So, you have designed your web site, WHAT NEXT?

Before you announce your site on the World Wide Web, ensure that it is ready for the launch. Akin to the situation, ‘Ensure that when you jump from the plane your parachute opens, cause if it does’nt, you cannot jump again!’

1. Ensure that your web site is ‘Search Engine’ ready.

   Once the search engine crawlers start indexing your site, it may be a trifle late to go back and have the right keywords indexed.
   
   Each page of your website should be optimized for 2- 3 keywords/phrases. Weave the keywords seamlessly into your titles and the body of each page. You can also include them in your image titles, alt tags, even in the names you give your pages. Look at each page individually and decide what it's about, then optimize accordingly.

2. Spend enough time to generate the right ‘meta tags’.

   These can be decided based on your site’s value proposition, product’s USP or simply by analyzing the sites of competing brands.
   
   Meta tags should be included in your HTML code at the top of every page. Many search engines will read them to pull a description to include in their search results.

3. Optimised Download time

   This is perhaps the most overlooked criteria, even by professional web designers. In a bid to add fancy ‘bells and whistles’, web designers tend to get carried away by the ‘look and feel’ of the site.
   
   It has to be a judicious blend of ‘form and function’. Ensure that technology tools are used to compress and optimize large graphic files and flash presentations for faster download time. Remember, you get only 6 seconds for your home page to download or risk losing almost half your audience!

4. Build an online community

   There's an old saying that people won't buy from you the very first time they come to your website, so you need a way to stay in touch with them to bring them back again. By offering a free newsletter, you'll be building a list of possible prospects.
   
   Ensure that you build site loyalty and get repeat visitors. Try and reward every web experience through quality content.

5. Insite Search Facility

   Visitors to your site should be able to find the information that they are seeking, within 3 clicks. If you have too much information in your site, it is absolutely a must to have an insite search facility.
   
   Google provides a nifty insite search facility which coupled with an Adsense ads generator can generate extra revenue for your site.

6. Privacy Policy and Site Disclaimer

   It is mandatory to state clearly how you intend to handle your subscribers information on your site. Your clients will not feel comfortable engaging in any online ecommerce transactions unless your privacy policy follows internationally accepted ‘Best Practices’.
   
   Ensure that you cater to local rules and regulations relating to privacy issues in your country of operation.

7. Web Site Visitors Analysis

   You will need to ensure that all the tracking tags are imbedded in your site from day one. It is imperative to track and analyse your visitor stats to continually fine tune your site so you can maximize the bottomline results.

Once the above issues are taken care of, you are ready to launch your site online.

If you need help on any of the above, email sharad@cyber-gear.com.