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State your site purpose clearly: This is where you tell who, what, where, when, why, and how. Who you are. What you do. Where you are located. When your next event will be. Why your web site exists. And, how to contact you. Web content should be appealing to your visitors, provide something interesting, and offer more detail if they want to spend the time browsing your site. Use A Title For Each Page: Your site should have a NAME/TITLE for each page, to give you visitors and idea (upon loading your pages) of what your page is about. Do not have pages named "Untitled". You can set a title for your page by inserting a meta tag in the <head> of your html code. Example:
<html> Use Headings: Use headings and sub-headings, to give a summary of what your pages are about. Make sure that the Headings will be clearly understood. Break topic areas up with hyperlinks to other pages. Another idea is using "text teasers". Use "text teasers" to catch your visitors attention and invite them to browse your site further. Example: "Click here to learn more". Writing Style: While writing your content, be sure to use clear language that will be easily understood. Choose your words carefully. Understand that what you have written can be misunderstood, if not worded correctly. People can only take in a few words at once, so keep your paragraphs short and sweet, or break them up into sections and topics. Also, remember that not everyone understands Net Style language/humor/slang. Example: using Smileys :-), frowns :-(, winks ;-), lol, ROF, <G> etc., which can be confusion to some people. Provide A Family Safe Site: Your site should be suitable for all viewers and be family safe and user friendly. Safe Surfing: You might want to join a "safe surf" free rating, which will evaluate your site to be family safe and user friendly. They will then allow you to place their logo on your sites to show your visitors that your site has been rated family safe and user friendly. The below content criteria is especially important for business sites Provide Contact Information: Your site should always have a way for your visitors to contact you, whether it be via Email or Address and phone number. Make it easy for visitors to get in touch with you. They will see your site as credible and trustworthy. Avoid using forms as the only method of your visitors contacting you. Remember, not all browsers support forms. Disclaimer: If your site provides products, services, interacts with visitors or has external links it is suggest that you should post a "disclaimer" or policy statement on your site. A disclaimer is a legal statement, protecting you and your site, from any legal responsibilities for damages, including any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages arising from the operation or inability to operate your website (products or services). For more information about disclaimers, visit: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/rls/dos/413.htm
Double Check Spelling and Grammar: Make sure that you have checked and double checked your pages for grammar and spelling errors. Check For Spelling Errors with Site Doctor, provided by HitBox Central. Another way to check grammar and spelling is to cut and paste your text content into a text editor program, such as Microsoft Word, which offers grammar suggestions and spell check. Privacy Statement: If your site requires, collecting information from your visitors, then your site should post a "Privacy Statement", this will reassure your visitors that anything they post on your site (such as in forms) or in E-mail sent to you, is confidential. |