A company can never recover resources wasted on an ineffective web site. However, the problem can be corrected and you can create an effective web site that will eventually give you a return on your investment. Of course more resources must be allocated to correct the problem. If your company currently has a site that is not being utilized to its fullest or if you are about to begin a new site, you can facilitate the process and save your company time and money by following these 10 simple guide lines.

1. Before you begin your project analyze your business needs and understand what you want to accomplish with your web site. Do you want a brochure on line? Are you trying to create a database to market to? Are you selling on line? Are you trying to generate sales leads, etc?
2. Once you have defined your on-line goals you must consider your on-line image. Don’t forget your web site is your virtual office and virtual sales person. Each visitor that comes to your site will form an opinion of your company based on the image you project. Choose that image carefully.
3. Once you have decided on your image it is now time to determine your message. The necessary content areas will be evident from the plan you put together for your web project. These content areas will translate into the Information Architecture of your site. You have approximately three seconds before your potential client becomes your competitor’s potential client. So serve up your information in clear concise packages.
4. It is important that your content make use of the right key words, those words that people will be using when searching for your product. A little research will give you an idea of some of the key words for your industry. Be bold. Raid your competitor’s sites that rank high in the search engines for key words that work
5. Once you have established your content areas make sure the navigation that directs your visitors is simple and helps to further the goals of your site. Once again the three-second rule applies. If a visitor comes to your site and can’t figure out how to find the information they require, they will leave and go to your competitor’s site. Also, make sure the navigation is accessible from every page so your visitor does not need to use the back button to navigate your site.
6. How quickly a site loads is determined by the mode of access, the type of computer, and the technologies used to build the site. You only have control over the technologies you use to build your site. So before you decide on a Flash intro, a lot of large graphics, streaming video, or JAVA applications consider how your target audience will be accessing your site. Is your target audience consumers, many of who will be accessing your site on a dial up modem or is your target audience CEOs of large corporations that will be accessing your site on T1 lines?
7. If you build it they will come, does not work with web sites. Just like opening a new business you must advertise to get traffic. There are over 250 million web sites. It takes a comprehensive plan to drive traffic to your site. Be sure you have allocated funds to advertise your site both traditionally and electronically.
8. Once your site is ready to be launched be sure it is registered with the appropriate search engines. There are hundreds of search engines but there are probably only about 15 that you need to register with. This will usually be taken care of by your Internet consultant but you should be sure to document what search engines your site is being registered with for your own files. Some sites such as Yahoo require a registration fee. Remember this does not guarantee your position only the fact that you will be listed
9. Some of the ways a search engine indexes a site is through key words used in meta tags, title tags and descriptive tags, the use of key words in your content area and how your site utilizes text links. This is a specialized science that requires the advice of a professional to insure that your site is search engine friendly.
10. The simplest and one of the least expensive forms of advertising is to be sure that your web site coordinates with your collateral such as business cards, letterhead, and brochures. Be sure that your web address is prominent on everything that is in front of your potential clients including advertising. You would be surprised at how many businesses overlook this simple thing and lose opportunities to brand their company and send traffic to their site.

Taken from the article "How to Plan for a Successful Web Site"
Reprinted with permission of the author —
Charlene Kurland, Director of Marketing for Arize Technology
410-486-1151
charlene@arizetechnology.com