Does your site qualify for a website award?
By
Donna Sweat
Most entrepreneurs are constantly upgrading and changing web site
content and design. But how accurate and professional is the content
as a whole?
A great way to find out is to apply for a site award. No Kidding!
You'll be amazed at the information you may not have. This
includes a broad range of items consistent with site design. I
started my home business eight months ago and finally tried
for an award about two months ago. I was rejected of course
and the reason was lack of contact information and a lottery
link, plus an affiliate program not consistent with their
idea of a professional, quality web site.
I did not reapply for this particular award again. I continued
to upgrade and change my site content and design until a
couple days ago when I noticed an award of excellence on a web
site and decided to try again. This time, I was rejected
again, but for a new reason, in addition to no contact information
or hours of operation, I had NO PRIVACY POLICY!
This time I took things a little more seriously. I went to
their qualifications site and read them. I do not know how I went
this long without a policy. The contact information was in my
newsletter for eight months and yet I failed to put it on my web
site because I was skeptical about viewers seeing my personal
information! I immediately went to my site and added the required
information and then reapplied. My site now carries a banner
for the Award of Excellence for a Pennsylvania business!
Now if indeed I have held your interest to this point, hold
on for some very important information that will give you the
prestige and your visitors will feel confident at your site. Take
this list the next time you update or do any changes to your site.
(1) Be sure your contact information is on your main web
page. [Company name, your name, address, telephone and /or
fax, and e-mail address].
(2) Add your hours of operation. If you are a home-based business,
set the hours to the time you are available. I set mine from 9am-3pm.EST.
[Include the time difference].
(3) Compose a Privacy Policy. I will share mine as a sample to
view.
http://www.homebizandmore.homestead.com/privacy.html
Include your sincere promise to protect your potential customers
from SPAM. Keep their information confidential!
(4) Always proofread and edit your content for common errors:
spelling, punctuation, capitalization, sentence structure, etc.
(5) Check to be sure all links work. Links sometimes need upgrading
or a mistake may be made when they are entered.
(6) Background and font design are as important as the content
itself. Be sure the background is compatible with the font color.
Never use fluorescent or brilliant font color, or background.
These shades of color often blind the eyes and make reading
difficult.
(7) Although banners are becoming the "IN" thing on
the Internet, they have their down side. Load time of a page
is considerably slower if the page has many banners. Visitors
will leave the site if load time is slow, thus losing potential
customers. Sites are often rejected for having a "Banner
Farm". Instead, try writing an interesting paragraph or
two about the link and then link to the site.More often, than
not, a short description will prompt the visitor to click. Overload
of graphics, and clip art are also related.
(8) A vital part of any web site are the meta tags, title description
and key words. the search engines will never find your site, unless
you put in these key words. Take a look at each page and identify
these words. You will need many of them, take your time
to assemble the list of up to 150 words, or related words that
are used most often.
(9) Be careful of the content on the site, such a lottery games,
adult content only, if you wish to apply for an award. It
might come to getting rid of this type of content.
(10) Free hosting can often be a downfall as well. You should
have your own domain available at minimal cost if you are
well established. I am still using free hosting, but will
upgrade in the near future.
This list of ten qualities is by no means all that some ask for when
you apply for an award. Some of the tips are not required, but
are necessary for a quality web site.
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Copyright © July 11 2001 Donna Sweat -
donna@sosbbs.com
Publisher/Editor - Dee's Helpful Info.Newsletter - http://www.homebiz.pa.32668.com
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