by Stacy Hensley

Created on: May 05, 2009

First impressions mean a lot, especially for a website. You need to capture the interest of your visitor as soon as they enter your site. If all they see is a jumble of words, links, and advertisements, what do you think will happen? Of course, they are going to go find another site that is more organized.

Easy navigation is essential to every website. Getting lost in the navigational sea will cause people to simply close the page and move on to the next site. You always need a link back to the home page on every page of your site. Keep your links as short as possible. Also be sure your links have space between them and do not run together. This may sound like common sense to you, but you would be surprised how many websites have this problem.

Minimize the amount of flash and fluff you add to your site. Flashy graphics are nice but they slow the load time down dramatically. Keep the banner advertisements to a minimum as well. These often cause loading issues, especially if the banner is pulled from another server. If the other sites server goes down it will cause lag on your end.

Use content that is relevant to your site. If you run a website that is all about cars, then you don't need content about flowers. Stick to things that you would expect to find on a website about cars, such as tools, batteries, and tires.

Less is more. You don't need to fill up every space on the page with something. Having open space makes the site look more organized. It's easier on the eyes and doesn't overwhelm the visitor with tons of information at once. Spread things out so that it does not look like a huge jumble of words that they have to trudge through to find the information they came there for to begin with.

If you have to use ads like Adsense, do it subtly. Seeing a page full of these advertisements will turn your visitor off with a quickness. Keep it simple, only use a block or two of these ads. Otherwise they will assume your content is only there to get them on your site to click ads, and they won't take the time to even read your content.

Always have a way for the user to contact you if they have a question or comment. Use a contact page or even just a link to an email address where you can be contacted. This is a major part of building a relationship with your customer or visitor.

Just remember be organized and keep it simple. You know what keeps you visiting a site, so apply that when you create your own. This will keep your visitors coming back time after time. Give them a site they will gladly recommend to their friends.

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