What makes a successful website?

Every website is different and it all depends on the objective of the website. To be successful, every business website, regardless of its objective should hold at minimum the following...

• Medium to High Search Engine Ranking in its Category
• Good Content
• Good HCI
• Call to Action

Medium - High Search Engine Ranking in its category

A website should rank well in your preferred search category and local or Target Market area geographically. If your business like ours is a " Web Development" company your company should rate well in searches for "Web Development". If you are a Painter in Galway then you should be on Page 1 when someone in Galway searches for a Galway Painter or Painter Galway.

A lot of factors govern whether your website rates well, most of all being the "inbound links" your website has. Inbound links are like referrals, when someone posts a link to your website from their website this is referred to as an Inbound Link. Search Engines like Google use these links to determine your websites Page Rank.

Quantity, Quality and Type and are huge factors when it comes to inbound links, if your website has thousands of inbound links...search engines like Google will assume that your website is very significant and give you a Good Page rank. This does not work with Web Farms or Reciprocal Links that are not relevant.

If only even a couple of high ranking websites in your industry such as IBM or Motorola post a link to your website then you will get a significant Page Rank. For more info on page rank http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank

In the past couple of years a lot of social networking sites have emerged such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. Successful social networking sites have a large quantities of members penetrating huge areas of society and get a lot of media coverage. Businesses are registering and becoming affiliated with other businesses, sharing announcements business social events etc.

Social networking sites are great tools for start ups, with individuals using their online affiliations/friends to get the word out there. It's also normal practice for employees to become affiliates of their organisations social networking profile and help promote their business online.

Some marketers use social networking sites to access and bombard the demographic that use sites for personal use. Similar to that of telephone cold calling tactics.

Good Content

It goes without saying that good content is key to the success of a website in the long term. Most people are stunned to learn that 30 - 40 people visit their website every day, they're even more stunned to discover that 80-90% of the people that visit their website "bounce" back out of their website within seconds of landing there. This is usually because the website is not relevant to the visitor? Possibly the visitor got there from a search, so it indicates that your key words and search phrases are wrong. You want to attract people who are looking for your services or products. High Bounce rates will tell Google that your descriptive content is not relevant to your site content and this will be regarded as a bad mark. Use descriptive words that bring people to your site who want to see what you are offering. Then give them what they want.

For instance if you sell carpet cleaner and your website contains a list of products that you sell and a phone number to contact you, the likelihood of your website bringing you businesses is pretty slim, as there are hundreds of other companies doing exactly that. However If your website contains interesting articles on how to clean your carpet using oranges etc. it will start a chain reaction of visitors and eventually business.

It will start by some people bookmarking your website in their favourites, printing that page, emailing your link, posting on forums etc. In publishing good useful content you are casting a large net.

Fill your website with as much useful content as you can, but be sure to do so in a structured manner, In the early stages of your website you may feel that you don't have enough content to fill a navigational structure, start with a blog on your website, fill the blog gradually and when you have a sufficient amount of content you can archive old blog entries into the navigational structure of your website. When writing your content be sure to embed relevant keywords in your content to help search engines categorise your website correctly.

Make sure you update your content regularly (2-3 times a month). Bear in mind that Google has algorithms that can pick up on plagiarised content very effectively, so copy and pasting is out.  Google is a smart operator, so work with them instead of trying to fool them.

Strong Company Representation

A website is a good opportunity to show off your company profile...even if you do not have one. All websites are based on the same underlying technology and concepts, differing only in design. A website these days is the first line of communication established with potential customers. Your visitor will be able to gauge very quickly what sort of organisation you are or seem to be, by what they extract visually from your  website.

To ensure that your organisation is represented correctly be sure to hire a reputable web design company irrespective of cost. Creating a cheap ineffective web presence is just a waste of money. Investing in a good web presence is a part of doing doing business in the 21st century. The web is fast becoming your advertising window to the world and can be the best sales tool you have, if you use it well. A good site will give a good return on investment rather than be a waste of money and resources. You can measure this return in a way that Traditional advertising could not be measured.

Never underestimate the power of a brand enriched website, if you invest money in a graphic designer prior to developing your website it will pay you back with business.

Good HCI

HCI stands for Human-Computer Interaction and is a much overlooked aspect of website development. When compiling a website make sure that you design the website with the visitor in mind. Make sure your website is lean and structured, that the visitor/customer does not get lost when navigating your website.

Call To Action

Call to Action is a sales term, if the objective of your website is to sell, you need to prioritise that objective over everything else. A call to action will usually consist of several steps, in most cases you cannot simply demand business. The first step is to establish a connection with the visitor, for instance ask a question on your homepage that will hit a nerve with the visitor. When the visitor clicks this it will take them to a product/service offering and eventually a form. Example http://www.bankofireland.ie