Did you build your own web site, do your own web design? Did a friend do it for you? Did you pay a designer to build it for you? Whichever way you did it, if the site is successful it has several things in common with a successful web site built any other way. The reason is that are just some things that you MUST do right for web success. You can discover these elements two ways - by examining all of the wretched web sites out there today. Or the far simpler process of looking at web designs of some successful web businesses to see what they have in common.
Since the universe of web design mistakes is literally infinite, let's do it the other way. It's all in the headline. Selling is selling no matter where we do it. As a marketer in a medium you have a very small window with a prospect in which to grab their attention. If you haven't done that, stop reading right now. Go and come up with a really good web site headline. Then come back and read the rest of this article. A successful web design incorporates an effective way to build an email list. An optimized web design helps you build a good list. When you optimize your site it isn't just about driving traffic. It is also about using the traffic to build your business. Keyword optimization isn't just to build traffic. Some site simply build traffic to increase search engine rankings. But for most web based businesses, it's not just traffic for its own sake. If the traffic is not productive it is just eating up bandwidth. Use targeted key words and phrases to drive valuable traffic to your business. Site navigation should be simple and intuitive.
Make sure your site can be conveniently bookmarked. It should be titled so that when they hit "Add Favorites" a site title comes up that makes your business easy to find later on. Include email list subscription capabilities, simple and easy to use, on every page of the site, not just the home page. And don't skimp on the white space in the web design. The site should be easy on the eye and consistent with the business message.
