10 Tips for Making a Strong Website

Your website can be a great way to promote your business - if built correctly. I have literally left websites (thus taking my business elsewhere) because of the unprofessional look and feel of the site. You don't need a Bachelors in web design to build a strong website. Try the following to strengthen your site:

1. Organized content - This is always the #1 website rule. If you have ever entered a website that is not organized properly, you feel lost and frustrated very quickly. Spend time in making a chart of the structure of all the pages in your website.
2. Consistent navigation - This is likewise very important. Make sure that your navigation is the same throughout the whole site. This really helps the visitor.
3. Regularly updated, quality content - Your website is to give information to your visitors. Make sure it is doing so. Spend extra time in making your pages have the best information you can give. The second part is to update often. I have heard to update websites once a day. This may seem overwhelming, but try to incorporate something that would be new each day, like a new blog post, video, or product.
4. Make your contact information easy to access - Make sure that it is easy for your customer to be able to contact you. That is, after all, the reason for the website. Add you company name, phone number, and address at the bottom of every page. Also, make sure to have a visible link on every page to a "contact us" page.
5. Add a search box - This can be especially important if you have more than ten pages or an e-commerce site.
6. Strong links - Try to stay away from any "click here's", be more specific like "view our new line of products" or "download our catalog."
7. Relevant keywords in page body - Choose a string of about 25 keywords and try to use them in the page as much as possible. Be sure not to make it overly apparent. No reader will enjoy reading the same word over and over again.
8. Relevant keywords in page titles - This will help search engines to know what the page is about.
9. Meta tags - To help search engines find you, use meta description and keywords on your pages.
10. Professional photos with accurate ALT tags - You don't need a professional photographer to make the photo look professional. Just make sure that the lighting is good and the image is not grainy. If you have a photo editing program, you can enhance the colors and delete any unwanted elements in the picture.

Brad Harmon is the President at a leading financing company, First Star Capital (www.firststarcapital.com). Brad is a frequent contributor to online publications and newsletters, and is the author of this blog on commercial financing topics.