What Makes A Good Web Site?
By: Tyler Harwood
tyler@biznetonline.com
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What Makes A Good Web Site? |
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A good web site is like an iceberg. The biggest part of the web site cannot be seen. What most individuals do not realize is unlike in "A Field of Dreams," just because you build it, does not mean they will come. A good web site must not only look and function correctly, it must be built correctly to be found by the search engines. If a search engine cannot find your web site, how will anyone else find your web site.
As a Microsoft & IBM Certified Web Master. I know a good site when I see one. It makes me so sick when I see some of the garbage web sites' people have paid for with good money! It seems like anyone with a computer, calling themselves a web master, can talk people into believing they can get a web page for $30. I have a tool box with a hammer, saw, screw driver, etc., does that make me a master carpenter? NO! It makes me a danger to anyone thinking that just because I say I know what I’m doing, I’m going to do a good job. Would you trust a guy with a lab coat and a stethoscope to operate on you just because he said he is a doctor? Then DO NOT TRUST YOUR BUSINESS TO ANYONE WITH A COMPUTER CALLING THEMSELVES A WEB MASTER.
If you know someone that has a web site and they say, "It was a waste of money, I never get any calls." Ask them who designed their web site. Then do not use that person. Again if a web page is not built correctly it will not be found on the world wide web. If your web site can’t be found no one will call you.
Lets play a game. We are going to pretend that we need to locate a flower shop in Northridge, California. First we go to Alta Vista. We type in "flower+ Northridge+ California". We get back over 38,000 hits. The two top hits are for Northridge Flowers. A flower shop located in Northridge, California. It takes pages of scrolling before we find another flower shop. I can tell you it’s not because Northridge flowers is the only flower shop on the web, selling flowers in Northridge. It's because their web page was designed to put their site at the top of the search engines. It’s because their web designer knows there is more to building a web page then meets the eye.
Don’t throw your money at just anyone calling themselves a web master. Make no mistake about it there are a lot of people out there that do not care if they give you garbage. They're thinking, 'It doesn't matter if it looks like garbage. This guy doesn't know that I don't have a clue about what I am doing.' I can learn at his expense!’ We see this all the time, as real web masters we view about 100 different web sites a day. Some are potential clients or individuals seeking consultation on existing web sites, and others are corporations inviting us to take a look at their web sites in order to gain knowledge of how they can improve their own web site to increase their business on the world wide web. We have seen web sites costing tens of thousands of dollars that are not built correctly. The sites load to slowly (due to sloppy coding) and do not list on search engines correctly. A good web master is good not because of his fee’s, but because of his knowledge and professionalism. Again when we see the garbage out on the internet it makes us sick. We ask the same questions over and over about the web sites we see. We always hear the same answers.
The first questions we ask are:
1. "Who built this web site?"
2. "How much did it cost?"
The answers that we hear most often are:
1. I built it my self.
2. A friend of a friend built it for me for $50.00 to $100.00.
3. I gave an internet mall $2000.00 to build it for me.
The built it themselves web sites are obvious. Look, you did not print your own business cards. (Please tell me you did not print your own cards, do you know how cheep laser printed cards look. The paper is to thin, the edges are not smooth, come on nice cards can cost as little as $30.00 for 1,000) You did not install your own phones, do not do your own web page! Be professional, look professional, hire a professional and get results. The do it yourselfers say, look with Microsoft Publisher I can make a great looking page! Their right, you can make a great looking page. What they do not know is that the page can never be made to function correctly. When Microsoft Publisher saves a design as a web page its saves it as a giant GIF file. No words, just one big picture. A site created in Publisher can not be indexed by a search engine, so it will never be listed. And the load time is so great that if a person goes to your address they are not going to what for it to load. In the battle on the web a good page was seconds to load (20-30 sec.) not minuets! Then there are the malls. Yes, there are some great malls out there but be careful. Most malls put up web pages from a template; you see the same background and scanned logos over and over again. They do not design the page to be found by the search engines. If you do not know the address or go into the mail you can’t find the web site. The worst of the worst malls just take up to $5000.00 from their clients and never bother to put up the web sites for the clients, not even a bad page, which is called grand theft and it hurts our industry.
A Message To You "so-called" web masters and you internet malls. Take some of the money your charging and hire an artist or a graphic designer. Do your clients a favor and stop scanning everything in. Look, you do not have to cut corners or rip people off to make money on the web. DO IT RIGHT OR GO BACK TO SELLING SWAMP LAND.
And now back to the topic at hand.
What a good web site consists of :
1. Make your main page informative and to the point.
2. Be sure your web pages' load quickly, are easy to read, and easy to use!
3 .Make it entertaining, "Something that someone will bookmark." If your main page has great content but is boring, the reader will never come back. If they don't bookmark they will never find it again!
4. Be sure that your web page is titled correctly ( Look at the top of your web browser now. Up at the very top left corner. It should read "~Biznet Online Magazine" not www.biznetonline.com. . ~Biznet Online Magazine is the name of the page. The address is www.biznetonline.com you would be amazed at the number of pages that have the address in the name area. Look, you don’t give out your mailing information as "123 anystreet, any town, USA, Joe Smith. If the name and address are mixed. The page will not search right."
5. Try something a little different on every page -- add an animation or some midi music, etc. Keep the visitor interested.
6. If you are offering a product or service, tell exactly what it is: the size, the shape, and so on. Leave nothing to chance, answer every question before it is asked. Put your business name, address, and phone number on every page.
7. If you are offering a product or service that a reader can purchase, spend the extra money and put up a secure order page. 99.99% of all web shoppers are surfing after you close for the evening. Think about using a toll free phone number.
How to find a good web master:
1. Take a look at the web master's site. (If you like it, go to #2.)
2. Take a look at some of your web master client's sites -- are the graphics good?, are the contents informative? Is it entertaining? (If you like what you see, go to #3.)
3. Check the search engines to see if the client's web site is listed, where it is listed in the directory -- first page , second page, etc. Or not at all. (If you find it easily on a search engine, go to #4.)
4. Call some of their clients and ask "how is your web service?". (If you like what you hear, go to #5.)
5. Go ahead and get a web site creation quote. Remember good web masters are their worth their weight in gold and should be paid accordingly.
Be realistic in pricing. There is no free lunch out there. If you get a quotation for your 6 page web site, and it is only $300.00 in addition $15.00 per month for maintenance- - - - - - - RUN RUN RUN. You are about to be taken for a ride.
In closing, what makes a good web site is a good web master! A good web master charges from $65.00 to $150.00 per hour. Don’t attempt to cut corners by hiring a webmaster based on the lowest bid. If your sites not done right, whatever the cost, it was a waste of money. Invest your time before you hire someone and you will not regret investing your money. Do not pay for a web page that’s as useless as an unlisted phone number.
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