Be sure to design your website well. Put your best foot forward and make a good impression. You site should be designed with content aimed at helping your customer find a solution they are seeking. Always keep their interests in mind, yet design with search engine optimization to assure your website will be found. With high search engine ranking, you get more traffic to your website and have opportunities to convert website visitors to customers. Help those who need what you have to offer, find you. If these things seem overwhelming, invest in your business and hire a professional web designer, preferably one who can work with your advertising expert, whether it is you, your marketing department, or your advertising agency. If your advertising agency has a web design specialist, they should be aware of all of the things in this article when you discuss your site with them.

Remember: Your website is an advertising medium. It should represent your business well. It should reach potential clients, and compel them to become customers. Don't expect a web designer to do anything more than design. If you want your website to reach it's full potential, utilize the services of an advertising agency who knows how to write advertising messages that produce results. But remember, even those messages won't help if you have no traffic, so find an SEO firm who knows the nuts and bolts of search engine optimization.

And, after all of these issues have been addressed, your final step is assuring that your sales staff is well trained to follow up on internet leads. No follow up = No sales.

At Grand Lake Advertising, we have been designing websites, and working in all aspects of direct response advertising for 14 years. We are also certified in Internet Marketing with experience to help you increase your rankings in the search engines.  In addition, we can teach your staff how to follow up on internet leads and give them the tools to do it. We offer these four very important aspects of developing your online presence, as a package, or separately.

Email us today and let us know your needs. We can help.

1. The website must navigate easily and quickly. Most websites either display their navigation links on the left or at the top. Most people are used to this type of navigation, so it is best to use this type. It also helps to include your navigation links at the bottom of each page to save your visitors from having to scroll back to the top, and to keep them from getting lost. Some think this is an SEO method, but it really isn't. It is a courtesy to your visitors. Avoid image maps if that is your only link to additional pages. If you are going to use an image map at the top of your page or along the side, be sure to include these text links at the bottom to help the search engines along. Design Your Website Well Tip: A site map is essential for those who are web savvy and wish to get right to the point.

2. The website must provide accurate and detailed contact information. Make it easy for your customers to contact you. It shouldn't be an exercise to find your phone number. Create a special "Contact Us" page, with your physical address as well as where you receive mail. Tell visitors how to reach you by phone, fax and email. If you don't want to include a map, at least mention landmarks and include brief driving directions. Free links to Yahoo maps, Google maps, etc. are a nice bonus on your page, where potential customers can click to get a map and directions right to your doorstep. An exterior photo of your building, will help new customers recognize your storefront. Design Your Website Well Tip: Don't forget to include your business hours, as well as your time zone.

3. The website must prove your credibility. Include testimonials from your current customers to show your potential clients that you are trustworthy, reliable and that you offer great service and/or products. If you don't have any right now, get them! Simply email your customers and ask for their feedback on your business and service. Tell them that the information will be posted on your website and include a link to theirs if they have one, asking for the same if their business is related to yours in some way. Most happy customers will gladly provide this. You can also include before and after photos if you provide a service. Show the problem picture and beside it show the picture of resolution, with an explanation of your product's benefits. Don't neglect to include memberships in civic organizations, business memberships, awards, certification, special training, etc. Design Your Website Well Tip: You are trying to eliminate the risk of doing business with your company. Go ahead and pat yourself on the back.

4. The website must focus on your visitor's needs. Communicate effectively. Communication is more than sending a message. It requires two parties to be effective. Even if a broadcast tower sends a signal 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, if there is no radio turned on, communication has not taken place. To know that your potential customer is listening, looking and comprehending your advertising, you must not only determine who they are; you must determine what they need. Rather than trying to "sell your business", let your prospects know how your product/service is going to benefit them. Emphasize the benefits and solve problems. Make this the focus of everything you write on every page of your site. Design Your Website Well Tip: Don't try to sell visitors your products or service, keep your focus on helping them, and sales will come.

5. The website must represent your company well. Ensure there are no spelling or grammatical errors. Don't make the mistake of listing items over and over again, hoping to entice search engine robots to rank you higher. Instead, concentrate on what is important: Meeting the needs of your customer. Write the copy on your website accordingly. Direct your visitors to information quickly. Check that all links are working and direct to the current location for outside URLs. Look over all graphics and see that they display correctly and in a timely fashion. Be sure to include alternate text on your images to enhance the experience of visiting your website for those who use text only browsers. Design Your Website Well Tip: avoid sites created only in Flash unless you absolutely understand how to generate coordinating text.

6. The website must create assurance. Whether you offer a money back guarantee or no payments for 30 days, you must make an attempt to try to take the risk out of doing business with you. The longer the guarantee, of course, the more effective it will be. It could be 30 days, 60 days, 1 year or lifetime. If you have been in business for 20 years, say so. Design Your Website Well Tip: Let the visitor know it is ok to do business with you. You aren't going anywhere.

7. The website must provide information that people are looking for. If you don't provide it, someone else will. Content is still the king when it comes to search engine ranking. It should be relevant, helpful, and informative. You should include as much information as possible – not only detailed descriptions and prices of your products and services, but also free resources, articles, reports, ebooks relating to your industry, service and products. This will ensure that customers will keep coming back to your website, even if it is just to get information. The more they visit, the more you will stick in their mind as an expert, and the next time they are ready to order your products/services, you will be their first choice. Design Your Website Well Tip: Set yourself up as an authority, and people will seek your knowledge, your advices, your services and your products.

8. The website must never harass or offend your visitor. Don't create ill will before your potential customer has even set foot in your door.  Don't waste your potential customer's time with things that make them stop their search for your product or service. If your website features any of the following, the chances of your entrance page becoming the exit page is high. Flash intros, revolving globes, animated mail boxes, busy backgrounds and autoplay music. These things are annoying at best. Pop ups are often blocked and of no value. Design your site so that it does not require or use any of these. Hit counters scream: I am an amateur and this site might have been designed in 1995, so don't take me seriously. Believe me, your best foot has not been put forward. Design Your Website Well Tip: If the customer has to go to another site to download software to continue to visit your site or access features or information, you might as well have sent them to the mall.

You have a website. You need traffic. We have solutions.