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| Tips for Making Great Web Pages |
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What makes some Web sites more successful than others? Itīs no mystery. Basically, the key is to do the same things that make your business successful: Devote as much time and energy as you can to the project, and keep updating your pages to make them more and more useful. Instead of offering only one opinion on the subject, we asked some successful Web site consultants to give a few tips of their own on how to create an attractive, attention-grabbing Web page. Case Study: As Was Web Site DesignDebbie Levitt is the owner of As Was, a small business in Long Island, New York, that she formed in 1995. She started with just two staff people; she now employs eight, and is in the process of hiring twenty salespeople around the world. As Was has two dialup connections to the Internet: a 28.8-Kbps and a 33.6-Kbps modem that, Debbie says, are much more affordable than direct connections. She adds: "Since Iīm a Web site designer, I like to have an average system. That way, I know how fast my sites really appear on most peoplesī computers." Tip 1: Give people a reason to (re)visit The most successful Web sites not only give people a reason to visit in the first place, but also provide an incentive for people to return. Simply telling people that your site updates every week or two can help encourage users to bookmark your site and come back later on. One way to encourage visits is to capitalize on your existing customer base. If you regularly place an ad in a newspaper or magazine that already draws visitors, add a reference to the URL of your Web site somewhere on that ad. Bill Cameta, for instance, the owner of Cameta Camera, tells people in his Shutterbug magazine ad that they can find more up-to-date information on his companyīs Web site. Tip 2: Remember your audienceThe most successful Web sites take their audiences into account and make allowances for visitorsī computer equipment, time constraints and need for information. Use standard colors and keep your site clean. Donīt try to do too much on any one page. Use Java applets, forms and animated images sparingly. Keep your Web pages uncluttered so that people wonīt mind looking at them. Tip 3: Remember your other publications Be conscious of the rest of your companyīs printed material and publicity outlets when you create your Web pages. Be consistent in your graphics; use the same logo that appears on your letterhead, and the same kind of writing style thatīs found on your other business materials. Coordinate your pages with other forms of communication. Put your URL on all your ads. Let people order brochures from your Web site. In turn, the printed brochures can refer to your Web site for more timely or detailed information. Tip 4: Do one thing at a timeLots of Web pages take the kitchen sink approach to graphic design. All their contents are packed into a single document, complete with plenty of graphics. Be sure to divide your text and images into several pages, and include no more than one or two topics on each page. Whenever possible, itīs best to keep Web pages short, perhaps only one or two screens in length. When thatīs not possible, itīs helpful to provide a table of contents that people can click. Often, the contents are presented on the left side of the screen in a narrow column. Tip 5: Care and feeding of your Web pagesLike a garden or a pet, a Web site benefits from regular care and feeding. Once you create your graphics and design your pages, your work is by no means unchangeable (as it would be after itīs printed on paper). On the Web, revising and republishing your work is simply a matter of transferring some files from your computer to the Web server, the computer that presents your documents on the Internet, and possibly revising some links to those graphics. Donīt be afraid to get feedback from visitors and colleagues, and then revise and improve your work. Tip 6: Donīt send visitors away Be careful about adding links and ads that encourage people to leave your site. They may never return. Itīs hard enough attracting visitors in the first place. Banner ads may get you more visits, but they can lead people away from your site, too. If you really want to invest in banner advertising, make sure you try sites that work. Tip 7: Proofread, check and test your pages A key point in creating a Web page is not something you do but something you donīt do: make spelling errors and grammatical blunders. A single typo at the top of your Web page can ruin the professional appearance you tried so hard to create. Find someone in your office who has an eye for detail to go over your text. (Itīs easier for outsiders to find mistakes than for the authors who are close to their work.) Many HTML editors have built-in spell-checkers. Use them! Be sure to test your pages to see how they look and how fast the graphics appear. All your work can go wasted if your viewer gets impatient, presses the Escape (Esc) key (which stops the page from loading), and goes to another site. Itīs also a good idea to view your Web pages on different browsers to make sure that they look the way you want: Different browsers display colors differently, and some older models donīt display goodies like Java applets or JavaScript at all. |
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