Here are few rules of good website marketing:

Keep page layouts simple

A simple design invites people into your site, allowing them to find what they are looking for and to make a purchase.
Use easy-to-read fonts. Use sans-serif fonts like Arial or Helvetica and keep type size at 12 point and above so everyone can read your site.

Allow breathing room. White space can serve to break up overpowering blocks of text and also emphasize important points that you want your reader to see.

Make smaller pages. You have three seconds for your page to open before your visitors click away. Limit bandwidth by replacing large graphics with smaller ones. Ensure optimal website performance by using a reliable web hosting provider with a superior service level agreement.

Guide customers with good navigation

Website visitors prefer a simple, intuitive navigation system based on popular, accepted design principles.

Include links. Provide easy-to-find links to your homepage and main category pages so customers can navigate around your site more easily.

Place the search tool prominently. A simple search tool can provide a much faster and cleaner experience for shoppers, especially those who already know what they’re looking for.

Obey the three-click rule. Shoppers generally need to find what they are looking for in three clicks; otherwise they move on. Prominent icons, such as your shopping cart and clearly labeled products and categories, can simplify the search process.

Outrank the competition

The higher your site ranks in the search engine results, the more potential customers you can attract.

Choose specific keywords. A “keyword” is a search term that you want associated with your company, such as your business name (“le maison”), your business description (“french restaurant in Katy Texas”) or your products (“chicken cordon bleu”).

Create relevant content. Articles, blogs and other educational content can help improve your ranking on the search engines, but be sure to give them relevant titles (e.g., “How to choose the best French wine”).

Link with partners and peers. Links to your site from other sites, known as “backlinks,” show that people value your site and can boost your rankings on major search engines.

Be browser- and device-friendly

Today’s shoppers are just as likely to be on a laptop or smartphone as a home computer, so design accordingly.

Embrace diversity. Be sure your site displays properly for all major browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari.

Design for mobile devices. If possible, create separate pages for mobile devices that face unique challenges both in terms of bandwidth and screen size. Take advantage of mobile-centric features like click-to-dial that allow customers to quickly take action from their cell phones.

Think visually

Too many images slow download times, but customers still like to see what they’re buying.

Focus on product images. With a good digital camera and image editing software, you can capture some nice product shots and save them as low-resolution “thumbnail” images for faster downloading.

Include video tutorials. Videos help keep customers engaged on your site and can provide a value-add that traditional brick-and-mortar stores cannot. A video tutorial of the product in action can have a dramatic impact on sales.

Simplify the checkout process

Shopping online is about trust and convenience. Win the sale by focusing on both.

Offer flexibility. The more payment options you offer—credit and debit cards, PayPal and e-checks—the more likely you will make the final sale. Look for a Web hosting service that supports multiple types of secure payments.

Tout safety. Customers need to feel secure when they provide their personal information online. Use secure encryption (e.g., HTTPS) and consider a digital certificate service, such as VeriSign to assure the authenticity of both buyer and seller.

Use sound marketing strategies

Time-tested strategies like cross-selling—offering additional items of interest during a sale—and after-selling work just as well in the online world.

Follow up with customers. Even though the sale is over, your relationship is only beginning. Craft a follow-up e-mail that thanks your customers and offers a discount or reminds them of other products they might be interested in.

Include product reviews. Sure, customers visit your site looking for products and services, but they’re also looking for advice and expertise. With customer-written product reviews, you provide an impartial forum for product information.

A clean design, good content and a sound marketing plan can encourage potential customers to become lifelong customers and help increase your sales.

Contact us for free consultation to see how we can help your business to be successful online.

Flash based websites can look slick and set a mood, which is why we think many business use this multimedia platform on their pages, but it is slow-loading, doesn’t work on mobile devices, and often makes it difficult for users to grab specific URLs‚ say the exact link to your menu section or your address and directions page.

Get Rid of the Music

Background music is one of the single most annoying things you can “enhance” your website with. For office workers toiling in a quiet warren of half-height cubicles, a sudden and unexpected soundtrack is a dead giveaway that they’re doing post-work planning on the job.

Put Your Contact Info on Every Page

Most people looking up your website simply want the address or the phone number to make a reservation or place a take-out order. Don’t make them search for this info by burying it on a separate page. Feature it prominently on your homepage.

It’s also helpful to place your phone number and address in small text in the bottom navigation area of every page. That way, no matter what page visitors end up on, they’ll always know where to find you or how to call you.

Stop Using PDFs

PDFs are useful in certain instances (tax forms and business presentations come to mind), but they require website visitors to download a file and open it in another window or program, cluttering up desktops and hard drives. If you present your information in PDF form, ask your website creator if he or she can render it in a more user-friendly form.

E-Commerce Domain Extension

It is important that your domain name be with a .com extension. Some businesses try a different extension like .net or .org, and lose traffic because of it. This can cause potential buyers to land on someone else’s website and e-mails could be sent to the wrong address.

Short and Easy to Spell

If you keep your domain name short and sweet then it will be much easier for your customers to remember the name and type it in. Shopping online is all about making things easy for your customer and if it is short then it can easily be typed in, referred to a friend and remembered for repeat purchases. Think 14 characters or less!

Related Category

Make sure that your domain name will give potential buyers an idea of what business you are in. By doing this you will help customers search for your products or services much easier. For example, if you wanted to buy luxury handbag, you would more than likely search for a site named www.luxhandbags.com

Use Keywords

Choose a domain name For Your E-Commerce Store that works well with search engines. Try to use the main keyword or phrase that you would like to optimize your entire site for. For example, if you sell hats, include the word hat in your domain name.

No Contact Information

There are a lot of sites that, apparently, just don’t want people to contact them. “ADD TO CART and don’t bother” me seems to be the message, but sales are based on product knowledge and trust. When your customer can’t see you or a real, live representative, how are they going to learn to trust you? It shouldn’t have to be pointed out, but for crying out loud, put your area code on your phone number! Are we supposed to guess where you’re located, especially if you don’t give us an address?

No Place for Feedback

One of the reasons Amazon became so successful selling books was readers were able to see what other book buyers thought before they bought a book. That’s been an important component of Netflix’s success, too. Social media sites include “I Like” buttons. Company Blog makes it easy for web developers to allow site visitors to leave comments. Shopping cart software usually has a “star rating” feature so buyers can leave feedback. Use these tools.

Out-of-date Information

The world’s a rapidly changing place, and the web is accelerating the process. A yellow pages ad might have been OK for six months or a year because all it really was designed to do was say, “We’re here!” People could also visit your store, read your newspaper ads, and maybe see your trucks drive past. However, your website may be the only store, advertising and signs you have. So your website must tell your customers everything they need to know to buy from you today. If you’ve added a new product or service, how will they know if it’s not on the site? If you’ve discontinued a line, it’s perhaps even more important that your website makes that clear and offers an alternative. If you don’t, you may end up having to handle refunds and lose a sale.

Unprofessional

Business owners will eagerly find a professional to design a business card, brochure, or ad for them; but apparently, they are perfectly willing to try to design and build their website themselves. The result is not pretty. They use flashing logos, marching ants, blaring music, and IM-style writing such as ROFLMAO and OMG. It’s jarring at best and obnoxious at worst. You shouldn’t even use acronyms such as ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or DIY (Do It Yourself), or IM (Instant Messaging), for that matter. Some people won’t know what they mean. Research shows that people spend less than 10 seconds scanning a page. If they don’t find what they want or they don’t understand, you’ve lost them.

Sends the Wrong Brand Message

No, by brand we don’t mean the hot iron poker you use to mark your cattle, cowboy. We don’t mean the logo or graphics you use, either. We’re talking about the whole experience: What people picture when they think about your company.

Now is the time to assess business performance for the previous year while you develop plans for a successful 2012. Because marketing is so essential to business growth, the following are some strategies to help you get a strong start for the New Year.

Give your website a makeover

Like a house that needs periodic maintenance and improvements, your website should improve and change over time. Take a close look at your site and make a plan to refresh or add content, upgrade site design, or improve the experience for site visitors. Your website can be the first introduction potential customers have to your business so it’s important that it makes the right impression.

Commit to blogging

Blogging is one of the most powerful tools available to small businesses. It allows you to connect with your audience, attract new customers, and improve search engine rankings organically. For best results build a schedule that includes blogging at least two to three times per week. Also, share new posts with your social networks for maximum content marketing value. Most importantly, be patient as you build your audience. It takes time to build momentum with blogging, but with consistent effort the benefits will inevitably follow.

Measure marketing performance

Big companies go to great lengths to track the performance of marketing campaigns—from the number of clicks generated from an online ad, coupons redeemed, purchases resulting from a special sale, or calls generated from a campaign. But small business owners often are so busy managing daily tasks that they forget to take a step back and look at the results. Take time to analyze your marketing efforts this year. Strategies that produced results should be increased, and those that didn’t perform should be eliminated.
Are you ready for a great year? Developing your marketing plan is essential to long-term growth and can help you make 2012 your best year yet.