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Websites that work follow the rules of internet marketing, site construction and search engine promotion. If your website isn't getting as many enquiries as you hoped, check it against AIDA, an acronym for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action, for ideas on how to make improvements.
This has nothing to do with visual design - that comes later. Getting attention is about making certain that people know of your existence.
How do people discover you on the Internet? They may follow a link from another site and stumble across yours. More probably, they will use a search engine. They will type in what they are searching for and the Search Engine will return a list of website URLs (addresses). As there are over 200 search engines, it is vital that you submit your site to as many as possible so it gets as much attention as possible.
Remember, when they first see your URL, it is just one on the long list returned by a search engine. Why should they click on yours rather than the one listed above or below it?
Hopefully, because you have included some meta tags in your html code that show up on their list. Your first meta tag should be the Title of your page and should contain no more than 8 words. Your second meta tag should be the Description of what your page offers and should contain about 25 words.
For search engines that recognise meta tags, your Title and Description are the only two pieces of information you can use to influence searchers at this stage. And this is where your site is most exposed to competition. So make your Title and Description meta tags compelling, conversational, meaningful, personal to the searcher and totally focussed on what you are offering. Perhaps you can gain their interest by offering to solve a problem quickly, easily or inexpensively. Or by making them curious to learn more. Your main aim when constructing meta tags for this part of your site, is to make it sound interesting and worthy of a visit.
Remember though, that not all search engines recognise meta tags. Some list the heading and first 25 words or so, of your page. So if you are submitting your site to non meta tag users, adjust it to suit.Good website design has high visual impact and can arouse visitors' desire to buy from YOU rather than your competitors.
First impressions are important. This applies not only to appearance, but also to the time taken for your site to download, its monitor resolution and browser compatibility. Obviously, your choice of colours, graphics, text and sound, if appropriate, are crucial. These may be the only evidence visitors have to judge your business.
Presenting your offering to maximum advantage by emphasising its benefits as well as its features is essential if your website design is to succeed in arousing desire. If you are including photographs, always compress them into the smallest acceptable file size to help minimise download time. Remember, even the most interested searcher will move on if a website takes too long to download.
For example, you might offer one-click email, an enquiry form with drop down menus, telephone and fax numbers as well as your postal address. Do all you can to make it easy for them to enquire, book or order.
And remember, if you need to devote all your time to running your business, you can let us get your site working for you. Our combination of powerful technology, business experience and Internet intelligence spread over a growing number of sites, provides economies of scale that result in real savings in time, money and effort for our clients.
If you contact us now, we will do a free survey report on your business website and send you details of our special offers on website promotion, website maintenance and site administration services.