How to Build the Perfect Website

For most, building a website is the single biggest and most significant thing you can do for your business, brand, product, or book. So therefore it is important to get it right and for it to be really effective it is important to understand the principles that go into creating it.  This is more than just design as there needs to be an understanding of who the end user is and how your website can satisfy their needs.  To do this you need to consider the following components, which are essential to create the perfect site:

Homepage: This is the single most important page as it is the entry point to the site and if you get this page wrong, it can be catastrophic and could cause visitors to leave as quickly as they arrived. This page needs to capture your visitor’s attention and clearly communicate what your business offers. For example if you are a motivational author and you write books, give lectures, and have a newsletter and all of it is about motivation, this must feature on your Homepage.

What do you want the website to do and why? When asked this question most people will say "sell something" but the problem is before you get to the sell, the site needs to convince the visitor that it is credible and genuine – people are not going to buy from someone they don’t trust.  So your site needs to educate, inform and give visitors a pleasurable experience whilst on line, they will then gain the confidence in you to actually buy.

Know your promise: We all promise people something when they come to our websites. The thing you need to ask yourself is what are you promising? Whatever it is, this promise needs to be reflected on every page. Whether your site is about saving money or making people laugh, make sure your promise is consistent on each page.

Who is your market? You need to be able to answer this question before you start building your website. It's more than just knowing the basics: female, ages 35 to 55. In order to create a site that will truly sell or do what you need it to, you must know much more about your target market. Being able to answer questions like: Where does your customer live? What groups might they belong to? What do they do on their time off? Where do they hang out online? What's their age? Married? Do they watch TV? Listen to radio? Read magazines/newspapers?, will really help you to go deeper into your site design and really create an experience that is keenly focused on your end user. Without this data, your website is less likely to produce the results you'd hoped it would.

Think Billboards: A billboard needs to deliver its message very quickly through words and images and passers by know exactly what they are offering. Think of your website as a billboard, with people racing past it at high speeds because that's what the online experience is like. You have less than a second to get someone's attention so it is vital that the message is clear, crisp and concise. Think billboard.

Bad book covers: A fantastic message can often be lost in a terrible design. Consumers won't take the time to try and figure out bad navigation or lukewarm website copy, not to mention a poor design, they'll just leave and likely their next stop will be your competitor.

Things no website should be without: While every website is different, there are certain elements that are important to have on any website :

.    Strong call to action: Tell your visitors what you want them to do, otherwise they will leave without taking action

.    Contact points:  Make it easy for someone to contact you, either through a phone number, contact form, direct email, or a combination of these three.

.    Secure shopping: In an age of identity theft and online scams, it is imperative to have a secure shopping cart.

.    Easy Navigation: Too many options and too many choices can confuse your visitor, remember the anachronism KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid.

.    Focus:  Remember it's not about you, it's about your end-user. Your customer, visitor, or potential new client.

.    Testimonials: People like what other people like so be sure to add testimonials, reviews, and endorsements to your website. If you have a lot of them get a page just for testimonials and it is also worth considering adding at least one to your homepage.

.    Signup: Most visitors won't make a decision to buy the first time they land on your site so getting folks to sign up for your blog, newsletter, or announcement list is a way to stay on their radar screen (permission marketing) and getting them back to your site again and again. By doing this, you'll deliver the sale. Otherwise people will visit your site and though they may bookmark, if you don't give them a compelling reason to return, they likely won't.

.    Blog: In an age of almost monthly Google algorithm changes, a blog is no longer an option if you're trying to get some visibility for your site. It's a must as is updating it.

Remember you get what you pay for: We all love free, but free has a price, especially when it comes to website design. Free websites are limited, won't let you do e-commerce and most will never get you any search engine ranking. Forget free -- in the long run it could cost you in lost revenue and business opportunities.