Ten tips for Web site success
By Mark Vigoroso -- Purchasing, 4/22/1999
Chances are, your company has a Web site. In fact, you may have been online for months or even years now. So how do you know if your site is a success? Traffic. Sure, it's a good sign if you can show revenue to management, but people are a prerequisite for profits. Simply put, to succeed on the Web, people first have to come to your site, then feel compelled to stay there, and most important, return at a later date. Here are some tips for building a traffic magnet on the Web:
1. Spread the news. If you build it, they won't necessarily come. You have to tell them to. Relentless, carefully focused promotion is essential for young sites to build a user base. Get your site listed in all the major search engines; send direct mailings, broadcast e-mails and faxes; plaster your URL (Web address) on every business document and publication that your company uses. And even as a site matures, persistent marketing is essential to keep the word spreading about your site.
2. Deliver the goods. Worthwhile content is the blood and guts of a Web site; it must be attended to. This is what will make people want to stay at your site once you've drawn them there. Make sure the bulk of the information you're pitching is "must-have" for your users, or as close to it as possible.
3. Update, update, update. Stale sites quickly repel users. Update your content religiously. Prominently displaying the day and date is an easy way to convey timeliness. Always call attention to the freshest content. Devote the necessary time and effort to improve and expand your site. This will make people want to return to your site so as not to miss anything.
4. Establish clear business focus. The best sites are more than billboards. They have a clear business purpose, and they function as tools for the user. Set goals for your Web site. Do you want to sell products? Do you want to be an information bank or a news site? Do you want to provide 24-hour customer service? Like any business unit, your site should meet a proven demand, and this should be clearly evident to the user.
5. Understand your audience. Vacuums kill. Stay connected with your audience's needs. This rule will always steer your site in the right direction. Invest in a traffic-analysis tool, which will tell you who's coming to your site and when.
6. Personalize the user experience. As hard as you may try, you can't read the minds of all your users. So allow them to define their own experience on your site. Give them plenty of avenues to enter and to navigate through your site. You may also want to invest in a user-driven customization tool, allowing for users to aggregate only the content they need.
7. Lighten up. Even for business purposes, going online should be fun... at least a little bit. Don't be afraid to explore playful interactive gimics like games, giveaways, and contests. Too much of it could hurt your credibility, but a touch here and there can win users over.
8. Use intuitive navigation. Using your site should not be a jolting experience. Be sure to use intuitive categorization and navigation schemes. Again, the best sources to learn what's intuitive and what isn't are your users. Consider conducting periodic user-testing sessions to get a feel for predominant online behavior patterns.
9. Be careful with splashy technology. Don't load your site with images, videos, and other multimedia elements just for the gee-whiz value. A typical user will not wait more than about thirty seconds for a Web page to download, and excessive graphics are speed-killers. Some illustration can be effective, but always keep one eye on file size.
10. Check several Web browsers. Tastes great. Less filling. This is often how discordant Netscape and Microsoft are when it comes to reading Web pages. When designing your site, check it in both Netscape and MS Internet Explorer to be sure everything is positioned and operating the way you intended.
Following these 10 rules doesn't guarantee a successful Web site; there are too many variables involved. But not following them virtually guarantees a Web site that will soon become stale to users, before they abandon it entirely.
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