It truly does pain me to see the number of "business"
websites out there that just don't belong. If you conduct a search on
Alta Vista for "home business tips," I guarantee you you'll see at
least six out of the top ten listings that are breaking some of the
most important web design rules, and yet others that wreak bloody HAVOC
on your eyes.
You know the ones I'm talking about. They make you cringe;
they make you holler; they make you glad that YOUR site doesn't look
like that grade school horror show ... Or DOES it?
And, how do you go about finding out?
As much as we'd all like to think that our Web design skills
are Utopian perfection, in actuality, they leave more than a little to
be desired. A website consultation is a very good and final way to make
sure that a website is ready to be released to the public ... and to
eliminate the embarrassment that's sure to come if we don't wise up and
find a good consultation service.
Make sure that you choose a top quality service to maximize
your website's potential for success. Here are some of the things that
any website consultant should be able to tell you when you request
their service:
a.) Meta Tag Diagnosis
Are your meta tags formatted correctly? This will involve
looking at the meta tags on your web pages, and letting you know if you
have any errors that search engines will penalize you for, (like if
your meta tags have too many characters in them, if you've repeated
keywords too many times, etc.).
The consultant should be able to give you an idea of whether
or not you can expect a high placement in search engines with your meta
tag format. The meta tag diagnosis should also include ways to improve
your tags, correct any penalties, and get you a higher placement in
search engines if your tags aren't already optimized correctly.
b.) Website Load Time
Do your pages load fast enough? Are your images causing your
pages to load slower than necessary? Load time is very important,
because a visitor to your site won't wait more than a few seconds for
your pages to load. You could be losing valuable visitors with a
slow-loading website.
The load time check should tell you approximately how long
your pages are taking to load, what could be causing this, and how you
can fix it. This check should also include any tips that you can use in
the future to keep your pages loading as fast as possible.
c.) Navigational System
Do you provide your visitors with an easy way to get around
your website, or will they get lost easily? A confusing navigational
system will cause you to lose valuable visitors (customers!), and is
imperative for a successful website. The navigational system diagnosis
should let you know if your system is effective, and if not, give
several ways to improve it. However, there is usually at least one way
to improve ANY navigational system to thoroughly ensure that it's as
easy as possible to use.
d.) Content Value of Your Website
The "content" value is simply how valuable the content or
information on your site is to your visitors. A high content value
means that your site is very informative, has fresh, updated, and
original information, and gives your visitors a reason to come back.
This test should also tell you how to maximize the effectiveness of
your website content, and perhaps even where or how to find information
that your visitors will enjoy.
e.) Browser Compatibility
This very important test will tell you if your website is being
viewed properly in all of the major browsers. A lot of websites aren't
optimized for Netscape's browser, due to all of the plugins that
Netscape's customers may or may not have, and also because of the
unique (crazy!) way that Netscape can tend to read your HTML code.
One small error that would be overlooked by Microsoft's
browser can cause Netscape's browser not to even display your pages!
The browser compatibility diagnostics test should also be able to tell
you how to properly optimize your website for maximum compatibility in
most browsers.
f.) Spelling and Grammar
Do you have a slew of spelling and grammatical errors? This
diagnostics check will let you know. Although you may proofread your
website for errors, it's very likely that there are still quite a few
that you overlooked. It's much harder to proofread your own work. When
your brain knows what a word is SUPPOSED to be, it can tend to make
your eyes read it that way, regardless of what it really says.
You can help to eliminate this problem by asking one of your
colleagues or friends to proofread your site for errors before you
release it to the public. This will cut down even more on the amount of
spelling and grammatical errors that you'll find. However, the spelling
and grammar diagnostics test should point out any existing errors that
may have been overlooked, and may even offer suggestions to correct the
errors.
g.) A Continuous Theme
Does your homepage have a myriad of different ideas, concepts,
or programs that have absolutely nothing to do with the main focus of
your website? Are all of your pages related to one similar topic, or is
your site a veritable cesspool of unrelated ideas?
Most visitors will come to your site for one reason only --
the reason that you advertised to get them there! Don't confuse them by
having tons of unrelated content on your website, or you'll be sure to
turn them away. This diagnostics check should tell you if your website
sticks to a constant theme, or skips from subject to subject. It should
also give you a few tips and pointers to get you moving in the right
direction.
Now that you know all of the things that a quality website
consultation will tell you, are you going to spend weeks trying to
optimize your own website? Or, are you going to invest a few extra
dollars into the success of your business by hiring a professional
website consultant?
If a professional website and image is important to you, this
will prove to be a very small and reasonable investment -- especially
when you could potentially waste hundreds of dollars later on down the
road on tweaking and perfecting your own soon to be "out-of-control" site.
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Article by Harmony Major, revealing THE TRUTH of how to
achieve success in e-marketing: no punches pulled, no
secrets kept. For one-on-one help "cutting through the
crap" online to improve the profitability of your
website(s) and launch your e-business into a high-response
*full-time* enterprise, come to: BlownCoverMarketing.com.
