Web Design Tips and Tricks

The Golden Rule Of Website Building

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Copyright 2005 Robert Evans

Setting yourself up to earn a steady monthly income has to be a pre-requisite to your success online. There is no doubt that large sums of money can be made (and indeed are being made) from selling products or services online.

With over 500,000,000 internet users (and that figure is already obsolete even as I write this) the potential for long term wealth is very high indeed.

This fantastic new medium has brought untold possibilities for the small trader operating in a niche market. In fact the internet is made for just that type of marketer. It therefore goes without saying that anyone with the desire, knowledge or ability to market just about any kind of product or service online is a potential millionaire in the making!

You are probably already aware of the importance of having a website to use as a focal point for any products or services you are selling.

But do you know the golden rule you should always keep in mind when building your site and making it ready to welcome all those potential buyers? This rule is - keep it simple!

When I started out with my first web site I broke this rule of simplicity by filling every inch of my Home Page with all manner of graphics and fonts. This slowed down the loading time. There were also a number of links to other web sites that took my visitors away from my site - and almost certainly they never came back.

It took me a whole eighteen months to realise that what I was doing was never going to work. When I now look at the websites I was promoting a year and a half ago I cringe. What possessed me to put so much effort into them! Because I really did work hard at putting them together.

Take a good look at your own site. Pay very close attention to the following points:

* page design - navigation should be easy
* HTML - use of keywords in title and description meta tags
* use of graphics - minimum number should be used relevant to the theme of the site
* use of text/fonts - black text on a white background works best
* hyperlinks - use the "target_blank" tag to ensure external pages open in a new window
* reason for existence - is the purpose of the site clear?

Believe me, when it comes to setting up a website that SELLS, you do not need stunning graphics, dynamic HTML or Java Script. These things could spell the end of your business! Especially when it comes to getting ranked on the major Search Engines. (Don't ignore these, they could be responsible for up to 80% of traffic to your site!)

So, here is a summary of how your Home Page should be made up:

* a maximum of 2 graphics and these must be central to the theme of the site
* about 800 words of text, including a list of benefits and a good description of what you offer
* a clear navigation bar
* a colour scheme that is consistent but not "glaring"
* any links to external sites should open in a new window
* try to avoid placing a graphic at the top of the page
* use Meta Tags that include one or two keywords in the title and three or four in the description
* try to keep the page under 20 kbs - 10 would be ideal

And all other pages should follow the same basic design. Keep these points in mind and you will be well on the way to creating a fast loading page that will be pleasing on the eye and will also be acceptable to the major Search Engines. And when it comes to submitting your site - there is no real need to do this, just keep updating your pages on a regular basis. This is better than submitting your site because in any case the search engine spiders ill find your site if it is worth finding.

Lately I've taken to subscribing to many newsletters and the "free" programs being offered by internet marketers - think Frank Kern, Yanik Silver et al. - and people like Aaron Wall and Shoemoney and that Brian fellow over at Copyblogger.

If you, like me, receive some of these emails, you may have noticed how their sales methods have taken the typical long web page sales pitch and turned it on its side. They've spliced it into emails and videos and feed that info to us in a much more interactive and entertaining manner then the long winded sales pages of old.

So this morning while trying to convince my 21 month old son to go to the park (that's right, to convince him to go to the park) I found that the usual things were not working. That is when it hit me.

Parental persuasion ala Frank Kern

Please note that I have not met nor do I know Frank Kern, and I am only singling him out because his name stuck with me. I suppose this parody below could be recognizable to Jeff Walker's children as well. One last note, I have found the free info they give away as they get you to the offer/pitch/monthly service to be quite valuable.

• Dad: Hey son, want to go to the park with your favorite car and play on the swings?
• Son: No!
• Dad: Oh, did I mention that I found some extra strawberries, your favorite fruit? I figured you would want them and washed some for you. Want to go to the park with your favorite car and play on the swings and have some strawberries?
• Son: My car...? No!
• Dad: We can take the little soccer ball and some balloons. We know you like balloons so we bought some extras last night. Want to go to the park with your favorite car and play on the swings, with the ball and the balloons and have some strawberries? You don't have to do anything, just have fun!
• Son: Balloons...? Where's my car? No!
• Dad: Hey listen. Its 8:00, the street cleaner will pass soon. If we go now we can also see the street cleaner! You love the street cleaner and if we don't go now who knows when he will pass again.. Maybe never! Want to go downstairs and see the street cleaner, then go to the park with your favorite car and play on the swings, with the ball and the balloons and have some strawberries?
• Son: Street cleaner...? Balloons...? Where's my car? Hmm... (asks for shoes, walks over to the car...) No!

• Dad: Listen. If we go down now, we can stop at the bakery. I'll order an espresso (you love the noise from the espresso machine!) and get you some toast and jam (I'll pay; you get this fre.e!) and we can sit at a table outside and watch the street cleaner. Then we can go to the park with your favorite car and play on the swings, with the ball and the balloons and have some strawberries? And one last BONUS: we can stop at the fountain and throw in some rocks!!

  Look, if you don't have fun doing this, later I will take you to the pool.
  YOU CAN"T LOSE!!

• Son: (getting up on the car...) Yes! Lets do it! (makes some vroom vroom noises with the car).

Father and son head down the elevator out to the bakery. Son demands the water fountain in the park so we head straight there, where strawberries are eaten and some rocks thrown in. Then he says "casa" (hey, we live in Spain) and demands to go home. We stop to watch the street cleaner pass by and head home, not having visited the swings, played with the balloon or balls or had breakfast at the bakery.

(Okay, so in the end I also pick on we folks who buy these things - be they live the internet lifestyle products or self-help books - and don't implement them to the fullest :)

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