Your Home Page’s Three Seconds of Fame

When developing a new website, you should consider a lot of things: design, search engine optimization, script installation, copy, etc.

However, your home page, the one your visitors will see the first time when entering your site, is the one that requires the most attention and detail. You have between three to five seconds to capture your visitor’s attention before she/he decides if it’s worth spending any more time with you or move on to your competitor’s site.

Check the following list to see if your web site covers the basic points to capture your clients:

1. Don’t use flash presentations/intros
This will only waste your visitor’s time loading your site. The truth is that these are only amusing the first time you see them. After that nobody wants to go through them again.

2. Design and Images
The Internet is a visual medium and if you wish to capture new clients you must show them something attractive when entering your website. The color and photos of your web site should match the general theme of your business and message. For example, if you offer business training, you should show people in your classes, pictures of your trainers, etc. It’s better if you use your own material instead of images from a catalog. Your site will look more natural.

3. Copy
With so few seconds to catch your visitor’s attention, you must greet him with carefully chosen words. Things like “This company was funded in the year…” are boring to your user. Do you sell computers? Then start with something like “The latest computer models from your favorite brands.” Think of what your clients are looking for and give them just that.

4. Contact information
If you’ve kept your visitor’s attention for a couple more seconds, it’s probable that he will want to contact you for more information. Include your contact info on your home page and don’t make your client jump from page to page to find it. Phone number and address are enough most of the time. Keep in mind you will still need a contact page with more data, like a map to your location, branches, etc.

5. Easy navigation
Make sure that the layout of your products and services is very clear and easy to follow. If you can’t reach your principal information in one click, then it’s too hidden.

6. Show something interesting
Give your client a reason to spend more time on your site. Your latest news, an offer, the quote from a satisfied client, can make a visitor stay just enough longer to close a sale.

7. Update frequently
If your client visits your page again and doesn’t find anything new, what reason does he have to come back? Change the content of your site frequently, like your offer, news, projects or services so you always have something new to show. Remember to change your home page completely at least once a year.

When your page follows all these points your three seconds of fame will become long years of prosperity working with your clients.

Don't use that email account!

E-mail is an indispensable tool for today business, however, there is one account you should never use: the email account your internet connection provider gives you.

Most business owner would get a web hosting account with their own domain, yet, some will chose another path: when you hire an internet connection, your provider will generally offer you one or more email accounts, something like yourname@yourprovider.com (for example, yourname@prodigy.net). Although these accounts work very well and are included in the service at no extra cost, you should never use them.

The reasons:1. The most important one: if you ever decide to change your connection provider, you will have to pay to keep that account. The cost goes from 3 to 10 dollars a month, depending on the provider. Some providers will not even offer that option.

2. If you change your connection provider and decide not to keep your email account with him, you will have to tell all your friends, clients and providers about this change. This could take several months and you may even lose some important contacts because they will not know where to reach you anymore. If you make the mistake of using the email account by your new connection provider, you will eventually go trough all this again.

3. With each email you send as yourname@yourprovider.com you are publicizing your provider. Would not it be better if you publicize your own company name? think how good it would look something like yourname@yourcompany.com. This is the kind of services you would get with a web hosting account. You can go further and use a letter head email (www.promomail.com.mx/emailmembretado) which will give you even more presence with each email sent.

4. Using your email account from your connection provider doesn't look very professional. It gives the impression that either you do not know much about internet and its advantages, or (even worse) you are too cheap to spend a little for your own company presence on the internet.

The best option to avoid all this is to get your own domain name and a web hosting service, with which you will not have to worry about whatever connection provider you are using; you will always have your emails no matter how many times you change services and you will be promoting your own company.

Start emailing... with your own domain.