What are the most important things to consider when building your website?

Of course, the number one thing to remember is that a website is never completed. You will always need to update add and change the website just like anything else. It will get old, stale and the search engines will find something better to replace it in the SERPS (Search Engine Result Pages).

But what should you be considering most when you build the website for your business?

Ask yourself some basic questions first.

• What do I want people to know about my business?

• What do I tell people about my product or business when I talk to them face to face?

• What image do I want to portray?

• How do I want people to think about my business?

• How do I want people to think about me? My product, my people?

The first step in building a website is understanding what you want the website to do, show and represent. So having an outline of what that is before you begin will help you determine if you have done that successfully.

Then start with the basic pages, home page, contact and a page about your company. Make sure they are clear, concise and informative. Having an about us page that just says you are great wont be enough and having 20 pages on how you were the high school football quarterback is too much. So find a middle point that makes the point but does not take 5 pages to do it.

Once you have the basic pages now consider what else you want people to know.

• Create page(s) that demonstrate your product or service.

• Create page(s) that show that you are certified or an expert in your business.

• Create page(s) to insure people that other customers have been happy with your product.

• Create page(s) to convey the geographic area you service or sell to.

• Create page(s) to make yourself and your staff likable.

1. Demonstrating your product or service

You need to do more than just throw up a picture of what you do. Use video to show how you do it have photo galleries to show the steps in production or jobs as they were completed. Use multi media and create something that really engages the viewer and shows off what you do or sell in a great light.

2. Show that you are an expert

If someone is going to hire you or buy your product they want to know that you know what you are doing. Show any licenses, insurance and qualification as well as schooling, certifications and experience. If you were a teacher or instructor in your field, say it. If you were given an award by the mayor, tell it. If you won a competition in your field, talk about it.

3. Who buys your product and what is their reaction

You need to explain what your market is and how people react to your product or service. Do they like it? do they hate it? Do they tell their friends? What percentage send you new customers? Add some testimonials from actual customers.

4. What is the area you service

If you have a local market it is important, especially for the search engines to explain the areas you service. Name the towns, cities and municipalities you work in and around.

5. Try to be humans

Don't hide behind a facade. Don't portray yourself as a huge company if you are not. Try to be human and avoid words like "US" and "WE" if you are a one person business. Try to use first names of staff, show picture and videos of working building products or doing jobs. Make people like your staff. Get person and talk about how so an so has 3 kids or 14 grand children attending such and such a school.

Give people a reason to connect with you. Someone may use your service just because you have a child in the same school as them. They feel a connection and understand that you have the same issues and concerns that they do as parents. Anything an everything counts and can contribute to getting sales. So the more you say, the more you will get back from your website.

It is all really just common sense. What do you want people to know and how do you want people to talk about you. This is your opportunity to create the exact image you want and tell people only the parts you want them to hear.

And ll the worrying about SEO and what the search engines will think?

If you follow the simple map we have created here, you have done all of that yourself without even realizing it.

By using locations, details about customers and employees and your product you have created amazing content that the search engines will gobble up and share with their visitors.

There is never too much on a website, but always too little. Don't write 1 paragraph on each page with "Welcome to my website" and "Buy Now" as the main focus.

Tell people what they are buying, how you got there and why you are better.

If you do that, then your website will provide a great resource for your potential customers and give you a solid foundation on the web.