A dog like Zoey the Cute Dachshund may get attention if she’s on the laptop, but the idea is to get attention online with your website, whether it’s about your pet store or your coffee shop.
By Shelley Widhalm
Websites are the front door to a business or part of a platform for artists, authors and entertainers. They are flashy attention-getters with graphics, photos and text, but they also are so much more.
They are strategic tools.
They help you build your customer or fan base. They expose your work to new audiences. They are a way to market and sell your products and services. And they promote who you are and what you do.
Website Basics
To start off, you or your website developer will choose a template or build it from scratch, come up with a design and select a few key pages, such as About, Services, Blog and Contact.
Each page will need writing, which should be concise and to the point, while also telling a story, showing what’s on the shelf and giving exclusives, such as special knowledge or deals.
Before getting started, understanding how to do layout and provide website-specific written content will be essential.
3 Essentials to Laying Out Websites
- Don’t have too many tabs—3 is brief and to the point and more than 7 is overwhelming.
- Make the navigation and content straightforward, so visitors know how to move around the tab bars and pages to get to where they want to go. Avoid dead-end pages or sections that look like a maze.
- Don’t use more than one page for the navigation line.
3 Essentials to Writing Websites
- Let visitors immediately know who you are and what you have to offer.
- Keep the writing simple and easy to look at, and make sure it is well organized in a clear, understandable fashion.
- Don’t overwrite—keep introductions and descriptions concise; don’t go over 300 words or you might lose reader interest. Keep each paragraph to 2 to 4 sentences.
And Lastly …
Be sure to use photos and graphics on every page. Link your website to all of your social networking pages and vice versa, which can drive traffic to your website. And have fun with it. Tell a story both with your writing and visuals, so that you get those clicks and stays.