December 11, 2004
What Makes A Successful Site?
It's another question I get asked often, especially by those just starting out in web marketing. Truthfully, I don't really think about it as a "web site" per se, but more along the lines of building a solid business that utilizes this wonderful technology we call The Internet.
Here's my personal list of what will make any web-based business a raging success:
1.) First you have to have a product or service that is needed. It simply doesn't work, as a prospective business, if people don't want what you have to offer. It's also not a very wise business decision to try to infiltrate a market that is already saturated.
That's not to say that you should never involve yourself in an industry which has a lot of competition and coverage. However you do need to realize that if there are a lot of competitors it's going to take more time and more effort to become profitable. And you'll need to work harder at differentiating yourself, offering something nobody else does.
2.) Choose a Brand when deciding on your domain name. Forget about loading the domain name up with keywords. It's not a great advantage with the search engines and it makes you look like a rank amateur, especially as surfers get more and more sophisticated. Your domain name is your brand and the first impression on your prospective customers. Make it count!
3.) Before you even start designing your new web site I recommend you start writing the content that will reside on it. As a general rule, you'll want to have around 100 pages straight away. That's 100 pages of unique, riveting content that will engage your readers. And hopefully entice them into becoming customers.
4.) Do not, I repeat Do Not gloss over choosing your keyword phrases. You need to brainstorm and research which keywords people will use when searching for what you have to offer. You will need to work these phrases into the content of your site if you want to be found for them.
And whatever you do, do not put all of your eggs in one basket. The single biggest mistake I see people make is that they try to concentrate on 1-5 keyword phrases when they should be utilizing 100 or more. If you optimize parts of your site for these more specific phrases you will be pleasantly surprised. Not only are they typically easier to obtain a good ranking for, they also tend to convert at a much higher rate than more generic terms.
5.) Don't worry about or try to design a site that is "cutting edge". The simpler the layout --visually speaking-- the better. Remember that most surfers Scan. They don't read every word. Shoot for a simple, clean, visually pleasing design helps people to concentrate on what you have to say. Don't clutter up your pages and confuse people. If you do, it will have a drastic effect on your conversions and retention.
6.) Once your site is up, do not neglect it. Again, as a general rule, I suggest building one new page of quality content to put online per day. At least in the beginning. It doesn't have to be a lot, just 200-500 words per page will do.
Write articles that will be helpful for your visitors, explain why your offering is better than your competitors, etc. Put it on your To Do list now to add at least 4 or 5 new pages to your site each week for the first 8-12 months. By the time you get finished you will have a site that is not only large enough, but is also a very valuable resource.
7.) Figure out who your target customers are and what they want. Too many people write their content from the viewpoint of the webmaster, which they are of course. But if you want your site to convert well you really need to understand your customers and tell them how your product/service/site will be of benefit to them.
8.) Writing your content/copy. I could easily spend an entire week talking about what you need to keep in mind, and methods to employ, while writing your content or web copy. The subject is really worthy of a book unto itself. Maybe I'll write more about this specific area sometime to expound on the details. For now, what I want you to remember is that you have to speak directly to each individual visitor.
Don't talk solely about yourself or your site. "I [or we] offer this or that to solve [this problem]" just doesn't cut it. Instead tell them what you can do for them that will solve a problem. For instance, "Aren't you tired of not being able to [insert symptom of some problem]. You will no longer have to worry about it once you start using [whatever your product or service is]."
Notice the use of You (or Your) instead of I or We. The second example speaks directly to the visitor.
9.) Read your copy out loud! Speaking from experience, it's very easy to become so engrossed in your content that you'll make silly grammar or typing errors. Goodness knows they don't call me the King of Typo's for nothing. LOL Reading your copy out loud will help you to spot those before it goes Live. It will also let you know if your content makes sense, and let you know if you're over using your keyword phrases.
If possible, run your copy by someone else too. And listen to their constructive criticism. Especially if they fit your target audience's general profile.
10.) Links. Devise an internal linking structure that makes sense. Use it to lead your readers from step to step along the buying process. When possible, and only when it makes sense from a reader's point of view, insert keywords in the linking text. That helps the search engines know what the page you are linking to is about.
It's also not a bad idea to provide outbound links to other sites that you consider to be valuable resources in your market. Only link to sites that are helpful to your prospective visitors, otherwise you're doing yourself and your visitors a disservice.
11.) Hosting. It is very important to choose a good host for your new site. There are so many variables that come into play here that it's tough to generalize. Just make sure your host is going to support everything you need them to. It's much easier to get it right at this point than it is to change everything around a few months down the road.
If you're going to be processing sales via your own online merchant account you are likely going to need to have a dedicated IP number for your site. While it's not 100% critical to have a separate IP number for each of your sites if you're using some 3rd party processor, it's still not a bad idea if the additional cost isn't too much.
12.) One of the main things you'll want to find out from your host is what type of stats or tracking packages they have available. There are numerous possibilities that I won't go into here. Just make sure that the stats package you use gives you access to the information you'll need to make adjustments down the road.
13.) Submitting your site. It's really not necessary to submit your site to any of the true search engines these days. I haven't submitted a single site to any of the search engines in years.
Instead, submit your site to some of the relevant directories out there. DMOZ is an all-encompassing directory, as are a few others like Joe Ant and Gimpsy. There are usually also smaller niche directories to which you can submit your site. Getting even a few directories to list your site will get the ball rolling and signal the search engines that your site exists. That alone will get your site spidered and indexed by all of the major search engines.
14.) Pay attention to who is linking to your competitors. Normally, if you look at who is linking to your competitors you're going to find anywhere from 1 to 5 Hub or Authority sites that link to more than one of them. These Hub sites are a perfect place to request a link to your site also.
15.) Laying out your content/copy. Remember where I said above that people Scan rather than read? You can help them find what they're looking for by laying out your copy in a sensible manner, even if it doesn't necessarily make all grammarians happy.
So when you're writing your one page of new content per day make sure to write in short sentences. Use dashes and other separators to make a point. Break up your paragraphs often to provide some white space for the reader's eye. Use headlines and bolding to emphasize key points as you guide the reader through your copy.
In other words, don't worry if your English Lit teacher wouldn't have given you a 100% grade if they read your content. It's better to help those scanning or reading your copy than it is to be grammatically correct.
16.) Stay away from the Gimmick of the Day syndrome. Don't try to fool your visitors or the search engines. Spam and tricks and other deceptive methods may work for a short time but will hurt you in the long run. Stay on the higher ground, work hard at your business and have some patience. Good things come to those who wait. And work for it.
17.) Issue a Press Release once your site is open for business. Make sure all of the little bugs are worked out first, but by all means issue a Press Release to announce yourself to the world. Not only will this get you noticed by people who may be interested in your product/service, but it will also garner you some good incoming links.
18.) Track anything and everything you can. That's how you're going to make sensible decisions about your business. Once you start getting some hits from the places you've been listed, pay particular attention to the keyword phrases people are using to find your site. You may well find some golden nugget search phrases from reviewing your logs that you had totally missed the first time around. Reviewing that data will often also help you to get new ideas for your one page per day plan.
Pay special attention to your conversion-to-sale ratio. If you're getting plenty of visitors but they're not turning into customers then it may be time to think about investing a few dollars in hiring a professional web copywriter.
The best web copywriters are in high demand for a good reason. The words they weave work! Both with the search engines and visitors. Most people can hire a copywriter to write their main pages, then feed off of their style when building additional content themselves. This approach helps you to convert more visitors into customers while still holding down your expenses.
19.) Be prepared and allow enough time. Building a quality site and a successful business does not happen overnight. It's an ongoing process of having a solid plan and some hard work, combined with some trial and error. Once your site is Live give it a good 8-12 months to start settling in. You will start to see some progress sooner, but it really takes that long. If you're not profitable after a year then you may need to examine what your doing and the market/business you have chosen.
Also, plan ahead for new releases. For instance, if you were selling designer bridesmaid dresses you need to realize that most weddings take place in the springtime. But you also need to realize that people start shopping for the dresses months in advance.
Considering that it takes the search engines a while to pick up on new things and start ranking the pages well you should plan on building any pages for new designer dresses at least 5-8 months in advance. June weddings means people will start shopping in February or March. So I would attempt to make sure those pages were up by December at the latest to give them some time to get spidered and start ranking well.
20.) Last but not least, Listen to your visitors and customers! And be very responsive to them.
99 times out of 100 my best ideas for improving my sites has come directly from a question or comment made by someone who has either visited my site or is a current customer. They will tell you exactly what they want and need, if you allow them. Provide them with an easy way to contact you to send feedback and/or requests. Helping them will get you more customers, because you're providing another benefit.
Also, try to make sure you respond to customer requests in a timely manner. I've been on the web for too many years personally, but it still amazes me when I send in a question or support request to someone that I am considering buying from and don't get any response at all for 3 days, or a week or whatever.
Even if you don't have an immediate answer, still send them a reply to let them know that you've received their inquiry and are working on a solution. The 3-5 day response time seems to be the norm out there on the web, and you will be pleasantly surprised at how much of a positive impact you can have on your customers and prospective customers simply by contacting them in a more timely manner.
Those questions and comments will also be very helpful as you continue developing your one new page per day.
That's it. That's all. No magic, no mirrors, no smoke.
If you follow the above 20 steps, work hard and have some patience I guarantee that your web-based business will be a success in a 12-18 month window at a maximum. Most become profitable in much less time.