Online Marketing is a key part of a business’s success, whether it is through yellow pages, magazine ads, or television ads.  However, companies’ online presence is becoming more and more important to success.  Having a well-designed website that allows people to interact easily, and find the answers for what they are looking for easily, is becoming a staple in a successful business.  Here are a few useful things to keep in mind when getting your website going:

 1. Content Rich

Make sure all the content within your website holds value. Avoid any fluff that will lose the people’s interest. Keep them engaged with rich content. They came to your site looking for answers, so give them and make it easy to follow.  Also, Google will place a higher ranking for your site if it contains rich and relevant content, allowing you to jump up in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

 2. Short & to the Point

According to an article written by Jakob Nielsen, a leading web usability consultant, the average user spends anywhere from 10 seconds to slightly under a minute of time on any given webpage.  So that means within 60 seconds, your average person will have already lost interest in your site if you cannot give them what they need within that time.  People are looking for quick solutions to their problems, so do not fill your site with large sums of filler information that will cause people to lose interest in what they are reading, and your website.  Avoid any duplicate content on your site.  Still keep it content-rich, however, remember: short and to the point.

 3. User Friendly

Not until recently has the average person become more tech-savvy. However, there are a large number of people in the world who are still getting the hang of it.  Do not over complicate your site, frustrating users with all the bells and whistles.  Virtually hold their hand and walk them through the site. Show them the way through simple and clean navigation menus.  Make it easy to navigate through your website. Be careful though, this may help increase the 60-second gap you have to grab the attention of your viewer.

 4. Online Marketing/SEO

Your website will not publicize itself, so an effort must be made to expand your presence on the World Wide Web.  Register in online directories, create social media sites for your website and optimize your site.  In order to rise in the SERPs, you must follow the guidelines that Google sets.  Make sure your site is content-rich and that it is filled with keywords that have high KEI (Key Word Effectiveness).

 5. Professionalism

Your website is a representation of your business and/or yourself.  With that being said, make sure that it is clean and presentable.  Show your viewer that you deserve their time and that you have something to offer.

 6.Up to Date

A very important part of having a successful website is up-to-date content.  You can have the richest, short-to-the-point, and clean site, but if the information has not been updated in over a year, it can toss all credibility and value out the window.  Google uses the site map of websites to see when the site was last updated.  If Google finds an outdated site with old information that it has already seen before, your ranking in the SERPs will decrease.

 7. Monitor Your Site

Stay on top of your progress.  Constantly be monitoring your site’s success or lack thereof.  There are useful tools, such as Google Analytics, which allow you to check how many people are frequenting your site, what exactly they are looking at, and how long they stay on your page.  Using these tools, you can see what areas of your site may need some improvement.

 8. Do it Right, Do it Once

If you do not have a background in web design, are just looking to save your money, and have your site designed as quickly, cheaply, and easiest as possible, stop.  Do not waste your time doing so because eventually you will have to put in the time and money, and you will already be a long way behind.  Having a clean, well-designed website is important for your online presence.  Outsource to professional web designers, people who will take the time to do it right, so that you only have to do it once. Spend that little extra cash, because, in the long run, the returns on your investment will be worth it.