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Craft an Effective Wholesale Business Website
By Sarah Pearson Published: 14/02/2009
It's no secret that today's successful business needs a web presence, but as technology grows and evolves, so do the expectations of people visiting your site. What looked great in 1999 does not look great in 2009, so to make sure you have a website that can change with the times and remain relevant and effective, there are some rules to keep in mind:
1.) The site should clearly state what your company is about and what you do. Unless you're launching some tricky viral marketing campaign, being vague isn't going to help you here. Also make sure that contact information is readily available in case anyone has questions or comments. If people can't figure out how to contact you, they won't trust you with their money.
2.) The site should be user-friendly. Navigation menus should be clearly set out and easy to see. If your customer can't figure out where the order button is, they can't actually order, right? This also means your site needs to be fast. How long it takes a page to load is often a key when it comes to whether or not a visitor will stick around. If they have to wait around too long to look at your site...well, they just won't.
3.) The site should be informative. Graphics are nice, but content is better. Not only does having as much readable, useful text information available on the site help your customers, it also helps the search engines find you!
4.) The site should be updated regularly. Not updating your site on a regular basis with new information will make the search engines start to forget about you – but it will also make a brand new visitor to the site think that maybe you're not in business anymore if the site hasn't been updated in a long time!
5.) The site should work properly. Error pages, broken links, broken graphics and missing files are your enemy. You may have the best products in the world, but if your potential customers notice you can't even get the website going properly, well...
Your website does not have to be the fanciest thing on the block, but it should grow and change as your business does, and also grow and change with the times. Keeping things easy to read and easy to understand will go a long way towards giving your visitors a useful experience...and giving your visitors a useful experience will translate directly into sales for you and your business.
