Is Your Website Working Against You?

Is your website working for or against you in gaining clients and sales? Be sure that any "bells and whistles" are used carefully to enhance the visitors experience.

Watch for these four important factors:

- Quick Page Download Time
With too many fancy features or large photographs, the time it takes for visitors to load your page may slooooow to a crawl. And if it takes longer than a few seconds, you'll lose shoppers who don't have the patience to wait. This is especially important on your home page. Be sure that your images are optimized (try the free tool at www.resizeyourimage.com ) to download fast.

- Browser Compatibility
Be cautious with features that only work in Internet Explorer or any other specific browser, or features that are only available in the latest versions of browsers. Some of your visitors may not be running the latest upgrades so always check to be sure that your website will work with older versions of popular browsers. You can do a basic check at www.browsershots.org to see if your layout comes out right.

- Let Your Visitors Be in Control
Please don't set up your audio files so they start automatically unless you are very sure your target market will respond well to it. Offer a "click to play" button instead. Let visitors be in control of video and sound. This is especially important if your target market includes women with small children since they may be holding a sleeping little one who will not be happy if woken by a loud, "Hi! Buy my products!" type message or music that plays itself. Video and sound can be a nice addition and help increase your sales, but show respect for your visitors by allowing them to control it and choose when to turn it on and off.

- Flash Only Websites
If you must use flash or animation, use it only on non-essential parts of the site. Do not turn your entire site into a flash file unless you are absolutely positive that your target market will be able and willing to wait for it download and have the appropriate plugins to view the site. Do not use flash for your navigation. If you do, anyone with an older computer, older browser, or slow internet connection may not be able to navigate your site at all.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

And now, let me give you access to some great free resources for small businesses including 101 Free/Cheap Ways to Market Your Business, 119 Things You Can Outsource, and more at www.michelleshaeffer.com

Michelle Shaeffer has been a work at home mom for more than 10 years and loves to share the tips and strategies she's learned to help other home based business owners balance, manage, and market their businesses.

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