like to show the most relevant pages, whether those are yours or someone else's. Makes sense.
So really, adding or changing Meta tags on your site is not a quick fix. It’s not a slow fix either. It won't fix anything and it won't have any effect on your search engine traffic.