Building a Marketing-Effective Web Site

Building a Marketing-Effective Web Site


presentation of information affects emotional
 response and thus influencesbuying decisions.
 Designers ask about your target audiences to be sure to
select or create appropriate design elements.

While essential for any type of sales collateral or
 packaging, marketing communications is particularly
 critical because of the short window for grabbing
attention on the Web. Experienced Web designers
 intuitively adjust the font style, graphic style, colors,
 images, and white space to have a positive impact
on your marketing process while reinforcing your brand.

How quickly can you identify the different
 demographics of the audiences for
these sites? Gender is obvious. What about
 economic status? Can you identify any
 similarities between these sites?

Put your company logo on your Web site,
 just as you would on any other
advertising or packaging; it’s an essential
 part of your brand. If you don’t
have a logo, this is a good time to get one.
 Ask your graphic artist to design
one for you, make one at sites like
 LogoMaker.com, or search for free logosto
find the names of companies that sell logo
software or inexpensive, pre-made
logos.

Contentrefers to everything you provide for the
 Web site, from written copy to photographs,
 from product information for a database to a calendar of
events.

People don’t read online; they scan to save time. That makes sense because it
takes 25 percent longer to read the same material onscreen than it does to
read it on paper. Because of the limitations of time and screen space, you
need to adapt your writing style for the Web. Try to follow these precepts:
Use the inverted pyramid.Use the journalistic convention of the
inverted pyramid, with the most important information at the beginning
of each page. Readers might never reach the end of the first paragraph,
let alone the end of the page.

Grab readers with headlines. Good headlines grab readers by the
lapels. Subheads help break up the text on a page, making it easier to
read. If you use a different font size, style, or color for your headings and
if your headlines or subheads include a search term, you might receive
extra points in search engine rankings.

Write strong leads. The first sentence on the page is called the lead.
Hook readers with benefits, telling them what they’ll find on your site,
store, or page. It improves search engine ranking to include three to four
search terms in the first paragraph.

Stay above the fold.Keep the most important information above the
fold— that is, keep it above the part of the page that users have to scroll
to see. Depending on the audience, perhaps fewer than 50 percent of your
visitors will scroll below the fold.

Avoid long, scrolling pages.Many short pages of 150 to 200 words are
preferable to a few long pages. If long text is unavoidable, consider creating HTML files that users can download and print out easily.

Alternatively, use the Frequently Asked Question FAQ format. At the
top of a page, create a list of links to anchor paragraphs text, often
below the fold, that viewers access from links at the top of the same
page, without scrolling.

Limit use of PDF files.While designers like PDF files because PDFs preserve designs, this file format isn’t great for users. Generally, restrict PDF
files to distributing long documents intended for print, not for reading
online.
Need to do some seo tips for website

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