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Customer-focused
online presence.
- what do your customers want or need when visiting
your online organization?
- what quality of interaction should your website and
other online components provide
to
your customers?
- focusing on your customers is the first step in
building a successful online presence.
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Keywords
that describe your business.
- many of your customers will learn about your online
business via searching for keywords in the online search engines.
- make sure that your online business earns high ranks
in
the search engines for all of the keywords that describe your business
and your products.
Information
content is always the most important part of
your online business. The quality
and quantity of this content is critical to communicate your expertise,
credibility and trustworthiness.
- text that describes your products or services, your
business and its people.
- pictures that show your products, your facilities,
your
people.
- preparing this content is a key component in
producing a
website design.
- text should use a persuasive writing style designed
for
reading on the web.
- organize the information into a logical heirarchy
(information architecture). Your online content needs to be organized,
labeled and hyperlinked to serve
the customer's needs (i.e. not necessarily aligned with
company organization structures).
- use the 7 + 2
Rule.
- provide pre-purchase
information, guide customers through the purchase process,
and provide support after purchase via your online presence.
- abundant, high-quality content attracts visitors and
establishes the personality and credibility of your online
organization; then these visitors can later be
converted into paying customers.
Writing
for the web is
different than writing for printed materials. People read differently
on the screen vs. on the printed page, so this must be considered when
communicating your business information on your website.
Navigation
is the second most important feature of your
website.
- navigation shows your website visitors what is
available
and how to find what they want.
- navigation should be simple to understand,
consistent from page to page, and provide abundant links to other pages
within your site.
- use the 3-click rule - all pages within the site
should be no more than 3 clicks away from every other page (for small
to medium sized websites).
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Communication
via modern web
technologies
can enhance interactions
with your customers, employees and suppliers. Build up your
group of satisfied customers and keep them coming back for
more. As more and more
people use these online tools in their personal lives it will become
more
critical for businesses to also use these tools as parts of their
online presence.
- web
forms are the most basic tool for
getting feedback from your customers.
- web logs
(= blogs) can be a valuable interactive tool for getting your message
out and for
getting feedback from your customers.
- RSS
newsfeeds help people keep up-to-date with the new
information in your blog, press releases, newsletter, website, etc.
- bulletin
boards enable online discussions.
- podcasts
and other audio resources deliver your information to people who learn
best via the spoken words.
Community.
Your business' online presence needs to meet the people where they are
at in these online communities.
- online
calendar list events related to your business and to the
industry in which your business operates.
- social
bookmarking - add bookmarks related to your business, your
products and how your products are used.
- social
networking - your employees can join various online social
networks, or the public can be invited to join an online social network
centered around your business.
- collaborative
editing - wikis enable groups of people to collaborate on
building information content into a website.
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Graphical
design is usually a less important feature of your
website. Search engines cannot see your graphics; they rate your site
primarily on the keywords that are on each of your pages.
- the
artistry of your site design does convey an important
image
about the style of your organization.
- use
caution with graphics because
they are expensive to make, expensive to update, and increase the page
download delays that can frustrate your website readers.
- graphics
are
a secondary feature of your site unless your
business is
in a field where all of your competitors have graphics-intensive
websites.
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Usability
of your website is critical to
serve all of your customers.
- navigation around your website should be easy even
for
Internet novices.
- site should display well on a wide range of:
- display devices (15" and larger monitors, WebTV,
etc.).
- computer types (PC, Mac, Linux).
- web browsers (Internet
Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.).
- old vs. new versions
of computers and web browsers.
- site should be accessible to all of your potential
customers.
- people who are blind or
have partial vision.
- people with motor skills limitations.
- online robots that index
your site for the search engines.
- pages should download rapidly to dialup and broadband
users.
- it is most cost-effective to include usability in the
initial site design plans.
- what percentage of your potential customers can you
afford to lose due to the design failures of a website with poor
usability?
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Design for
customer learning styles. The various preferred learning
styles of
your customers should all be considered when designing the online
presence for your business.
- visual
learners respond best to the text and picture content on
your website.
- auditory
learners respond best to information delivered via audio
or audio/video on your website.
- verbal
learners need opportunities for discussion via blog,
email, instant messaging or telephone.
- kinesthetic
learners need the hands-on experience of free samples,
demo versions, or product purchase with a liberal return policy.
Expressing
personality in your online business. Take advantage of
every opportunity to communicate your personality and style. Think of
your online presence as a way to reach out and connect the people and
products of
your business with the people who are your potential customers.
- writing style on your website.
- audio recordings of your voice (see top).
- pictures of your people and business facilities.
- styles, colors and graphics on your website.
- personal responses to online communications
from customers.
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Design for
high rank in the search engines.
- businesses and other organizations
need websites that earn high ranks in the search engines.
- it is most cost-effective to include goals and
strategies for search
engine ranking in the initial website design plans.
Designs
that comply with modern Internet standards.
- web pages are first designed for display in modern,
standards-compliant web browsers (Firefox, Opera, Safari).
- then designs are modified as needed for display in
non-compliant browsers (Internet Explorer) and whatever legacy
browser versions the customer requests.
- standards-compliant designs will remain useful longer
into the
future and will protect against the need for costly redesign of the
website as the technology changes.
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Use My Services for Online Businesses
for help with development of your online organization.
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