How to Make Your Website Win You More Business

website
by

make

How to your

Business

win you more

Jason norris

Copyright © 2013 Jason Norris All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without written permission from the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as possible, but no warranty of fitness is implied. The information is provided on an as-is basis. The authors and the publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages arising from the information contained in this book.

Dedicated to entrepreneurs, start-ups, and all the other people out there who do not find a blank piece of paper intimidating.

Table of Contents
Foreword6 What Does a Web Site Do?
Your web site is a bridge  9 What makes a great web site?  10 A web site is an investment  11

8

Defining the Audience

Choosing the right target market  14 Useful recourses  16

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Who, What, Why (Triple W)
Writing good web page content  18

17 21

Web Site Design

Great web design will get results  22 Final thoughts  27

Get Noticed!

Blogging, Newsletters  33 Pay-per-click, social media, PR  34

32

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 5 

Foreword
Doing so is easy. The characteristics (or elements) of a great web site are simple, indeed straight-forward because they are very much in tune with the behaviors that make any business, or operation, thrive. So, your web site needs to be efficient, wellorganized, and clear-sighted in its mission and goals. So many elements of creativity are part of the mix that makes a good web site, and for that reason there is no “right” way to a winning web site. There are, however, basic principles and web essentials that have stood the test of time. I have written this e-book in an effort to weave these principles and web essentials into a workable framework and provide enough context, examples, and concepts to enable you to design and tailor a beautiful web site, that essentially delivers on the promise of every winning web site - to transition readers into believers. This e-book draws on ten-years of experience in helping individuals, groups, startups, service professionals, health professionals, and whole companies take their idea and turn it into a business that thrives. Many clients have said that the very principles and web elements that I share in this book have really helped them and made a profound difference in the end-result of their web site. It is my working with those clients that has taught me the most important lessons about what works and what doesn’t work in making web sites more effective and ultimately making you and your business more competitive. This ebook explains those lessons.

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his e-book has been written for people who share my conviction that it is important - in fact, essential in today’s world - for all start-ups and entrepreneurs to have not just a winning web site, but a great web site.

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“What separates web design from art is that web design is meant to be... functional.”— Cameron Moll

Foreword 7

Chapter I

What does a web site do?
This might seem to be a silly question, but it should be the first question you ask yourself when starting every new web project. If you look at the many, many web sites out there, it would seem that a lot of people who take on the task of designing a web site have forgotten to ask themselves that very question.
f the purpose of your web site is for business, there are a number of things you have to consider before you start actually building it. Are you building this site to make money, to share information, or to use it as a way to “dictate the conversation?”

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ypically, most businesses use it for at least two of the three previous purpose. Hence, the main reasons for having a web site are for potential clients to find you when they search for what you offer, to locate you in whatever city/town you are operating out of, and for you to build trust with those who land on your page, and to give them enough information to turn them into “ believers”. So, essentially, its purpose is for prospective clients and new clients alike to understand what it is you do, who it is you do it for, and why it is you do it. Those are your what, who, and why statements. Be precise about what you want to achieve, and you will have a good prospect of success. I am a strong believer that you have to put yourself in your customers’ shoes in order to have a sense of whether what you’re wanting to sell will actually sell, and continue to sell. Let’s take that idea a bit further. Every picture, every paragraph, every link, every button should be carefully worded, placed, etc. towards the main purpose of your website: to sell something or to generate sales leads. If it isn’t, rework it or get rid of it. Otherwise, it’s just a distraction.

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Your web site is a bridge

Typically, a web site can cause one of four actions to happen with the reader.

1. They land on your site and then go where you want them to go. The web site leads the way through intuitive navigation. 2. They land on your site and they request more information, e. g. subscribe to your newsletter, or contact you. 3. They buy your product or sign-up for your service. 4. They read it, and what they have read resonates with them so much that they want to talk about you and your business with their friends. In this case, the web site has transitioned your reader, not just into a believer, but into a follower. When clients ask me “what does a web site do?” I always use the same example: your visitors are on one side of the bridge and you are on the other. You want the visitor to cross the bridge to your side, where they will be able to initiate a business relationship or buy something. Your web site needs to provide that bridge. The pictures, links, buttons, headlines and words of your website are the materials with which to build it.

What does a web site do? 9

What makes a great web site?
There are many good web sites. However, there are not many great web sites out there. I personally feel that a good web site simply isn’t good enough… after all, why waste your time? If you are satisfied with “good”, well then, this e-book probably isn’t for you. “Good” is the enemy of “great.” And that is one of the key reasons why we have so few great web sites. The vast majority of web sites never become great, precisely because the vast majority of web site creators are satisfied with their work being merely good. A great web site should not only captivate the reader it should also transition the reader into action. Transitioning anyone into doing anything is part of the art of persuasion, and arguably the art of persuasion is, on the most fundamental level, selling. To be good at selling you need to understand certain principles of marketing. Most web sites are good because they are done by good solid web developers. Great web sites are created by great developers and great marketers, too. Let’s look at it in another way. If, as a potential client, I come and visit you during business hours, my expectation is that you are going to try to persuade me either to do something I don’t typically do, or to buy something I don’t typically buy. That’s my expectation. So, when I get there, if you are just content to have a conversation with me and our conversation leads to nowhere or to nothing, my expectation hasn’t been met. My expectations haven’t been met and, most likely, yours haven’t either. So let’s just put it out there - no one wins and this e-book is about creating web sites that win. There are some born salesmen out there, but many of us aren’t naturally suited to a career in sales. I get that. But, whatever our comfort level with the process, I believe that we would all agree that a great web site will make sales much easier, and will ultimately sell for you. Here is the crucial point: the expectation of every great web site is to spur readers into action. Do we all agree? Good! In our time, web sites are a very important medium. It is the web in particular, where most people, first and foremost, get their information nowadays. In this respect, web sites are a lot like a book, in that they both have the ability to give readers a new perspective on something they already knew (or thought they knew). Great web sites are just like great self-help or non-fiction books - they tell a story that often resonates with readers and makes them take action and sometimes even share the content of this story amongst their circle of friends.

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A web site is an investment
Even if you’re not planning on selling online, a well-crafted site is essential for any business. In any case, don’t be so quick as to dismiss your product as one that can’t be sold online. Nowadays, there is very little that can’t be sold over the internet. The point to be made here is that you should, at the very least, have a presence on the web so that customers, potential employees, business partners and perhaps even investors can quickly and easily find out more about your business and the products or services you have to offer. But, as I said earlier on, it’s not enough that you just have a web site, you must have a great web site if you want to be taken seriously. Great web sites can project the image and professionalism which are often associated with a much larger company. The reverse is also true. I’ve seen many big company web sites that were so badly designed and hard to navigate that they completely lacked professionalism and credibility. Too bad for them! You can do better than that! The take-away here is that if you don’t have a web site, you will surely be losing business to other companies that do. So, no arguments, you need a web site! But, to repeat: it’s not enough to have a good web site, or just another web site you need a great web site. If you are going to do something that impacts your business, it needs to be great. The difference between a good web site and a great web site is in the content, and how the reader reacts to the story. Good web sites get you readers, great web sites get you business. I encourage every entrepreneur or start-up to have a web site. However, as we saw in the previous paragraph, it’s actually better to have no web site at all than to have one that makes your business look bad or doesn’t help you sell. Your site speaks volumes about your business. Your web site is an important part of your business. Make sure you treat it as such.

Note • More than 20 million shoppers are now online, purchasing everything from books to computers to cars to real estate to jet airplanes to natural gas to you name it. If you can imagine it, someone will figure out how to sell it online.

What does a web site do? 11

Chapter II

Defining the audience?
Start-ups, small businesses and entrepreneurs need to be smart about the way they work. To achieve the best results from your web site, it is important that you know your target market inside and out. Understanding your
Obvious ways to classify audiences are by age, gender, race, location (where they live), and their class, which is normally judged on the kind of job the main wage earner of the household has.

target customers’ demographics helps you determine exactly what your web site will (or should) be, and what kind of tactics or elements will work best.
By knowing your target audience inside and out, you will be more effective in building a site that resonates with the people you want to serve. Knowing who your reader will be or targeting a specific market does not mean that you will discourage people that do not fit your criteria from buying from you. 12

Defining your target market lets you know where to market, what language to use and what marketing mix to utilize. It makes your job of finding new customers easier and more competitive. Business author, Seth Godin has a great way of putting it - “It’s much better to be #1 in a small market than to be #6 in a larger market.”

Rather, target marketing allows you to focus your energy and brand message on a specific market that is more likely to buy from you than from other markets. Know your audience, know their needs, and know what they will be looking to find when they visit your web site. This knowledge will be the basis of your marketing strategies. Smart marketers know that there are many subsets in every group targeted, and they know that not every message will appeal to every person. However, despite consumers’ resistance to stereotyping in media, an understanding of demographics is most certainly still as relevant today as in previous years. It’s still useful to get the big-picture view of your target consumers. Here is a very simple example. If you have decided, for example, that your product will be geared toward seniors, then your research will tell you that the font page on your website should be easy to read, with a white or light-colored background, and that it should avoid excessive use of Flash or quick moving text and pictures.

Defining the audience? 13

At this point, I do not want to spend time dwelling on the different types of target markets. If you need more information, or to find some valuable articles on the subject of targeting, use Google to search for “the importance of defining a target market”. I will say this: small businesses and Start-ups need to be smart about how they do business; they need to be smarter than the competition in order to thrive. Defining a target market will help you know where to market and who to market to. Once you infiltrate a social group, it’s easier to get referrals from that same circle since the sociologists tell us that people tend to socialize with people with whom they share similar interests. Here are my five critical tips for choosing the right target market for your business: 1. Look at your current roster of clients: Who amongst them energize you? Who out of your current client base shows a lack of energy or commitment? Look for common characteristics and interests in the former group. Which ones bring in the most business? It is very likely that other people like them could also benefit from your product/service. What needs does your product/service fulfill? What benefits and special characteristics do you bring to the table that will help you stand out from the crowd? 2. Look at your competition: Who are your competitors targeting? Who are their current customers? Don’t go after the same market. You may find a niche market that they are overlooking. 3. Squeeze the juice out: Write out a list of all the features of your product or service. Next to each feature, list the benefits they provide (and the benefits of those benefits). For example, a good web developer offers high quality web solutions. The resulting benefit is a professional looking web site. A professional looking web site will attract more customers because they see the company as professional and trustworthy. So ultimately, the benefit of web solutions is to gain more customers and make more money. Once you have your benefits listed, make a list of people who have a need that your benefit fulfills. For example, a web developer could choose to target businesses which are interested in increasing their client base. While this is still very general, it does give you a base to start from.

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4. Look at specific demographics, and consider “ psychographics” of your target: Figure out not only who has a need for your product or service, but also who is most likely to buy it. Think about the following factors: age, location, gender, income level, educational level. Psychographics are concerned with the social and emotional characteristics of people, including: personality, attitudes, values, interest, hobbies, lifestyles, and behavior. Ignoring demographics and not being specific in your geographic market really means you’re not paying attention to your future. If you’re running a small business, the chances are pretty good that your small business is quite geographically specific. So why then would you want to copy some other plan, or some other marketing campaign, or some other web site that probably was not set up to target the audience in you own location? This is why it is imperative to do your target market homework. If you want to beat the competition, one of the biggest assets you may have over them is location. You have your feet on the ground and they probably don’t. If you want to win more business, you need to engage with a community--and examine its needs--before jumping in. 5. Time to evaluate your direction: Once you’ve decided on a target market, be sure to consider these questions: - Are there enough people that fit my criteria? While it is good to be specific, you don’t want to be too specific that you start alienating people. - Will my target really benefit from my product/service? Will they see a need for it? Do I understand what drives my target to make decisions? - Can they afford my product/service and am I priced appropriately? - Can I reach them with my message? - Are they easily accessible? The trick is to find that perfect balance. You may be asking, “How do I find all this information?” Try searching online for research others have done on your target. Search for magazine articles and blogs that talk about your target market or that talk to your target market. Search for blogs and forums where people in your target market communicate their opinions. Look for survey results, or consider conducting a survey of your own. Ask your current customers for feedback.

Defining the audience? 15

Useful Resources:
Pew Internet (pewinternet.org) publishes reports regarding internet use among various demographics. Scarborough (Scarborough.com) issues press releases with useful data and sometimes publishes free studies. You may be surprised what you can find just by doing a search in Google. I have already given an example above. Now that you’ve identified your target market you’ll need to craft a message that reaches and speaks to that market while reinforcing your brand identity. It should explain what you have to offer, why you’re different, and why anyone should buy from you. Let’s call this “The Triple W” -Who, What, Why. I mentioned these keywords in chapter one and in chapter three we will go on to examine them in detail.

Cartoonist at Marketoonist Tom Fishburne Who else should we target?

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Chapter III

Who, What, Why (Triple W)
Once we know what our web site’s purpose is and who we are targeting, we will need to fill it with content that will resonate with the people who will visit our site. Our purpose will be to get an action or a reaction out of them.
he website needs to “take the visitors by the hand” and help them find what they are looking for. And this must be done quickly! Within a few seconds of getting to your site, a visitor needs to know what to do next. Clear, short messages work well for this purpose. If you are diligent in your initial web site preparation, you should know what to say and how to say it in the fewest words possible. In this way, you will have the biggest impact. That being said, keep in mind that most people who come to your web site won’t become customers, even if you have done the best possible preparation.

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Who, What, Why (Triple W) 17

In fact, the average conversion rate on the internet is around one percent, meaning only 1 out of 100 visitors will end up contacting you, signing up, or buying something. Therefore, engaging your customers is important, as most people don’t convert on the first visit. By engaging visitors, you’ll give the incentive to return, convert, and hopefully invite other members of their social network to do the same. As you know, the Internet was created in the first place as an information source. People, for the most part, use it as an information tool, and the usual approach is: get what you want, and get out! If the content on your site does not provide the information needed by its users, they will look for it elsewhere. Keep in mind that long explanations, and “the whole story of who you are” are best kept for brochures or corporate videos, not your web site. Your prospective clients require answers or solutions to their problems, needs, desires and wants. Provide the answers and they will return again and again. Furthermore, if you can engage your client with your content, they will want to share it with their own personal and professional network. So, to engage your visitors, make the content accessible and easy to share.

Writing good web page content:
Copyblogger is a good place on the web to look for content help.

Again, if you are not comfortable with content writing, and if you do not know how to maximize your message with the least number of words, then do some more homework on the web. Search for sites that have suggestions on how to write content. Better yet hire, professionals to do it. In dealing with my own clients, I always ask them to write their content and send it to me to edit and tweak. When the client has submitted a good, full draft, my job is not difficult. Remember the old saying: it’s always easier to subtract than to add or create. Here are my five essential tips for creating remarkable web site content. 1. Triple W - WHO, WHAT, and WHY: The most important piece of information you will share with your visitors is who you are, what you do, who you do it for, and why you do it. (OK, that should be “quadruple W,”but it just didn’t have the same ring to it). To help you get the ball rolling, In the fewest words possible, write down your Who, What, and Why statement.

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EXAMPLE: I teach and help (WHO) small business owners, start-ups, and service professionals, (WHAT) how to get more business through easy-to-do and inexpensive marketing strategies, (WHY) so they can get more clients, make more money, grow their business and have more time to focus on their daily operations. The WHO is: Who is your target market? (E.g. Children, business owners, nonprofits...etc.) The WHAT is: What do you do to help the “who” out? Do not use your business title, but rather say what your title offers. (E.g. Consultants help and teach others, architects design and create, graphic designers make words and images look the best they can be...etc.) The WHY is: Why do you do it? This is the most important part of the statement. Why people buy what you are selling. What’s the investment for your reader? (E.g. Do they need more clients? Are they looking for something more customized and representative of who they are, or are they looking for someone to sweat the small stuff so they can focus on the big stuff?) Work on this statement, and try to keep it as short as possible. Remember that “less is more”when it comes to web site content, because, as I said above, people want to get it, and get out. 2. Make your content interesting: Don’t just provide dry information and facts. Make it lively and entertaining whenever possible. Try to give people a glimpse of who they are buying from. One interesting view is that, the best way to sell to someone is to make them laugh or “have a conversation”, as opposed to being factual and dry. So, yes, sell yourself, your services or your product. Make yourself likable. Once you write your content, re-read it and put yourself into your clients’ shoes, then try to convince yourself to buy, sign-up, or request your own service. What would make you buy your product? Tip: If you are going to be using a professional service to edit and stylize your content, ask them to keep the same style and voice that your content has , but to make it even less wordy, or to cut the content down in size if they can. A good editor or copywriter often can and will do this for you.

Who, What, Why (Triple W) 19

3. Write about things and provide information that you know well: Your clients are smart, and they have probably already browsed two or three web sites that offer what you offer before landing on your site. So, do not try to be someone you are not, or sell something you don’t know very well. Just like everything else I preach, get your message across fast, but also make quality use of the time someone is spending reading your site. Don’t overdo it. If you try to cover a large topic in a mediocre or unconvincing way, people will probably not return to your site. 4. Make your content load fast: (I bet ya didn’t see that one coming, did ya!) There is nothing more irritating than a site that loads slowly. There can be many reasons for this problem, and the source of the irritation can sometimes be out of your hands, but remember that you and your web developer have control over your content. Something that is within your control is the way that you code your web site. Try using the latest coding scripts available, because oftentimes, the latest available code scripts accomplish more with less and reduce the amount of code on your pages. The less code, the smaller the page size. Use small images that give the user the option to enlarge them if they please. Do not use music or sound on your web site. I believe that no one really likes it, it’s not effective, and, most importantly, it adds to the overall load time on the computer. Finally, provide content that is broken up into short paragraphs and short pages. 5. Use words (key words) in your content that people will search for: Keywords are the words that customers use to find your site when using a search engine. The idea is to optimise your page for these words or phrases. You should choose keywords that accurately reflect your business. They should be specific enough to target potential customers, but not too narrow. Of course, you’ll probably have numerous keywords. The best approach is to pick different keywords for different pages. If the name of your business is well known, use it as a keyword for the “About Us” page. But most customers will be searching for your product or service, not your name. Also, try search terms to see what works on your competitors’ sites. Search engines are set up to consider headings, page titles, bold and linked text to be the most important and relevant terms on your site. Therefore, the precise wording of these sections of your content is extremely important. Content is the vital component for every web site or advertising/marketing tool. That is why it has become essential for web site owners to review and edit their web files and content on a regular basis. A site that has crisp, tidy and persuasive content definitely has more visitors hitting the site on a regular basis. No matter how multimedia-based and flashy your website is, rich content is now a mandatory requirement in the construction of your website.

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Chapter IV

Web Site Design
There are many, many web sites out there that focus too much on providing massive amounts of content and are not well structured to properly serve that content to their readers. Web sites are different than a book of print. But neither are they the same as a video, or a film. Web sites might be thought to lie somewhere between these extremes. This makes it imperative to understand the medium thoroughly so as to utilize it well by exploiting its capabilities when creating a great web site.
lthough a good graphic designer can make a big difference, great web site design isn’t rocket science and can easily be learnt. Many non-designers believe that they’re unable to create visually pleasing web sites because they didn’t go to art school, or that they lack creative flair.

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Web Site Design 21

There are certain design maxims and techniques anyone can learn and apply to ensure that their website is not only functional, but remarkable too. For those of you who want to really delve into the “how to” of beautiful web design, I recommend a book called The Principles of Beautiful Web Design by Jason Beaird, which you can find on amazon.com.

Great web design will get results
In order to design a web site that will be noticed, we first need to understand how users interact with web-sites, how they think and what are the basic patterns of users’ behavior. Users’ habits on the web aren’t really so very different from customers’ habits in a store where the impact of displays is crucial. In a store, customers may pause to view a counter, then quickly move on. On your web site, visitors glance at each new page, scan some of the text, and click on the first link that catches their interest. In fact, there will be large parts of the page they don’t even look at. As is well known to the creators of a magazine page, you literally have five seconds or less to make your impact. If the page on your web site doesn’t very quickly meet users’ expectations, the BACK button is clicked and the search process is continued. Here are my simple steps to great web design. 1. Aim for the simple and the straightforward: don’t force them to dig and search endlessly to find what they’re looking for. If the content says WHO, WHAT, AND WHY, the design should tell users “here’s where to go to get what you want”. Ensure its contents are well organized and free of extraneous bells and whistles. Intuitive navigation and quick load times are critical. Content Balance: Balance is all about ensuring that your design does not tip to one side or the other. It is like the balance of weight in achieving symmetry or asymmetry. If you’re not careful about how you lay things out, the design will become unbalanced rather quickly. You can manipulate the visual weight of a design in many ways, such as with color, size and the addition or removal of elements. Simple, minimal and fresh is always best. Think of your web site as a retail store.

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If you go into a retail store that is cluttered and full of disorganized, unidentified items, you’re going to lose interest quickly. However, if you walk in and find an atmosphere that is clean, bright, and welcoming, you are more likely to buy. You water down your product or service if you have provided too many options. Keep it tidy! 2. Navigational Balance: When you understand how users interact with websites, navigational balance becomes a key to your design. The only way to understand your particular navigational history is by looking at your sites’ particular metrics. To do this, either use Google Analytics or access your hosting company’s monthly report. Where do most visitors to your site go first? What page is the most read, and what actions do people take before leaving your site? Once you know more about user history and how your visitors interact you will be able to understand more precisely your navigational balance. In a word, the rule of thumb is that, the longer the visitor is on your web site, the more content and information they are willing to take in. That being said, look at what page most people land on and what page most people go to. The page they land on should have a quick short message and a visible one-click way to get to whichever page they wish to go to. 3. Colour: Theories in color psychology can play an important role in business and product marketing. After all, research shows that colors have the power to alter the physiology and mental states of a person. However, just like everything else that has to do with web sites and design, when it comes to color, keep it simple. With a little sense of adventure and a basic understanding of what works and what doesn’t you too will be on your way to choosing amazing color schemes. (The nice thing about choosing web colors, as opposed to choosing colors for a painting or your house, is that you CAN experiment till you find the perfect balance (there’s that word again). You can make as many experiments as you need to in the quest for perfection. One thing you want to keep in mind is to always remember that colors may have different meanings across various demographics and cultures, so always think about your target market and learn as much as you can about their behavior and preferences.

Web Site Design 23

Three golden rules of choosing the right colors for your web site: - Does your website need to sync with an existing color scheme? This is often the case for business sites that need to reflect the branding that the company already uses. What colours does the rest of your marketing collateral come in? - What kind of photos and graphics will you incorporate into the site? It’s important that your color scheme be set up to match your images, and vice versa. Photos can actually be a great source of inspiration when it comes to choosing colors for your site. Look at the pictures you will use, and try to find a distinct color palette. - Use only 3 main colors on your web site: The more colors you use, the harder it becomes to keep them all in harmony and create a balanced effect. I always recommend using the 60 – 30 – 10 Rule. The rule specifies that you should pick three different colors and use them in ratios of 60%, 30% and 10% respectively. • The 60% will be the primary color of your site and set the overall tone of your design. • The 30% should contrast with the 60% to create a visually striking effect. • The 10% is an ‘accent color’, which should complement either your primary or secondary color. 4. Typography: The art of type is a tricky subject to talk about because it encompasses so many elements. Most people tend to underestimate the importance of typography when it comes to web design, or design in general. There is a tendency to perceive it as content that can just be thrown in after the design stage has taken place. If you feel that you have this belief, you need to climb out of this mindset as soon as you can if you really want to succeed in the design industry. Typography is actually one of the most important elements of design; it can literally make or break your final product and can be the difference between your web site being great or being good. When designing web sites for clients, I can easily spend hours going through lists of fonts and trying different ones for different types of contexts. It’s a bit of a tedious process, but your choice of font is such a crucial ingredient in typography and the time spent will prove itself worthwhile in the end.

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FONT: Firstly, let’s make sure we know the difference between a serif and a sans serif font. Serif fonts are the ones with the tiny cross hatches at the ends of some letters. (There hatches are actually called serifs) and sans serif fonts are the ones without them. FONT SIZE: To determine the size of your text you must consider the purpose: what’s it for? What is its audience? If you want your text to be scanned easily, make it larger and easier on the eyes. Studies have shown that, if someone is interested in the content, smaller text can encourage the reader to focus more on the text, rather than scanning it. However, for others, smaller text may not draw them in and is more effortful for the eyes. So when should you use these font types? Studies have suggested that, in terms of body text, serif fonts are more readable when it comes to print, but become less readable on the web due to low screen resolutions. Therefore the general rule of thumb is to use serif fonts for print and sans serif fonts on the web. Moving away from just the body text, we need to decide the relative importance of elements of our display, with the most important elements demanding a larger font-size. Consider the examples below.

Web Site Design 25

LETTER SPACING & LINE WEIGHT: One very important aspect of typography, that is often overlooked, is letter spacing. All too often, the default letter-spacing value is employed and no thought is applied. It can be the difference between someone reading your content or not. The general rule of thumb for letter-spacing is the larger the text, the lower the letter-spacing value. Compare these examples.

Nicely spaced out body text allows for effortless scanning of large blocks of text. In the second example, reduced line-height can cause problems with readability as it can confuse the eyes as to where the next line begins.

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READABILITY: Finally, you must consider the readability of your text as a whole. Take a look at your text. Ask yourself (and be honest in this), do you think people will want to read this text? Think about what you can do to make it more readable. Let’s face it – we, as a race, are by nature a lazy breed. So it is your job to make it your message as effortless as possible for your readers. Make sure your text is broken up into paragraphs of a sensible length. Remember that, if appropriate, you can use images to further break up your text and make it easier on the eye. FINAL THOUGHTS: The goal is to create readable content that is also visually appealing. Good typography enhances the readability and aesthetic presentation of your web site. Bad typography will distract the reader’s attention from even the best composed and planned document. When typography works, your reader will enjoy looking at your document or display without having the least notion of the myriad of factors that went into its production. Good web design is not limited to the key principles discussed here. Aspects such as accessibility, readability and usability play a part, too. It’s about being professional. I encourage you to go out there, and get your feet wet in design. The easiest path to a great web site is to have a solid design. The easiest way to a solid design is to make early decisions and stick to them. With so many content management systems, blogging tools and themes readily available, it’s easier than ever to start experimenting, and the cost of entry is relatively low with potentially huge rewards for the ones who persevere in the process. Now that we know what a web site is for, who we will target, how to write content to retain as many visitors as possible, and how to serve that content up for maximum results, what’s next? Do we launch, do we go to market? Are we done?... almost, but not quite.

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Chapter V

Revision
When launching a web site, you can often forget a number of important things in your eagerness to make it come alive. So, before you announce your web site to the world, it’s useful to have a checklist of items to review as you make your final touches. There are almost always little details that are forgotten during the development stage. Before launching your site, review it thoroughly to ensure nothing is left to chance. This will make for a better user experience and help you to avoid unnecessary costs after the official site release.
Take revision seriously, be disciplined, and set high standards for yourself. Remember: revision literally means to “see again,” to look at something from a fresh, critical perspective. It is an ongoing process of rethinking the web site with a microscopic view, reconsidering your language, reviewing your who, what, and why statements, refining your offer, reorganizing your overall message, and so on.

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Bellow, I’ve provided samples of what can be some general checklist “final to-do” items. However, the best pre-launch checklist is one that you’ve customized yourself. Only you know what has been done and hasn’t been done, and what you are trying to achieve. Proofread: You’ve put a lot of effort into writing your content and creating a site that your audience will enjoy. Next step: Proofread everything before you put it online. Read everything. Even if you’ve already read it, read it again. Get someone else to read it. There’s always something you’ll pick up on and have to change. See if you can reduce the amount of text by keeping it specific. Read every word on your site out loud, sentence by sentence, and follow Peter Elbow’s advice: “Look for places where you stumble or get lost in the middle of a sentence.” These will be obvious signs of an awkwardness that need fixing. Get a couple of people that will agree to look over the written parts. You can send these to friends and family you trust. It’s your last chance to make your content error-free. Add Google Analytics In my eyes, Google Analytics is almost a better tool than their search engine. And, it’s free! I use Google Analytics for measuring stats on all my clients’ websites. It’s the go-to, who’s-who of statistics. You get to know your web stats inside-out, and this makes it easier for you to make smart decisions about your ongoing marketing strategy. You can get information on everything from how your users landed on your website, why they left, what page they landed on, where in the world they are from, right down to the size of their computer monitor and the type of operating system they’re running. The first rule in online marketing is to have some form on analytics. Google does that for you well, and it’s free! Cross-Browser Checks: At some point in the future, web code will likely be standardized, which will make testing across multiple browsers no longer necessary as long as the website is coded according to those web standards. However, that isn’t yet the case, and different browsers react differently to certain coding scripts.

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One way to test your web site for compatibility is to load your web site on as many computers as you can find, using as many different combinations of browsers and operating systems as possible. It can be time-consuming, and you will need access to a wide variety of computer platforms. Some very good free testing tools are available to everyone, and make testing compatibility a little easier. Some are more user-friendly than others, and some have significantly better user interfaces. I will leave it up to you to discover the one you like to work with best. I use Adobe BrowserLab. Check your search engine titles and descriptions for every page: This is important because it improves your SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Search engines read through huge volumes of information on the web with software programs called “robots” or “spiders”. These spiders create an index which contains, essentially, all the pages they’ve found and the words that are contained in them. You need to make sure your web site is included in those indexes. The more relevant your overall content and your search engine titles are, the better your ranking will be. We will cover the importance of SEO in the final chapter of this e-book. Links:Don’t just assume all your links work. Test them by clicking on them. Also, think about how your links work. Is it obvious to new users that they are links? They should stand out from the other text on the page. Also, don’t underline text that isn’t a link because it will confuse users. Functionality check: Test everything thoroughly. If you have a contact form, test it and copy it yourself so that you can see what comes through. Get others to test your web site, not just family and friends but the website’s target market. Sit back and watch how a user uses the web site. It’s amazing what you’ll pick up on , such as how others use your web site differently than how you assume they’d use it. Common things to check for are: contact forms, search functions, shopping baskets and log-in areas. Backup: If your website runs off a database, you need a back-up strategy. Trust me when I tell you, you cannot have enough copies of your web site stored away. If you didn’t already back up your full site, please do so. The day may come when you will regret not having one. Most hosting companies offer a free way to back up your site and download it onto your computer to be stored.

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Final thoughts: It’s important to look at and consider everything you have done when revising the web site before launch. This is because creating a web site, designing marketing collateral, or writing a book is a process of discovery, and you don’t always produce your best stuff when you first get started. However, web sites are a little different from books or art in that you can add to them even after your public sees it. My point is that the revision process is a chance for you to look critically at what you have created, to see if it’s really worth saying, if it says what you wanted to say, and if a reader will understand what your business is about. It’s not only about checking everything over to see if it works. It’s about making sure that that your web site is not just good, but great!

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Chapter VI

Get Noticed!
In many ways, this is the most important chapter because this is where we draw it all together. I have saved the “best for last” because I am truly passionate about connecting people with the tools they need, and then seeing how the ideas flow. At first sight, this chapter seems to be mostly concerned with ways to generate leads to your web site, but my hope is that you can also use the information that you will find here to make your whole business more focused, more efficient, and more appealing to people at a grass roots level.
In this chapter, we will be primarily addressing the simple ways to get your web site notice, while expending no money, or, at least, just a little money. It is not a chapter about marketing strategies; nor will it meet the needs of people looking for deeper, more technical strategies to get their site traffic.

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My goal is to give you enough insight and creative ideas to make a big splash in the increasingly crowded world wide web. This is for people like you, people who are determined to build a great web site that pays for itself every day. There are thousands of ways you can promote your small business web site. With the right mix of activities, you can identify and focus on the most effective marketing tactics for your particular situation. Here are my five “must do’s” to get your site noticed Blogging: Start a blog and blog once a day. Blog about stuff you know well, and give your readers insight into your world. A blog puts a human face on your business, differentiating you from your competition and educating prospects and clients on the who, the what, and the why. It doesn’t have to be so very time consuming, either. It could be a paragraph long or two pages long. Undoubtedly, the best way to blog is to simply sit down and write once a day…but don’t limit yourself. Write as many blogs as the spirit moves you to. Write one blog post or fifteen! Newsletters: Entrepreneurs, start-ups, and small businesses all need to have a list of followers, or contacts. This is the single biggest marketing tool you will have. However, you can’t just buy a list and hope for the best. You need to grow your list organically, and from scratch for best results. Having a list of 200 people which you stole, or bought, and accessed without their permission is useless and will give you ZERO return. A newsletter is a subscription. Subscriptions are an overt act of permission. Not everyone who will come to your web site will transition into a paying customer; however, such people could give you permission to keep in touch with them. Newsletters are a choice that you give to your potential customers; it is up to them to choose if they will give you permission to start the relationship. If you do a good job at it, it may, like anything else that has to do with your business, turn strangers into friends and friends into lifetime customers. In his book Permission Marketing, Seth Godin defines list building in this way. “Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.”

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Newsletters are for those who don’t have time to read your blog every day. It’s for those people who want to learn about you and your business on their time, not yours. Every month, once a month, give your target audience a peek inside your business, a particular product, or the way you’re doing business. Keep your clients updated, and stay at the forefront of your subscribers’ minds! Monitor the results of your newsletter and continually refine your efforts to connect and win over your target audience and build that relationship from the ground up. Pay-per-click advertising: PPC is a type of sponsored online advertising that is used on a wide range of websites, including search engines, where you only pay if a web user clicks on your ad. Hence the title, ‘pay per click.’ So, if you’re selling products or services, it makes sense to make sales and build your fan club at the same time. Here’s how to boost your conversion rates from any pay per click campaign while also boosting your subscriber numbers. Just like everything else in marketing, there’s a ton of data and books on the subject, so I will not get into the details on how to. But I will say this: keep it clear and to the point: I audit hundreds of PPC campaigns for online retailers each year and eight out of ten campaigns that I see are terribly organized. All I can do here is to repeat something I’ve said time and again in this book: for the best results, keep it simple; be sure to be specific, and, even more importantly, target specific. Once again, targeting 100 people who are directly impacted by what you do is better than targeting 10,000 who are a “broader” match type. Your main focus should be conversion so you get the best ROI possible. Social media: Similar to newsletters, social media help you communicate with your potential customers and encourage them to develop a relationship with you and what you have to offer. Again, you should provide compelling reasons for people to “like” your Facebook page or follow you on Twitter, but you should also share content that gets them visiting your blog or interacting with your web site on a regular basis. Then they will be reminded why they “stopped by” in the first place. Social media are also a great tool for word-of-mouth marketing: they help you to see what people are talking about and what recommendations they have. Public relations: Building your reputation and influence is an important part of driving traffic to your company web site. Public relations is one of the most costeffective methods for small businesses to raise awareness. In most cases, a public relations campaign is much less expensive than advertising, and can be incredibly valuable to a small business. A good press release will get you more coverage than you could ever dream of. But, on the other hand, a bad press release will get you in the black books of your local newsroom crew. Be sure you have a good reason for sending a press release.

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A grand opening, a new product, a record-setting sales year, a new location or a special event- these are all good reasons. Second, make sure your press release is appropriately targeted for the publication or broadcast you’re sending it to. This may seem obvious, but many entrepreneurs make the mistake of sending press releases almost at random, and without considering a publication’s audience. So that’s it. You now know how to create a winning web site and what to do with it once it is published on the web. Go out there and make a ruckus! Have confidence in your vision and your creativity. With these, and the advice I have offered, you are ready to get started. This guide is obviously not intended to be last word. What I have tried to do is to distil my own personal experience into short sections, so you can find the little kernels of insight you need. So go with it. Remember those cushy jobs that used to come with great salaries? They’re gone. Remember when you thought you had security? That’s gone too. But developing your own business brings rewards far beyond those of a nine to five job. And, as we have seen, a web site not only goes a long way in helping you grow your business, but it’s also vital to the long-term sustainability of that business. The joy of being small and being you, is that you are in total control of all things relative to your business. You now have the basic knowledge, and you, and only you, have the power to make your web site great

Get Noticed! 35

Jason Norris is a Canadian Entrepreneur, Start-up & Marketing Advisor, blogger, and Public Speaker.

Jason Norris Author of this e-Book & Start-up Advisor

e is the founder of Snap! Media, a Canadian sports marketing firm based in Toronto, Canada. He also acts as the Creative Director for the firm, with responsibility for marketing programs, brand management, and new business strategy. Prior to Snap! Media, he worked in strategic business development and digital marketing at several companies. Notable is his four years as Director of Digital & Direct marketing for Sutra Communication, where he participated in major national campaigns and led the agency to a handful of award winning initiatives. Jason’s greatest strengths are his creativity, drive and leadership. He is uniquely respected for his understanding of small-business to mid-size business marketing. His ultimate gift is the common touch. Jason’s ability to mix with people of all walks of life and diverse backgrounds sets him apart from just about every other business professional that you meet. He possesses a quirky character with a healthy curiosity about life and a willingness to never take himself, or life too seriously. His blog is read by many business professionals, marketing execs, sales professionals, and thriving entrepreneurs. He writes about new business intelligence, marketing, goals, leadership and most of all, how to build a business that thrives. In 2010, Snap! Media was nominated by the Oakville Business council as “service business of the year”. In 2011 and again in 2012, Jason was invited by Ernst & Young as an honorable guest to their “E&Y Entrepreneur of the year” ceremony. Most recently, In the August 2012 issue of Filler Magazine, Jason was dubbed “Canada’s ideal entrepreneur for the digital age”. Jason studied Communication at the University of Ottawa and Small Business Management at McGill University.

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