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Fine_Tuning_Your_Website
| Fine Tuning Your Website
Fine-Tuning Your Website © 2003 Gillian Gaston
You can spend hours, days, weeks or even months getting your
website to look wonderful. There is nothing in the world that
feels beats the feeling you get when someone comes to at your
site and tells you that it looks great. All your hard work has
paid off!
But has it? Apart from looking good your site has to work
smoothly for it to be successful.
By looking good I don't mean that it has to have loads of
pictures and graphics and animated gifs. In fact the opposite is
often the case. A well designed site that is clear and simple to
navigate will stand head and shoulders above one that is full of
complex graphics making it visually confusing. Just remember,
when it comes to website design, LESS is MORE.
OK, so you have kept the site clean and simple. That's a great
start. But not only must it look great it has to work smoothly
and that means regular maintenance and checking.
There is nothing more frustrating than to visit a site offering
say a software product where you read the synopsis on the home
page and you are interested in what the program could do you for
you. You want more information, so you clink the link marked
"Detailed Product Information". What happens? The page can't be
found. You try again, and again the page still can't be found.
Are you impressed? No, not at all, particularly if the site
belongs to a company that is supposed to specialise in software
programs designed for the analysis of surveys carried out on the
web!
Precisely this happened to me today with a company I read about
in a professional market research journal. I gave up on this
site and checked out the site of one of their competitors - and
all their links worked perfectly and their product looked every
bit as attractive. Guess which company I would choose if I
decide to buy the package?
Checking that ALL your links work is vital. On a one or two page
site, that is very simple to do - but if your site is larger it
can take time - but it is time well spent. It is particularly
important to remember to check that any banners or other
reciprocal links you have on your site are working properly. If
the link isn't working properly or the site has ceased to exist,
remove it immediately.
It is also a useful exercise to check how your site looks on
different browsers and on computers using different screen
resolutions. You could ask some people you know to let you view
your site on their computers or you could check out the systems
used at your local library or Internet café. It is well worth
doing - you may see some things that need to be changed to make
the site look good regardless of the browser.
How others view your site is obviously of critical importance.
Why not ask your visitors for their feedback on your site? You
could invite them to send you an email or to fill out a short,
on-line questionnaire. To encourage them to respond you might
consider offering an incentive such as a free ebook or report or
you could hold a prize draw for a product that you sell for the
best or most interesting reply. The Internet is constantly
changing and it is vital to keep up to date with trends. Use
your visitors to tell you what they want so that you can offer
it to them before your competitors do!
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Gillian Gaston is a marketing specialist with 18 years'
experience. She is a partner in JGN media, which offers expert
information and resources for on-line business. Visit:
http://www.jgnmedia.com
You may reprint this article as long as you leave the Resource
Box intact and do not edit the article in any way.
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About the author:
Gillian Gaston is a marketing specialist with 18 years'
experience. She is a partner in JGN media, which offers expert
information and resources for on-line business. She is also the
editor of JGN In-Touch Ezine. Visit: http://www.jgnmedia.com
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