Setting Up Your Home Page on the Internet? Feeling a little confused? Here Is What You Need To Know!

1. provides your company with a long term Internet presence
2. provides leads or prospects interested in what you have to offer
3. motivates visitors to take action and produces sales.

The theme of your web site should be in keeping with your business philosophy. In other words the image you want to present should be reflected in your page through the use of wording, logos, layout, colors, sound, and graphics.

Each person who visits your page should feel that the page is "talking" to them personally. This means that your web site should be customer oriented and focus on the benefits and needs of visitors. Visitors to your site are prospects and they should feel that they have benefited in some way by visiting your site. For example
"You can lose 20 pounds in the next 30 days, safely and effectively- find out how right here!"
means more to the average person than does "Company ABC was established in 1945 and has been producing weight loss products for 20 years." Which one appeals more to you, creates a stronger response? Everything about your page should spur prospects into taking immediate action even if it's just to request more information. They might do this by e-mail (preferred), by calling, writing or faxing. Professional and straightforward web sites beat out those with heavy graphics and fancy add-ons any day. Graphics can add dramatically to the appeal and visual presentation of your site but they should be used sparingly. A general rule is that graphics should enhance your page not overpower it (no more than 20 K).

If a visitor to your site gets tired of waiting around for a graphic to load they can be off your page and on to someone else's with the click of a mouse. Remember there are still many Internet users who have slow connections or who don't have browser software that allows them to see even the most basic Internet features such as colour and graphics. Advanced programming such as VRML and sound are still lost to many users. This is not to say don't use them because they do make your site exciting and interactive, just don't rely on them exclusively since a large portion of new users or those without the software won't be able to benefit from them.

Always provide reasons for visitors to your site to want to contact you. Do this by offering an order form that can easily be printed out, an information request form or an order form that can be sent via e-mail. To get visitors to bookmark your site (save the address for convenient future visits), you will want to have lots of "stuff" at your site that appeals to visitors. Another is to have a section that includes "Coming Soon" or list features you intend to add that visitors will want to return to see.

Your home page can be as basic or as elaborate as you like. You can have one page or a hundred pages all linked to your home page. Be wary about putting too much information on your web site. Prospects should be enticed not overwhelmed when they visit your site. Give enough information to qualify the visitor and give them a reason to act today and respond to some bag of goodies you've offered like "limited time offer" for a free 10 page product catalog.

Be sure to include an easy to find resource box on your home page. What should you include there? As many of the following as you have at your disposal to give prospects a choice of how to contact you. Your company name, the name of a personal contact, telephone number (toll free preferable), fax number, fax on demand number, postal address, and e-mail address. Include office hours and time zone since your home page is accessible from all over the world. If you expect visitors to your site to place an order don't expect them to do so blindly. Lend credibility to your company by providing a telephone number, name of a contact person, as well as what your policy is with regard to refunds. If you've got a product satisfaction guarantee put it on your web site.

Start thinking of yourself more as an information provider than an advertiser who has a web site. Yes, you want to use the magic of strategic marketing to bring results form your home page, but you also want to appreciate that Internet users are savvy intelligent consumers who like to get something for free and they like to get it now. No, you don't have to offer a BMW to the one millionth visitor to your site, but you do what to provide something useful to visitors. This can be as simple as a free report, free brochure, free catalog, or any variation that will not break your bank. The key is to provide visitors with something useful to them, that in turn becomes of use to you through an eventual sale. You provide some type of free information to prospects in exchange for the name and address of the interested party. Online freebies are okay but don't allow you to track who has received the information (unless it goes out by e-mail auto responder). A better idea is to capture prospects vitals (name, address, phone, e-mail) and send it out by regular mail or e-mail the information using an electric form. A web site that is well organized and designed with the visitor in mind will combine elements of information, customer benefits, special offers, freebies, and other features related to what your company has to offer visitors. Additional sections on your site can include a "What's New" section that you update regularly with press releases, special offers, company developments, new products etc.

Another idea is a Guest Book / blog where visitors to your site fill out an online form with their name, address, phone number and other relevant information such as their comments, how they found your site etc. Guest books serve two purposes:

1. You can get an idea of the demographics of the visitors to your site.
2. Visitors who can interact with your site get a better sense that as a company you care about who they are and what their comments are about your site.

One way that Internet users will find your site is through the use of Search Engines. These are huge databases that track and index the URL's (web addresses) of the millions of sites on the Internet. Some of the most popular search engines are Lycos, Yahoo and Alta Vista. You can register the URL of your website and usually key words with some of these search engines yourself, or you can get your web site designer to do it. If you have someone else do it find out which engines you will be registered and be sure to provide key words, the title of your website and a brief description. Let's summarize in brief what's been said here. Your website should incorporate the following:

• Convey a theme that reflects your company's image, and its products or services.
• Be easy to read, easy to navigate is better than complication and overkill
• Graphics should enhance your page not overpower it
• Logically formatted for user ease
• Should be customer-centered with the emphasis on benefits to the visitor
• Resource Box - plenty of ways for prospects to contact you
• Plenty of reasons for prospects to respond or act
• An information request form or order form
• Your site should be a dynamic entity that is constantly evolving.