Building Your Business's First Site

Whether you're bringing your startup business online for the first time or revamping your company's old website, there are certain simple rules you should follow to get the most out of marketing yourself on the internet. Let these articles be your guide.

Rule #1: KEEP IT SIMPLE TO NAVIGATE

A badly laid out website will hurt your business rather than help it. While it may seem like a clever idea to lay out your electrical supply company's website's content in a stylized electronic circuit design, complete with little switches to "turn on" the next batch of information, it is amusing only as a novelty, and your web traffic will consist mostly of children. Serious customers will surf on until they find a website with headings they can understand, like "Welcome to Sutton Real Estate, Mississauga" and "click here to buy a house," even if it's not as fancy. In an ideal webpage, the design would look sharp without impeding navigation.

Rule #2: KEEP IT UP-TO-DATE

There's nothing more annoying than trying to order a product you like on the internet only to find out that it no longer exists. This is especially important when you're dealing with constantly fluctuating inventory like on an auction or real estate site. Check your site every day. If Toronto Condos are listed, Toronto Condos should be available, or the listing should be taken down. Do not be tempted to leave it up so customers can "get a better idea of some of the things we've done," unless it is clearly marked and immediately obvious that the listing or product is not available for sale.

Rule #3: INCLUDE RELEVANT CONTENT ONLY

While relevant content is essential to business, extras only get in the way of sales. For instance, if you are trying to advertise King West Condos, you will need to include the address of the property, the size, number of units, and the cost. These are essential elements potential customers will need to know before they will be able to decide if they want to buy. What is not appropriate is for you to list this information in Swahili, Tagalog, and French. Document Translation is a completely different service. Just because you can use Babel Fish doesn't mean your customers will appreciate slogging through three times the content, most of which they don't understand. If you must translate because your clientele come from several backgrounds, do so through links.

Rule #4: RENT A RESPECTABLE DOMAIN NAME

It may save you a few dollars a month to host your business's website on a free domain, but and it will make you look unprofessional. These sites will sell advertising space on your site to whomever they see fit so your Brampton Real Estate website may contain ads for lonely singles or even a competitor's real estate firm. As a business, your best bet is to go with a dot com domain with a name that reflects your company.