Designing a web site specifically designed to sell your product isan essential part of your success. Everything within your web siteshould have one specific purpose -- getting your visitor to take action.
Creating a professional web site specifically designed to sell willtake a great deal of time and effort, as there is much more to takeinto consideration than just the design. You must look at a muchbroader picture and plan each step very carefully.
Every part of your web site must be strategically designed, fromyour overall design to your sales copy; each will play a veryimportant role. Your visitor's first impression will almostinstantly determine whether or not you're going to make a sale.
Basic Web Site Design Guidelines
Your web site should be simple in design with the navigationallinks placed at the top, left or right side of the page. It shouldbe designed in standard HTML with no Flash or fancy plug-ins andvery few graphics. Unless your graphics specifically pertain toyour product or enhance your site, you probably shouldn't includethem. Your web site should load very quickly and each additionalgraphic will add additional load time. In addition, there should beno banners or outside links of any kind -- nothing that willdistract your visitor's attention.
Search Engine Ranking
You must specifically design your web site to rank high in theSearch Engines. This involves much more than just including METAtags. Your design, text, title and image alt tags all play a veryimportant role in determining how your web site will rank.
Title - Your "Title" should contain your most important keywordphrase that you think potential visitors will use when performing asearch.
Description - Your description should contain your most importantkeyword phrase and describe your product in detail. You want yourpotential visitors to know exactly what you're offering. Yourdescription should be less than 200 characters.
Keywords - Select the most appropriate keyword phrases that youfeel your potential visitors will use when performing a search -the more targeted the better.You can download a great little freeware program called, GoodKeywords http://www.goodkeywords.com. This program will assist youin developing a list of targeted keywords for your web site. Inaddition, it also includes a site popularity tool that enables youto check your site's popularity.
Heading tags - Search Engines pay close attention to the textdisplayed within the "Heading" tags. Place your most importantkeyword phrase within a "Heading" tag.
Graphic Alt tags - Your graphics should relate to your web site andenhance your users' experience. In addition, your graphics shouldpertain to your most relevant keyword phrases. Place a readablesentence that explains what the image is and contains your keywordphrase within each of your graphic "Alt" tags. For example, if yourweb site focuses on dog grooming, your graphics should also pertainto dog grooming.
Text - All of your keywords and keyword phrases should appearthroughout your text. If any of the keywords you placed within yourMETA tags do not appear within your text, the Search Engines willignore them. Your keyword phrases should appear at least threetimes within your text, but no more than seven.
Another consideration of great importance is the use of "Tables."If you'd like to set up your web site using tables, try to placeyour "Heading" text above your "Table" code. If this isn'tpossible, make sure you include your keyword phrases within yourtop left "Table cell" to assist you in ranking higher in the SearchEngines.
One final note, always place your most important information abovethe fold of your web page. This is the top portion of your web pagethat is visible when your page is first loaded, without scrolling.This is the most important part of your entire page -- use it wisely.
Your web site is your product's storefront and will play a veryimportant roll in determining your success. Take your time and doyour homework before you begin. You may be pleasantly surprisedwith the outcome.
Culled from Designing a Web Site By Shelley Lowery.
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