Basics of a Well Prepared Website

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A well prepared website requires several important factors. As an online marketing expert, I expect the website to be perfect before I start any online marketing campaign such as link building. Here are some of the factors I expect to see in a "ready to sell" website:

1. The copywriting must be professionally done.

I hear it from clients all the time. Why should I pay someone to write the copy for my website? I can write. I know what I want to say about my products and services.

And there's the biggest problem with amateur-written website copy. It's all about telling people all about your products and services. People don't care about your products and services. What they care about is their problem. And they really don't care how it gets solved as long as it gets solved.

What people want to know is that you understand their problem and will solve it for them so they can go back to watching TV and not have to worry about their problem anymore.

2. The copy and the website pages should be search engine optimized

If you don't want your website to show up on the first page of Google, Bing and Yahoo, why are you even bothering to put up a website? People find the products or services they want through searching the Internet in one of the big three search engines.

You know from your own experience that's how you find what you need. Why would you think your customers or clients are any different? And do you keep looking after the first three of four websites that come up? Neither do they.

3. You should have a link building campaign to get to the top and stay there

Link building is all about two things. Pushing your website higher in the rankings and getting your products and services found in more places than just your website.

You have to remember; Google and Bing love videos. And they love articles. And they love Web 2.0 websites like Facebook and blogs. If you don't have a presence on these types of properties, no matter how good your website is, Google will ignore you in favor of these types of properties because they know that people love these types of properties.

4. Dress For Success

That's right. You need an impressive looking website. Your website needs to look professional and up to date and have the bells and whistles people are expecting today.

Looking your best is just as true on the Internet as it is in the Boardroom. Your website should be dressed in an immaculate suit and tie with a white shirt and cufflinks. It should have its hair perfectly done, its shoes shined like glass, and its fingernails manicured.

The ladies will understand the importance and value of what I'm saying faster than the guys will but it must be understood that a sloppy looking site or cheap looking site will immediately imply that your products or services are sloppy or low-grade.

Just as you would question the quality of a company's products or services if the copy were misspelled or the grammar was incorrect, you have to remember that 60% of the world's population is visual and the first impression is going to be the website, not your copy. Writing great copy for a lame website is the proverbial attempt to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse.

And right now, you're on a website filled with listings for some of the top design and programming people in the Twin Cities. In other words, you've come to the right place. Search our listings!