#1 I Want Traffic Yesterday
One of the most prevalent website owner misconceptions is the desire for instant traffic. Here’s the bottom line, high traffic amounts are are grown over an extended length of time . Yes, you could pay for traffic, but if your site consists of just a few of pages, your money will be wasted. It happens to site owners over and over again, and Google makes a killing from this need for instant gratification. It’s like taking candy from a baby. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Be The Turtle Consistent, Committed, Slow
It’s best to start traffic development with blogging. Blogging allows you to test the waters to reveal where the interest lies in your market. It can take six to 12 months of writing to gain this insight. This requirement stops most site owners in their tracks. Most owners understand the importance of writing and agree that it’s needed. Most try it for an extended length of time but stop after realizing how much work it takes. If you dive in and try to accomplish too much too fast, I guarantee you’ll get burned out. The best way to blog is by slowly chipping away at it every day. Be the turtle because blogging requires a slow and steady commitment.
Write During Times of Peace – My Time is In the Morning
I blog in the morning (7 AM – 8 AM) Monday through Friday. I’m sitting in my recliner right now. My cat has her paw on my arm, and I’m typing away. I do my best to write a new post at least twice a week. Approach it mentally by chipping away at it. Blog writing is a marathon, not a sprint.
Old Posts Are Never Finished
I also update the posts that I’ve already written. I modify them on a regular basis. When the spiders visit my site, they see that the pages have changed. It sends a loud message that you are a player in your niche.
#2 What’s Best for Me Is Best For My Visitors
It can be difficult relinquish power when you’re buying a custom product like a website. It’s your money, and you want the site function your way. Don’t lose sight of your website goals. Are you looking to keep users on the site for as long as possible? Do you want users to act on a call to action like buying a product? There are design techniques that support these objectives. Make it a point to convey the end game to your designer and relinquish layout and design to him or her. When the beta site is complete, question the design elements. There is a science to designing, and I’m betting you will be fascinated as to why things are arranged in certain ways.
Below is a summary of just a few layout techniques;
- Front page slideshows are bad
- Navigation sub choices are not optimum
- popups are not effective
- color choice for buttons and links are crucial
- Intelligent usage of space is vital
- white on black text is not smart
- links that open new pages are circumventing assumed function
And the list goes on and on and on. Want to learn more? Read Jakob Nielsen’s blog.
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