1. Don't make visitors wait for a slow loading site because of page bloat or poor hosting, because they won't wait long.
2. Don't use cutting-edge or beta technology, or technology that requires visitors to download a plugin. If you crash a person's browser or aggravate them with unwanted downloads, you've lost them. Likewise, use pop-up windows with caution.
3. Don't use frames unless you have a good reason for it and know what you're doing. Most framed sites are unnecessary and many people detest frames. Also, many search engines can't index them or do a very poor job of indexing them, even if you use the noframes tag. You can seriously hurt your search engine rankings using frames.
4. Don't use free or generic "clip art" graphics. Cheesy is great for us Green Bay Packer fans, but not good when it comes to your web site looks.
5. Don't spend too much time talking about yourself or your company. People are at your site to see what's in it for them - they care little about you until they find value in what you have to offer.
6. Don't make your web site so visually busy that visitors are overwhelmed. Use appropriate white space and clean design, create separate sections of content for large sites. Don't make your site one long page or your visitor becomes overwhelmed, 3 - 5 screen lengths is ideal for a maximum page length.
7. Don't offer your visitor off-site links in prime locations unless you're being compensated by ad revenue or return traffic, or you own the other site too. However, do offer good links. Good links are one more reason for someone to bookmark your site and come back again and again. Many sites will give you a reciprocal link too, meaning they'll link to you and send traffic back your way.
8. Always test your site with multiple web browsers. What works in one browser brand may not work in others.
9. Don't forget to proofread and spell check your entire site. Your professionalism as a business will be judged by your web site's appearance, including punctuation, spelling and grammar.
10. Don't use clashing, loud colors, backgrounds that make it hard to read your text, and animations that distract the visitor's eye and detract from your objective. Business sites should always use white as the main background color. A left border background can add needed color if necessary.

    Black text on a white background color is the most readable, and also recognized as the most professional choice for most business sites.

11. Design your site to be optimally viewed at the most common screen resolutions, not just your screen resolution.

    The most common screen resolution is 800x600 pixels, and the trend is ever upward to higher and higher resolutions. Few people still use lower resolutions, so I recommend designing your site for the defacto standard of 800x600 if you use a fixed-width design.

    A liquid designcan be used so your site adjusts to all resolutions. If you have only one column of content, then it should adjust automatically unless you use a fixed-width table or other fixed-width page elements. Using liquid design with more than one column of content is accomplished by placing your entire page inside a table and using page percentages for the table and table data cell widths.

12. Maintain a consistent look and feel throughout your whole site. Changing the look and feel makes people wonder if they've left your site, as well as having them likely to consider your web presence as less professional than your competitors.
13. Do provide a practical, usable, and consistent navigational system. If it's hard or confusing to get around your site, most people will be getting around another site soon, instead of yours.
14. Offer valuable information, tools, and resources. The more quality content you can offer the better your site will be, the more likely people will return, and the more likely that someone will tell a friend about it. Word-of-mouth advertising is as important online as offline. People tend to tell others more readily about online resources than they do offline because it's so fast and easy to do via email and instant messaging.
15. Do provide fresh content and updates on a regular basis. No one will keep coming back to see the same old thing. Repeat visits is a key to sales.
16. Do something to capture a visitor's attention immediately. People have short attention spans, they'll often move on within 20 seconds if you haven't piqued their interest. One study revealed that a web site will lose six percent of its visitors if the page hasn't loaded within 10 seconds. A professional, high quality look helps, as does compelling text or special offers.
17. Do everything you can to encourage visitors to opt-in to your mailing list or ezine/newsletter. This will be your most reliable market and they'll provide your most valuable feedback. Many will become friends and allies.

    My Almost a Newsletter ezine is my most reliable marketing tool. In addition to being a useful business tool, having your own publication can open all kinds of doors for you. I was asked by a publisher to write a book for them on web site design, in part, because of my ezine following. Web Site Design Made Easy is the book, and it's now being used in colleges from Alaska to Zimbabwe. Not bad for starters.

18. Do encourage feedback, interactivity, and a sense of community. It's human nature to need a sense of inclusion, even it's just being able to provide feedback.
19. Do provide your full contact information in plain view. This helps encourage trust. Adding your picture to your web site is another trust stimulating factor. Most people will trust someone they can see over someone they can't - they reason you're not a scam artist hiding behind a web site if you're willing to put your smiling mug online for the world to see.
20. Define your goals and web site's purpose before you start building it and remember the reasons you're creating a web site when you start designing - BUT, design your site for your visitors. Remember, as far as they're concerned, it's what's in it for them that matters most.
21. Do register your own domain name and use professional hosting. Sub-domains and free hosting will result in your business not being taken seriously - period, end of story.
22. Don't write in officious, dry, corporate language unless your site specifically caters to business executives or technical people. Most people prefer a friendly, casual style of writing. A little appropriate humor goes a long ways toward winning your audience over. Self-deprecating humor is safest. Avoid joke telling, but don't be afraid to slip in an original humorous comment here and there, that's all it takes for your visitors to sense your personality and feel like you're talking with them instead of at them.
23. If you're selling products online, you must be able to accept credit card orders. Very few will take the time to send a mail order. If you can't capture the impulse buy, you won't accomplish your sales goals no matter how minimal they are.
24. Answer email inquiries within 24-48 hours. Anything beyond that will make people wonder what kind of service and support you will provide if they buy from you. If you can't, use an autoresponder to reply with a generic thank you email with the promise that you'll respond soon.
25. Just putting a site online isn't enough. You do need to promote it, online and offline. If you think of a web site as just an aside to your real world business it will not provide the benefits it could. Your online presence can be a new and valuable dimension to your existing business, and can also be a business unto itself.

    Online, it needs to be promoted through search engines and directories, strategic link exchanges, intelligent advertising, and other promotional opportunities that vary with the nature of your business.

    Offline you should include your web site address anywhere you place your business name. This includes, but is not limited to:

    On your after-hours Answering Machine On your Business Checks On Letterheads On Business Cards In your Yellow Page Ads On newspaper Display Ads, Flyers or Inserts In your Classified Ads On your Invoices On your Sales Receipts On your Product Bagging/Packaging Materials In Direct Mailings On your Company Brochures and other Literature Include it with your Radio and Television Ads On Billboards if you advertise that way

    Any promotional material you produce - include your web site address. The wider the use of your Internet address the more impact it will have for you.

    Think Integration here. Too many companies separate offline and online activities. They view their physical business as one entity, and their web site as a separate entity. The fact is, an integrated marketing approach is the most effective strategy.

    Strategically placed signs in your physical store advertising your web site address will not only generate more traffic to your web site, it shows the public you are a modern company interested in serving their needs in every way possible.

    Even better, print Internet cards for people to take with them whenthey leave your store. Place themby the cash register or wherever you place signs promoting your web site. If they pick up your Internet card, they will surely visit your web site. Internet cards are simply business cards dedicated to your web site. They include your business name, web site address and perhaps a brief description.

26. Utilize free publicity with press releases. Newspapers often edit out desired information. Include your web site address in your press release stressing that the full story can be found on your web site.

    Newsworthy items for press releases include:

    New launches (including a new web site) New products or services Business expansion Employee hirings or promotions Competitions Industry news

27. Offer online-only specials. It causes people to frequent your web site looking for deals, and you'll have more chances to sell them other products as well. It also causes branding. Even if they don't need your main products or services now, they will think of you first when they do have a need for what you offer if your name is branded into their brain.
28. Think FREE! On the Internet, content is king. You can create tremendous loyalty by offering valuable free content. This doesn't have to be physical goods that cost you for each item you give away. The best free thing to give away is information.

    This can be in the form of articles, of course, but also giving away eBooks can be a boon to your business, especially if you encourage your visitors to give it away too. People will find you from your eBook that would have otherwise never heard of you. Any free eBook has to be of sufficient quality that you could choose to sell it, or it's not a valuable free item that will excite people about your business.

29. Always strive for quality. Your site will be compared to your competitor's sites, and decisions to purchase will be made, in part, on how your site stacks up against theirs.

    This tip is so important, I must repeat it. Always strive for quality! Quality is what separates those just getting by from those that stand out and thrive. Being average is what keeps the average down.

30. And the final, most obvious, yet most important tip: always be honest, ethical, and fair. I see far too many sites that don't seem to understand that, and it's a critical point in your online success. Word travels around the world online at lightning speed. If you are not an upstanding Netizen (internet citizen), folks will learn of it sooner rather than later and your work will be in vain.

Closing Comments

Those that succeed are those that stick with it. It takes time to build an online business to the point where the results excite you. Intelligence and common sense, a willingness to learn what works and what doesn't, patience, integrity, and the desire to make it work are the most important factors.

We've all heard of many online businesses that have failed and lost millions of dollars. The doom and gloom stories scared many people out of the idea of building a web business. But it was an unsustainable business model and a lack of understanding of how people react and respond online that caused the majority of these business failures, rather than a poor product or service.

What you don't hear much about is the many success stories. I know many people who earn their living from the internet, as do I, so it's very possible indeed to create a successful online business. Whether you do it yourself or hire a professional, always model yourself after the success of others who have blazed the way. To try to invent your own successful modus operandi means all but the most ingenious will always be swimming against the tide.

Lastly, be yourself when you write. People will identify with the genuine you before they will a phony you. There is no one on earth that can be you better than you can, and being you is what you were born to do. It's perfectly fine, natural, desirable, and what will make you most successful and most happy.

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