Is your web site NOT helping your business?

By: Blaine Hilton
August, 2006
  1. Do you have a domain name that's easy to remember?
    This is important because www.blainehilton.com is a lot easier to remember than www.my-large-internet-provider.com/users/~bhilto02/. Your domain name is also what you would use for your e-mail address.

  2. Have you developed clear goals for your web site?
    Every business has different needs for its web site. Perhaps you want people to find your site online and give you a phone call. Perhaps you want a customer to enter his/her credit card to order a product instantly. Once your goal is clearly defined, a plan to reach the goal may be well underway.

  3. Do you have a tracking solution for your web site in place?
    The next step after defining your goal(s) is to figure out how to accomplish it. To do this, you must be aware of what you have to work with. You must know where your web site currently is before you can improve upon it. For example, if your goal is to increase traffic, what is your current level of traffic, and is it from the proper visitors?

  4. Is the content regularly updated?
    Everything moves fast, especially on the World Wide Web. Content should be updated frequently. If you have a site that references events or any type of dates, then you want to make sure you don't have old events listed as upcoming events. One of the best methods of gaining regular visitors is to give your audience something to look forward to.

  5. Does your web site have quality content that is relevant to the people who you want to attract?
    Content really is king, especially on the Internet. Text based content is what search engines index and what allows people to find your site when a search phrase is entered. Beyond the search engines, without having high quality updated content, visitors will only visit once.

  6. Has your site been tested on various systems?
    What looks great in Internet Explorer may not even open up in Fire Fox. Additionally, there are significant differences between operating systems such as Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. While the majority of users currently use Windows with Internet Explorer, that is changing. When potential customers come knocking, you want to be sure they are answered.

  7. Has your site's underlying code been validated?
    Many times a web site may look great, but the code is not quite right. This can cause problems with search engines being able to properly read the site and how the page loads on some systems, especially mobile devices.

  8. Do you know how many people link to your web site currently?
    Link building is one of the best ways to help increase long term site traffic. Before trying to find additional people to link to your web site, it is imperative that you establish a baseline of existing links.

  9. Is your hosting provider reliable?
    While your physical store front may close, the internet doesn't. If your site is down, nobody will be able to view it. When they do see that it's down, it is unlikely that they'll visit again.

  10. What constitutes "success" for you?
    We talked about goals, but the bottom line goal is: what would make the site a success in your eyes? Many times your definition of success may not be the same as your business associate or current web site designer's definition.