Entrepreneurs - Can Your Web Pages Pass This Acid Test

Website design is both an art and a science. If you are an entrepreneur, your website is critical for visibility, and, as I like to remind my clients, your website is absolutely never done. It will (or should be) ever-growing and changing.

Think about it this way — your website is your "bricks and mortar store." It is your visible representation of your business. When you go off to the mall and walk past a store front, your eyes automatically shoot to the windows to check out the merchandise, right? And if you are someone who goes to the mall often, you'll scan the windows to see what's different and new from the last time you walked past.

Websites can do this, too. In fact, to work well for you, your website MUST do this. You need eye candy, just like the stores at the mall. Large retailers who have online presences now (and who doesn't) try mightily to get you to look at their windows virtually. If you buy a Sketcher shoe, for example, when you check out online Sketcher will offer to e-mail you once a week and let you know the newest Sketcher styles. So will Cole Haan. (Can you tell I like shoes?). You can do the same thing with your website, e-zine and autoresponders. The trick is to always have fresh content that your market wants to hear about, and to design your pages well.

Let's give each page of your website the acid test. These three very important questions came up in a conversation I had the other day with Michael Port, a friend who can safely be called a marketing guru (in fact, the Wall Street Journal DOES call Michael a marketing guru). I've been pondering these ever since we talked, and I suggest you ponder, too!

1. Who is coming to this website page?

2. What do you want the person to do on this page?

3. How are you going to get the person to do it?

Pithy questions, huh? I'd add a fourth question, too, which is "what is this page title and why?"

Give each of your web pages this acid test. I'll just bet that, like me, you'll be planning some page changes. Which is as it should be, because, remember, your website is never done. Just like a retail store never stops changing its merchandise and signage around, an entrepreneur must change her website around. New content is key for your website to work for you.