Having a web site is critical today for any small- medium business. But what is more important is having a web site that is smart and appeals to visitors so that they keep returning.
If you don’t keep improving your site on a regular basis, you may as well be serving sales prospects day-old doughnuts or sending out holiday cards in January. Want to hold the attention of your Web audience? Pay attention to your site. Here’s a roundup of our favourite articles to help you make improvements.<\/FONT><\/P> Make Sure Everything Clicks<\/FONT><\/P> The Perfect Host<\/FONT><\/P> All Web hosts are not created equal. Our technology columnist Anne Stuart describes how to evaluate Web hosts and to choose the one that’s best for your business. <\/FONT><\/P> Checklist: Monitor Your Web Site’s Performance <\/FONT><\/P> Discover what aspects of Web site performance are critical to your e-commerce success. <\/FONT><\/P> Make Sure Your Web Site’s Working for You <\/FONT><\/P> Internet logjams losing you sales? Speed up your site with these smart strategies. <\/FONT><\/P> Weed Out Your Weak Links <\/FONT><\/P> Everyone likes to link to other sites because, well, that’s what you do on the Web. But having too many links — or outdated links that don’t work — will distract and dismay your visitors. <\/FONT><\/P> Site Maintenance Utilities<\/FONT><\/P> Here’s an overview of various HTML checkers, which can help ensure that your Web-site visitors have an error-free experience on your site. <\/FONT><\/P> Content Is King <\/FONT><\/P> Writing Well on the Web<\/FONT><\/P> Hardly anybody really likes reading online. No surprise there, since so many websites are so poorly written. Here are easy ways to make your Web words more reader-friendly. <\/FONT><\/P> Traffic Magnets<\/FONT><\/P> With imagination and a clear sense of their customers, Earth Treks and Merriman Capital Management keep their Web visitors coming back for more. <\/FONT><\/P> Blogging for Business<\/FONT><\/P> Blogging has been popular with teens, geeks, and flamboyant extroverts for years, but today, it’s garnering more attention from businesses as a way to connect with customers and prospects. <\/FONT><\/P> When Blogs Go Bad<\/FONT><\/P> Blogs can be a great marketing tool. But when they bite back, it’s all about damage control. <\/FONT><\/P> Blog Rules<\/FONT><\/P> The blogosphere is a world unto itself, with its own set of rules and regulations. Newcomers break them at their own peril. Here’s what you need to know before jumping into the fray. <\/FONT><\/P> The Top 10 Things You Should Know Before You Blog<\/FONT><\/P> Three business blogging experts share their best tips for getting started in the blogosphere. <\/FONT><\/P> Don’t Focus on the Razzle-Dazzle <\/FONT><\/P> Flashy graphics and shock-wave downloads do not a successful site make. Content is what really brings back customers. <\/FONT><\/P> Create Your Own Web Content <\/FONT><\/P> To take the last article a bit further, good content brings back customers. Second-rate editorial and graphics will send them away faster than an e-mail chain letter. Here’s how can make your site full of the former. <\/FONT><\/P> Proofread Your Content <\/FONT><\/P> There are a distressing number of typo-ridden, grammatically incorrect Web sites out there. Stand out by showing your potential customers that you pay attention to detail. <\/FONT><\/P> Know What Your Users Want, and Give It to Them<\/FONT><\/P> The Survey Says…<\/FONT><\/P> Want to know what consumers think? Put down the comment cards and poll them online instead. <\/FONT><\/P> The Skinny on Survey Software<\/FONT><\/P> With more than 100 online polling software packages to choose from, picking the right one can be tricky. Here, three options to suit various needs. <\/FONT><\/P> May I Help You<\/FONT><\/P> New live-chat software helps Web merchants convert browsers into buyers. <\/FONT><\/P> Live Aid<\/FONT><\/P> There are scores of live-chat vendors, and finding the right one can be tricky. Here are three options to suit your various needs. <\/FONT><\/P> Capture, Capture, Capture<\/FONT><\/P> How to make every visit to your website a marketing goldmine. <\/FONT><\/P> Pumping Your Visitors for Information <\/FONT><\/P> Improving your site means getting inside the heads of your users. Here’s how you can do it without seeming like a telemarketer calling at dinnertime. <\/FONT><\/P> Come In. I’ve Been Expecting You <\/FONT><\/P> If you don’t treat visitors like they are the only person in cyberspace, don’t expect them to stick around. And personalization doesn’t need to be expensive. <\/FONT><\/P> Building Your Brand in Cyberspace<\/FONT><\/P> Building Brands on the Web: An Old Game with New Rules <\/FONT><\/P> E-commerce may be changing the rules of business, but most of the traditional laws of marketing still apply. Here’s how to plan for the long-term success of your site.<\/FONT><\/P> <\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Having a web site is critical today for any small- medium business. But what is more important is having a web site that is smart and appeals to visitors so that they keep returning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,671],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-archive","category-ebusiness","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"yoast_head":"\n