A well organized website is one of the tools you will use that will make you money!
Plan your website’s page structure and layout so that it is easy for your customers to navigate. One of the main reasons why people don’t buy anything or take the actions on your website that you want them to is because they can’t find what to do with all the clutter. Minimise the clutter and define a clear path for your website visitors to take.
Design your website so that you can easily add pages to it. As your business grows, your website will expand. The tendency is to group all your information onto one page. Instead, consider spreading out your information on different pages by topic and linking your added page to the home page or one of the category sub-pages of your website. The pages you’ll want to continuously add are landing pages or pre-sell pages. If people can navigate your system easily, they will buy your products and services. Reduce information overload.
Develop a hierarchal system for your pages. This would be similar to developing an outline of your information. The top page would be the home page of your website and under it would be 5 – 10 sub-categories for your site. These categories are typically the main sections of your site. It will also be important to use keywords as part of the titles for your site. Keywords drive search engine traffic to your site. More traffic means more profitability.
Once you have a page layout you’re happy with, stick with it and be consistent. This will make navigating your site easy for customer. They won’t get lost and it will also make future visits to your site easier as well.
Keep your website current. Outdated information needs to be archived as anyone who is researching your site and your competitor’s sites will know if you’re on top of your game or not. Outdated information is not relevant and won’t generate a sale.
Your home page is one of the most critical pages of your website. People will see this page most often and will determine whether your site is what they are looking for. Most people spend seconds on your site. They scan the information on your site to see if it’s what they need and if it’s not, then they leave. After all, Google makes it real easy to find another million website options to review.
Use the three click rule. The three click rule is that your audience will need to find the information they are looking for within three clicks. If it takes longer than that, you can potentially lose your customer. On top of that, they will be less likely to visit your site later.
Make searching your site easy to do. Provide navigation links on each page to common areas of interest including the home page. You might also consider creating a site map for your website showing all the pages you offer. If your website is large enough, you might even consider incorporating a search feature on your website to make it easier for your audience.
Draw out on a Piece of A4 piece of paper (this is a draft so no need to be precise or specific the first time you draw this up), a list of pages inside boxes with arrows and lines connecting them.
If you have a definite path that you would like for your Visitors to take, then it is important that you Focus on your Website Layout and Navigation and flow accordingly.
View my Blog by clicking here and see an Example Site Map and Explanation
or Click Here and go directly to the Site Map Image without the explanation.
Please make sure you have a Review of this Site Map that I call a Treasure Map that is an example of the Process a website business model will take to make it profitable.
This task is an important point for knowing what you would like to achieve from your website, BEFORE you start to put the Site Map together. It is important not to just put together or build a website just like every other website out there.
I make this point as a competitor may be selling an expensive item, with little success as they are not offering something of a very reasonable price or free bonus. You need to develop a strategy to obtain all Email Addresses from visitors to your website of the person to be able, through a long term process, build rapport to lead to a purchase.
Some things at $1000 or over might just sell straight away at that price and if so, do not hold people back, but if you know and have an idea that it is not the hottest selling product on the block and selling like the latest No.1 hit on the radio, then it is a definite that at this point, you should see your website as a lead generation assistant.
The clearer you get about this, will ensure you do not
- REPEAT the Website from start to finish.
- REPEAT the entire Process and Flow from start to finish.
I say this from PERSONAL experience and also from watching many others, quickly fall into that category by mere not knowing what to see and what not to see when looking at a website and it generating a viable business for you.
Yes, it is easy for us to fall in love with our latest idea or product and think that there is 7 billion people on the planet and 1.5 billion of them able to purchase something on the Internet and if we only get 1% of world wide sales…. blah blah…. please save yourself and everyone around you the time and energy by being very very clear with your website.
We must get clear for what the website will do to be creating a website to do exactly that!
In other words, if we do not know where we are going and are merely following everyone else then there is a good chance that you will get the exact same results which is 95% of websites not producing a profit for their owners.
So if you want your website to be a business website, then choose at this point to look at how you can create an income from your website, whether long term, short term, and everything in between.
For instance never think it is all about the first sale! It is about the LIFETIME of the Client and how much they will spend over a period of their life with your Business. This is the strategy taken by many businesses by “buying business”. “Buying Business” meaning that they offer something for Free and then let the small (mostly in-house) costs be what makes the relationship with the person WARM and make them ready for a Sale.
For example offer 30 Day Trials on some of the Software I sell on the Internet.
www.bulk-photo-resizer.com
On this Home Page, you will see there is 2 options for the Visitor.
- Take the 30 Day Trial Download for Free.
- Take the Special Price on Offer before Midnight
These are the 2 paths I wanted for my website, no other than that and to get Support and Help. So the website’s Home Page is focussed on this and is less than 3 clicks for them to complete everything!
So, get thinking and take at least 10 minutes to draw up a site map and possible explanation of your website. The bonus of doing this, is that you can easily show someone else who is working on your project with you so that they can easily see exactly what your website is doing. I see these types of maps a lot and so at a glance now, see the “pattern” or “flow” that is they way that a website is making money or NOT!
Ok, so I have been a bit strong about getting clear, but I hope you see my point and can get clear for YOURSELF to be rewarded the most as much as possible. It is all about leveraging your website to do MORE while you do LESS. It is important to see the END RESULT in mind!
If you have any questions at this point, then feel free to make a Comment to this blog and ask me any questions.
Have a fantastic day!
Cheers,
Vanya Markiewicz
August 23, 2008 at 12:16 pm |
Well said… Great information, keep up the great work!