Successful websites require work

Successful websites require work—
and more work

Why do you think it’s called the Worldwide Web? Because websites (www.yourcompanynamehere.com) are incredible tools to communicate your message and market your products or services to a worldwide audience. As with all methods of mass communication, successful websites require work. It’s true: for your website to be effective, you must devote a considerable amount of time to planning, development and resources.

For starters, your website must be designed to appeal to your target audience. It must also build a reliable brand identity for your company; one that’ll grow right along with your business. Moreover, the design of your website must be attractive, engaging, and contain a powerful call-to-action.

That’s just the beginning. Because once your website is up and running, the equally important task at hand will be to keep it updated and maintained. It doesn’t matter how much time, effort and money you put into the design and hosting of your website; if you don’t keep after it, you’ll derive little to no return on your investment.

Successful websites require work—
and new, fresh content

New website content, added on an ongoing basis, is key to the success of any website. It’s what keeps visitors coming back again and again. Certain companies are constantly updating their sites due to the very nature of their business. These companies include news outlets and real estate firms, and businesses that post classified ads or rely on online catalogs. The truth of the matter is every site should regularly feature new and engaging content, text, graphics or images to build traffic and encourage repeat visits.

You can do this by adding scrolling news headlines, discussion boards, current time/temperature, whatever makes best sense for your business. Whatever you choose to keep your website fresh and interesting, please do it. Because the last thing you need is a static, stale presentation. Spend the time and resources to maintain freshness, usefulness and relevancy of your website, and you’ll surely reap the rewards that come from your efforts.

Successful websites require work—
functionality and interactivity

A well designed website is all for naught if no one can find it. Which is why it’s crucial for your website to be found by search engines or link indexes. Easier said then done, because search engines and link indexes are constantly changing the way they rank and display sites, and some search engines won’t index your site at all unless your pages contain appropriate metatags, well-structured content or error-free HTML code. All of which requires an ongoing effort to make certain your site remains properly listed.

Have a Great Day

Audrey Ferrante
Ferrante & Associates, Inc.