Competition for traffic and readers on the web is intense, more so than any other medium. So if/when you do get actual visitors that are interested in what your company has to offer, it is vital not to waste that precious time and send them backing out of your website to search a competitor. There are several ways to really tick of your website visitors and have them never come back.  Here are some of the quickest ways to do it:

1.  Make them guess who you are, and what you do.

Step outside and put yourself in the shoes of your website visitors.  Just like you when you go to a website, they are looking for information, or looking to solve a problem. A business website should be presented and displayed with the first time visitor in mind, and you should assume that a visitor as no idea who you are, and what you do, because in many cases, they probably won’t.

You need to make it clear what your business is, what it does, and how to contact you above the fold (the fold is the area of your website that is immediately seen without having to scroll down). At the very least, your well placed navigation menu should have an “About” page with a description of your company, and a “Contact” page with options to get in touch with you, hours of operation (if applicable), and a contact person and when ever possible that should include a contact form with a minimum number of required fields.

A lot of business owners like to place the companies mission statement, industry statistics, thesis and other information or ideals that have no place on the first page of your site before you have identified yourself. Skimming is the new reading on the web and you have a limited amount of time to make a good first impression, and promote your business.  Don’t waste that time and space with a bunch of rhetoric that leaves the reader still wondering what it is that you actually do.  If you make them search for the information, odds are that they won’t and move on to the next site.

2.  Unnecessary Flash Intro.

Flash is great for Entertainment sites, night clubs, car companies, electronics makers and companies that have large marketing budgets that enforce brand recognition through out multiple mediums. It’s not so good for the average small to medium sized business.  Don’t make your visitors sit through a flash opener just to get to the meat and potatoes of your website.  Even if you add the popular “skip flash intro” button, it’s still an annoyance to most visitors and most times completely out of place and unnecessary.

3. Unrelated Advertising on your site.

Nothing says amateur and unprofessional like a business website with Google Adsense or other kind of unrelated advertising plopped on a website. Are you trying to attract clients for your business, or make money from ads ? If it’s the later, then open another site to practice your web marketing skills. Do not try to combine the two.  A business website with ads tells potential clients that business must not be good if you need to place ads on your company website.  Besides, the money you make from unrelated ads is not going to be significant enough to overcome the negative impression that having ads on your site gives off in the first place.

Advertising your product or service on your own site is completely acceptable and sometimes even expected.  Maybe a special offer, new product, timely promotion and so on.  If I were a Plumbing company, I may want to advertise a new design for fixtures that we have in stock, that’s fine. Just make sure that any in-house ads are appropriate, and don’t over power the rest of the site.

4. Pop up boxes.

You hate them, I hate them…everybody hates them. They make pop up blockers for a reason…nobody likes pop ups (especially the ones that move around the page so that you have to chase it down to get rid of it) They are annoying, and spammy and it comes off as cheap and desperate.  If you want to offer your visitors something special…a free e-book, or something to that effect…a well placed sign up area will do the trick just as well.  The last thing you want to do is annoy a potential client. Give new visitors a chance to see who you are and what you have to offer first without throwing a “Sign up for this” ad in their face.  If people are interested, you won’t have to hit them over the head and throw flashing things in their face to get them to sign up for your newsletter.

It goes without saying that any pop up advertising is a no-no, especially one that attempts to redirect the reader to another page.

5. Bad Design

Even if you manage not to annoy your visitors with all the other irritations, a bad design cannot be overcome and visitors will never return to a badly designed website.  It screams of unprofessionalism, and yells that you have no idea what you are doing in business.  There is nothing worse than a business website that was obviously build by an amateur, or a “Do it yourself” business owner that did not do his/her homework,and has no clue about the basics of business marketing and web design.  It’s sad actually, and it will usually include one of more of the following mistakes that turn people off and send them running to a competitor:

• Fonts too small or too big.
• Music (there are some exceptions but as a general rule it’s a no-no)
• Bad color combinations
• Horizontal scrolling (at the bottom of the page)
• Requires extra software or a download to access the information.
• Require sign up before viewing
• Bad grammar and misspelled words
• Disable browser navigation (Seen as dishonest)
• Long page load times (Too many graphics and flashy things)
• Personal information or photos (Unless it’s a family owned business, leave the family photos out of it)
• Under construction signs and banners (Don’t launch the site until it’s ready..plain and simple)

There are of course thousand of other ways to scream “unprofessional” to your website visitors.  When in doubt, consult with a professional or at the very least attempt to gain some insight on a business or design forum.  It is common for business owners to ask friends or relative for opinions, and that’s great, but just remember, if they are not in the business, have a business, or have any experience in web design and marketing, they are probably not going to be able to give you an informed opinion. It is important to look at your website through the eyes of the visitor and be sure that you are answering the basic of questions that people have when they don’t know who you are, and have never heard of your company.

For some great examples of web pages, and what not to do, check out http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/

Many principles of Internet Marketing have survived because they work, and some are old notions that gained attention years ago during the initial boom that people still hold on to as fact like an old episode of 60 Minutes from the ’80’s.

Liz Schiavello of iMedia Connection (imedaiconnection.com ) penned a nice article “Your guide to creating an eye popping agency website” featuring examples of websites that work, but more importantly, why they work.  Within it she climbed the proverbial mountain top and came down with digital scrolls detailing 17 commandments for every website and blog publisher.  We have taken the most relevant, much like Mel Brooks in “History of the World Part. 1″ to give you these 10..10 commandments that any new company or organization should follow when contemplating their first website or blog: (I have added some notes to further make the point)

Thou shall remember that skimming is the new reading. Lots of words are generally a bad thing. (But get to the point)

Thou shall avoid the Flash intro. And by avoid, I don’t mean include a “skip intro” button.(nightclubs, music and movie sites follow different rules)

Thou shall be honest, despite the fact that thou works in advertising. Be truthful about your company and what you do. It may be true that on the internet nobody knows you’re a dog, but everyone will quickly figure out if you’re claiming capabilities and successes you don’t really have.

Thou shall not be antisocial. Unless, again, that’s part of your charm. Otherwise, at least set up a page on Facebook, (and actually respond to people).

Thou shall go where thy audience goes. The internet’s a big place. Your website is one little pinpoint in that vast digital universe. Don’t think in terms of website. Think about all the obvious places — blogosphere, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and so on — where it could benefit your agency (and your audience) for you to have a presence. Your website is just one component in a content ecosystem with your audience, not you, at the center.

Thou shall not bore. Unless being boring is your value proposition, and hey, I guess there’s a market for everything. But by the same token, don’t put something self-indulgent, self-aggrandizing, and indicative of your total lack of self-awareness. Unless, of course, that too is part of your brand value prop.

Thou shall not be deliberately obtuse (or deliberately talk over the heads of perspective clients in an attempt to prove your worth and knowledge). Make sure a prospective client comes away able to describe to his boss what your company is and why he should be interested.

Thou shall walk a mile in the shoes of thy audience. Can you honestly say you would voluntarily go to your own website, Facebook page, or anyplace else in your content universe? If not, well, you need to do something about that.

Thou shall maintain thy finger on the pulse. It’s not just about keeping your content “fresh,” whatever that means. It’s about making sure that what you put up is relevant, that it reflects what people are talking about and concerned about today.

Thou shall help thy audience understand the underlying beauty of what you do. Yes, they can simply look at a portfolio. And at a certain level they can decide whether or not they “like” your work. But unless you help them appreciate it, you’re assuming an awful lot of sophistication on their part. It’s like offering a guided tour of the Louvre instead of assuming your audience just innately understands the nature and importance of the works being showcased.

These basic tips can help you avoid some of the boredom and wasted space that so many companies take up on the Internet. Unless you are splitting the atom, there is really no need to put a thesis on your website.

People want to know who you are, what you do, how you do it, and how to contact you…you need to cover those bases first and foremost.  The last thing you want is to have perspective clients and customers walk away saying “Nice website, but I have no idea what they do and I didn’t have time to look around to find out.”

Read the rest of Liz Schiavello’s article on iMedia Connection.com

The hope of your new website is that it will serve multiple functions.  First and foremost as your online profile that tells the world who you are and what you do. Second, as an additional form of communication for potential clients to find, contact, or even purchase from you.  The domain you choose is the first step in achieving those goals and is an important consideration to think about before the first line of code is written to develop your website.

.COM, .NET, .ORG

There are approximately 152 domain extensions in the world.  Besides the well known “.com, “.net”, and “.org”, also called TLD’s (Top Level Domain Extensions), there is one for every country and territory.  You have probably seen many of them...”.tv” is popular with the television industry, but is actually the extension assigned to the country of Tuvalu. “.fm” is a popular radio extension but it is actually assigned to the Federated States of Micronesia.

People mostly remember the top 3.  When ever possible, and sometimes at all costs your first choice should be “.com”.  It is the first, most remembered, most recognized, and most coveted extension on all the www (world wide web), and marketing extension of choice for just about everyone, especially in the United States.  It is not always possible to find a decent “.com” anymore, honestly, it’s downright tough, but with some creativity if you can find one that fits, get it !

There is nothing wrong with “.net”. It is very recognizable , and many successful companies and busy websites use a “.net” extension.  Many times it is possible to find what you want , or need in a “.net”, when the “.com” is not available, or is being held hostage for resale.  Sometimes a “.net” is an even better fit depending on how the words preceding it flow (if you want to get all technical about your phonetics).

I like to reserve “.org” for informational sites, non profits or other kinds of organizations, but there is no enforceable rule that say’s you cannot use a “.org” for what ever you want.  Although “.org” is highly recognizable, the general public still associates it with “Organization”.  Many people use “.org”s when their first choice in a “.com, or “.net” is not available.  That’s going to be a choice of perception for you, and what services your provide, matched with the public’s perception of what a “.org” is for.

There has been speculation for years, but I have never seen any concrete evidence that any one extension is given more preference in the search engines than another, however, country specific extensions may be given some preference in country specific searches, for instance, if you were to search in Google.co.uk, your search results may favor sites with a “.co.uk” extension (United Kingdom), but for the most part, search engines return results based on relevance, and link popularity.  (there are other factors, but not necessary for this article)

Choosing the right domain comes down to 3 basic considerations:

Hip, Trendy, Brandable :

This is usually everyone’s first choice when choosing a domain..everyone wants to be the next “Google” or “Yahoo”, but realistically, at this point in the game, most great hip, trendy and brandable domains, dictionary words, nouns, verbs, adjectives, phrases, puns, products, and industry terminology (every industry)  have already been registered, are in use, or are sitting in investment portfolio’s waiting for resale. While there is still a slim possibility that you will luck up on something for registration cost, odds are, you will end up with something that makes no sense, or have to pay a resellers cost to get that “one great domain” that you have envisioned.

The Pros:

• If you truly get a good one, it looks great on your marketing materials, and people will remember it, especially if it gives joy to the pallet when spoken. ie: fun words like “Yahoo”, “Salsa”, “Puddin Head”, and so on.
• Good domains retain great resale value and add to your company’s overall value.

The Cons:

• Extra effort needs to be given to the rest of your marketing, including your SEO ( Search Engine Optimization)  so that people associate the random term you have chosen, with what your business does.
• If you pick a bad one, you may be stuck with it, or end up having to change it, and everything that it is printed on.

The pro’s are stronger than the cons. My personal opinion, if you find or get a good price on a truly remarkable one..get it. People like hip, trendy brandable, and an entertaining domain that stands out in a crowd is the first step to getting people to check you out and remember you.

Company Name

You can’t go wrong using your company name.  It’s Marketing 101.  It makes you easy to find on the web, looks great and professional on your marketing materials, and again, adds to the overall value of the company.  Out of all the domain choices you have, this is usually the easiest to secure for yourself. Yes, there are possibly going to be other companies somewhere in the world, with the same name and have already registered the domain, but with a little creativity like localization…instead of “OffTheTop.com” you may need to go with “OffTheTopMiami”, or “OTTMiami”..you get the picture….most times you can get well into the ball park.

Pros:

• Instant branding for your business
• Easy to find on the web
• Memorable
• Easily integrated with your other branding endeavors and marketing materials

Con’s

• May not be keyword rich, and require extra SEO attention.

If you can find your company’s name available, you should get it no matter if you use it for your website or not. You will always have it for backup, and the last thing you want is for a competitor to buy it, hold it hostage, or redirect it to their website. You of course have legal repercussions if that were to happen, but how much damage would be done while waiting for a ruling in your favor ?  Securing your company name is always a good idea.

Keyword Heavy

Your keyword is: What you do.  What you want to be known for.  How you want to be found online.  If you are a plumber, you would love to own Plumber or Plumbing.com, if you are a plumber in Cincinnati, you would love to own Cincinnati Plumbing.com.  Get the picture ?

Any internet marketer, or web designer worth his weight in Mt. Dew and Cheetos will tell you that from an SEO stand point, this is the most desirable to own.  The problem is that most, if not all keyword or key phrase domains, much like the “brandable” ones, are all gone.  Localization ,or personalization may open up a few possibilities with some creativity like in the example “Cincinnati Plumbing”, but odds are, you are going to have to target and narrow down some specifics, or “sub niche” to have a chance at the internet’s most coveted domain choice.

The Pro’s

• Strong SEO, and overall internet presence. A category and competition killer online.
• Will increase in value for resale
• Highly Memorable
• Traffic.  A great keyword domain is easier to stay on top of the search results in all major search engines.

The Con’s

• Very few if any available
• If you find one for sale, they will be expensive.

Following a little basic common sense and basic knowledge of how search engines work will go a long way in choosing a domain that will be best for your online profile or website.  When in doubt, consult with an internet or marketing professional. It is common to own multiple domains, or register a few until you decide which one to use. Competition for domains is steep…what you see available today, could very well be gone tomorrow, there are thousands resellers, bots and registrars eagerly searching for viable domains for registration everyday.