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See a little simple test:
regarding how deeply your webmaster had your
best interest at heart.
1. Make sure it works Surf your own
site like a babe in the woods,
and check for:
Easy navigation to all pages & places on your website.
Working Links leading to the right places
& pages (e-mail links too.)
No Broken links leading no-where
Press Control F5 to reload a page from
fresh - this way you can test how long new
visitors to your site will be waiting to see
your page.
(Your clever computer keeps a memory of the
pages you've visited and it seems faster after
the 1st time - but - it is not fresh!)
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2. Advertise Online.
Whether you opt for
a pay per click campaign, banner adverts,
affiliate marketing or a viral campaign, spread
the word about your site. If you have a monthly
newsletter, make it easy for people to click
through to your site. Direct them to landing
pages that form part of your site, and include
your site menu on that landing page. Create
interesting and appropriate in- and outbound
links.
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3. Advertise Offline
Not all
website marketing has
to be done via the internet. Make sure your web
address (URL) is displayed on your brochures, business
cards and printed adverts. When you speak to
people in person, give them the URL of your
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4. Test.
Unlike
printing material, a website can be
changed easily. Test different actions on your website to
determine which featured specials, are most
effective in converting your visitors to customers.
Change these regularly, and keep track of which ones are
the most successful.
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5. Keep It Updated.
Nothing looks
more uninviting & uninspiring than
a site with old information, or with “upcoming
events” that have already passed. Keep your
information current. If you’re selling or
advertising products via your site, make sure
your prices are up to date.
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6. Add Valuable Content
Regularly.
Sites that are
regularly updated with valuable content are likely to
become popular with your target market as you’re
providing a current and useful resource. Other sites
will also be more likely to link to you – and inbound
links are an important factor in getting your site high
rankings on search engines.
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7. Initiate a Call to Action.
Check
how easy or difficult it to click through to a goal
page, such as the product confirmation page, contact
form or newsletter sign up confirmation page? Initiate a call to action in your site layout and
copy to make it as easy as possible for your visitors to
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8. Qualify your Contact
Form
Ask your
webmaster to design a thought-through contact
form which will provide you
will all the necessary
information about your prospective client.
It also looks more professional than just en
e-mail link.
Unless you like the free flow of conversation of
e-mails and have a lot of time to send back and
forth information.
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9. Track.
If
you have a remotely reputable hosting company,
you will have access to web stats which can be
investigated to understand a Lot about your web
visitors. If not and you would like to stay
under a rock in stead of changing service
provider or hosting company, you can invest in a web statistics
package to see who is visiting your site This
information can help you to become aware of which pages,
offers or
events are most popular to your visitors.
(With some HTML coding
knowledge you could insert free tracking like
you
would find on
www.extremetracking.com )
The more specific the stats, - like with
www.hetzner.co.za Awestats - the more
you can adjust your search terms to be seen on
the first pages of Google and other search
engines.
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10. Optimize!
A
professional webmaster will know to advice you
on
Search Terms and Search Engine
submissions.
Make sure your site is
visible on search engine results.
This
will involve extra time and money at the outset,
but if its done properly, the resulting increase
in traffic will pay for it many times over. |
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11. Visit your own site daily .
Try and keep an open mind about how
new visitors will navigate themselves through your
pages, do you give enough or too much information to
keep their attention.
You will also be able to
find out quickly whether you site is still on line.
(more than one site has gone "lost" - especially
those 1$ hosting packages.)
Also you would be able to put pressure on ISP's who had
"cables stolen" to get them back on line.
(I love
Africa - optical fiber apparently makes beautiful
baskets) |
12.
e-ssential link reciprocation program.*Webwits advice
If you do not have a links or related
appropriate page to add links to your website,
get your webmaster to add one immediately.
Do research on the internet and negotiate
reciprocal links
with every strong, high ranking site.
The main criteria: Does the link carry Search
Engine weight?
Is it complimentary to your product and website?
Is it not direct competition to what you offer?
Constantly check whether the request was
successful (can you see your link on the
requested website?) If not, remove the link from
your website, unless the Search Engine weight -
ranking - is of such value that your site
benefits anyway. |
13.
Strong
Search Term Title
*
a
little simple test:
What do you see right at the very top of the
screen when you open your website. This line is
called the Title bar - This forms an important
part of the optimizing-mindedness of building a
website.
The chances are good that your website coding
was not optimised with Search Term Rich
content if you do not even have a Strong
Search Term Title. |
