To be successful with Internet marketing – whether you’re selling online or are trying to generate leads for your business – you need a professional website that focuses on one single subject, and qualifies for rankings in search engine results.

Having the right tools or products alone will not ensure the success of your website. There are many factors to be considered when designing your website – unfortunately, most of these are overlooked by website owners. Here are some important elements for a professional and profitable Internet presence:

Built for speed

Internet users appreciate speed. Therefore, Websites that take forever to load lose visitors. To minimise the time your website takes to load, keep graphics small and compress them where possible. Don’t use flashy animations and limit multimedia to the bare minimum. Remember, not everybody has access to a broadband connection.

Target your market

Before you build your website know who your market is and make sure that your website caters to it. It is important that your website reflects the interests of your potential customers. Is your intended market made up predominantly of business professionals? If so, then it makes sense for your website to be clear, professional and direct.

Or is your intended market teenagers and young adults? If so, then your website should informal, relaxed and interestingly designed. The key is to know your market and build the website around their preferences, not yours.

Establish credibility

The most professionally designed website won’t sell if your potential customers don’t believe in it. Heighten your topic authority, and become the main source your customers come to when looking for information about your subject.

Remember, the Internet is about information not advertising. People surf the Internet to find information on a particular subject, and providing regular articles will make your website an expert in its field, and will build confidence in a potential customer.

Providing a clear privacy statement is also a way to enhance your website’s credibility. Provide a prominent link to your privacy statement from every page on your website, as well as from any place where you request personal information from your website’s users. Provide legitimate contact information such as your mailing address and phone number, and include your company’s legal registration details.

Keep navigation simple

Make your website’s navigation simple. Smooth navigation adds to the user’s enjoyment of your website, and they are more likely to return. The less clicks a user needs to get to the desired information the better.

Keep it consistent

Make sure that your website is consistent in look, feel and design. Nothing is more jarring to a user than thinking they have navigated to another website. Keep the theme and the style of the text consistent throughout.

Go interactive

Make your website interactive. Add feedback and email forms so that the user can ask you questions, as well as blogs and forums. By personalising your website you will increase a user’s enjoyment, and this should lead to more sales.

Content is king

Good content sells a product. Make sure that your copy conveys the message you want to get across clearly. Make sure that it is compelling to read, and that it leads a user through the sales process. Ask others to critique your copy to ensure that it delivers (try not to ask close family or friends, they always say it’s good!) Finally, always double-check your spelling and grammar – there’s nothing more unprofessional than typos on a website.

Web design is not sex

I’ll try my best not to offend anyone here, but sex is one of those topics that usually steps on someone’s toes. However, sex is the one thing that everyone can relate to, so that it makes the easiest analogy for me to use.

I believe that Web designers confuse the Internet world with the real world. With sex, foreplay is mandatory. You have to set the mood, and entice your partner into giving herself or himself to you completely. But in the Internet world there’s no place for foreplay. In fact, it gets in the way. Without being crude, the Internet world is more along the lines of ‘wham, bam, thank you ma’am’. Think of this analogy when designing your website, and you won’t go far wrong.

Remember, you don’t need to set then mood to entice people to your website. They come of their own accord and they visit your website for a particular reason. The sooner you give them what they are looking for the better.

Regards

Wolfgang Brand