Part 2: "Insider Ideas", competition, promotion and a call to action...

Can you share some insider ideas people can use to create a winning website?
Here are three insider ideas to remember when building a site (or briefing a web designer):

1. Look at competitor websites and what they do and don't offer. Look for windows of opportunity and ways to differentiate your website, products, services and brand identity from your competitors. By keeping an eye on what they are doing, you'll be able to stay one step ahead and provide your visitors with the benefits that make you stand out from the rest. You can also copy some online methods that work. If you like an element of a site, tell your designer to check it out and incorporate similar features in your site's design.

2. Ensure your site has good usability and readability:

• Keep your site simple, clear and concise.
• Don't overload your home page - use plenty of white space (avoid dark backgrounds).
• Ensure load speed is fast - maximum 10 seconds (optimize graphics if need be).
• Shorten text into brief summaries and ALWAYS use compelling, benefit-rich headlines and sub-headings to break up the text.
• Highlight words in bold liberally, so readers can pick out parts of interest as they scan your web page. Remember that online readers scan and look first at text, then at photos and finally at graphics. (According to a recent eye-tracking study by the Poynter Institute.)

3. Build an online prospect list via your website. Display an 'opt-in' box on your home page saying, 'To stay up-to-date on the latest information, tips and special offers, please leave your details below.' The opt-in box is a form that gives you your visitors' names and e-mail addresses and permits you to send them regular e-mails. These e-mails should include your special offers, along with informative and useful advice or tips.

What are the benefits to analyzing a competitor's website?
Analyzing your competitors' sites enables you to come up with ways to differentiate your site from theirs and find gaps in their online offers. If you can find benefits, offers, products, services or information that your shared target audience wants or needs that they do not provide, or can find a new niche audience that your competitors haven't found or targeted, you can use your findings to make your site stand out from the crowd and improve your offer. Also, any elements of your competitors' sites that cause you frustration, make a note of these and ensure these mistakes are not repeated on your site.

Why is it a good tool to write informative articles on a topic you're familiar with and submit them to other sites to promote your own website?
There are many e-zines and sites, all of them looking for good content. Your article can be a good way of spreading the word about your company and site and showing your expertise on a particular subject. Articles also establish credibility on the Net.

By including a good signature file or author biography at the bottom of your article, you can direct traffic to your site. When anyone within your target audience reads an article that you've written, (and, remember, you could have your articles posted on hundreds of sites/e-zines) they are likely to click to your website.

After all, you've provided them with some free good information, via your article, and obviously know what you're talking about. And, if your products and services relate to your article subject matter, those visitors may even buy.

What are some important things to remember when adding links to your site, especially in regard to search engines?
The link popularity of a website is becoming an increasingly important feature to search engines ranking your site. This means that sites which have hundreds or thousands of sites linking to them will begin to be ranked higher and higher. However, the use of good Title, Keyword and Description Tags and keyword density on your home page, are still the most crucial elements of good search engine positioning.

To improve your link popularity, (something I need to do, so anyone who wants to link to WebCritique, please feel free) you need to persuade lots of sites to link to your site. Many of these will need to reciprocal links, so you return the favor and link back to their site, although this isn't always necessary. So if you have a service or product that complements someone else's or think that they can 'add value' to their existing offer by telling their visitors about you, find out the webmaster's name and send them an e-mail.

I have a Free Resources page on my site that includes links to webmaster, promotion and networking resources, some of which have links back to my site. You should also submit your site to as many online directories as you possibly can.

How are online surveys a good and inexpensive tool for learning more about your customers?
Short online surveys, either on your website or in your e-zine, are a brilliant way to help you leverage your site and promotion methods, increase customer satisfaction and, in turn, increase traffic and sales. The key to successful business has always been to know your customers. By including simple forms on your site, or sending short questionnaires to your opt-in list, you can find out:

• What their favorite websites are (that relate to your business area).
• Where else they go online (what sites they have bookmarked).
• What online and offline publications they read.
• What benefits are most important to them when buying products/services such as yours.
• Demographic information, and so on.

You can then use this information to help select where you advertise and promote your site, and which publications to submit articles and press releases to. You can also fine-tune your offers and marketing messages so they appeal to the primary benefits your target audience finds most important, and brainstorm words that highlight those benefits.

Finally, why is a "call to action" crucial on your website?
A call to action is crucial on your site and in your e-mails. We are all passive creatures when it comes to most promotional messages. Therefore, in e-mails, you should provide some free useful information, advice or tips and then tell them to 'click here to discover more winning ideas' or 'visit http://www.yourdomainname.com to find out more about...' Or 'to subscribe to this e-zine, send a blank e-mail to...,' or 'to claim your special discount, send an e-mail to...'

Thank you Cheryl, I think this interview has served as a loud "call to action" for all of us!