Red Frog, Inc.

by Josh Barinstein, Copyright 2004

If you want to be successful on the Web, there are certain things you must do. Ignore two or more of the key areas below and you run the risk of losing your audience:

1. Keep it simple!

A site needs to be clean and easy-to-follow. Whatever main response you are trying to get from the user, that should be the main focus. No component of the site should pull the visitor away from that path.

2. Make sure it downloads fast.

Needless to say, speed of access is unpredictable, and your site should be friendly to all possible scenarios within your audience. If you keep them waiting, you will lose them.

3. Remember your audience.

Keep the user in mind at all times. If you do not cater to them, you are missing the mark in your effort to make the sale! Speak to them and guide them along, acknowledging and addressing every one of their concerns and fears.

4. Do not overlook content.

Your site should compliment the message you are trying to convey through the proper content. Give your audience what it needs to make a good decision about whether or not to buy from you.

5. Keep it up-to-date always.

Related to the above, keep your site always up-to-date. You will be judged by how current your information is. You also do not want to withhold any important information that your audience will need towards making a purchase.

6. Know your code!

Understanding the various programming options and making the best use of them is critical. Poorly written code will break on certain computers, and will be difficult to modify and expand over time.

7. Test it everywhere.

And so it goes without saying that testing on the many system configurations (Mac, PC, Internet Explorer, Netscape--based on your audience's environments) is a must. You can miss out on a significant number of potential clients by having your site not render properly on their machines.

8. Maintain design sensitivity.

Font, color, and use of imagery are key to drawing in your ideal customers. You need to pull them in through design that is communicative, effective, and supportive of your message.

9. Avoid using frames!

Frames can be problematic particularly when it comes to search engines. A search engine might point to a single frame on your site (and not the entire page), thus creating a loss of context.

10. Always stay in tune with the latest and greatest.

This will ensure that you are constantly aware of your options, and can make the best decision possible on how your site should be structured.

Josh Barinstein is President of Red Frog, Inc., the Southern California ad agency that provides worry-free experiences and powerful results in the areas of Marketing, Print design, and Web/CD-ROM development.

Learn more at www.RedFrogInc.com or by calling 888-955-0550.

You have permission to distribute this article as long as all of the text contained herein remains intact.