10 Tips to a Professional-Grade Website

Twin Cities Web Design

By Phong T. Nguyen

Internet is the most widely-used medium for research and communication in the world. When you decide to take your business marketing campaign onto the Internet, you should turn to the professional web designers and Internet marketers. Below are 10 Tips to a Professional-Grade Website for you to keep in mind.

1. Custom Web Design – Customize your website’s layout & themes to match your type of business and organization. Most important of all, position your website’s graphics & contents on the landing-page strategically so that within the first 60 seconds, the viewers should be able to understand the products/services that you are providing; it is similar to the well-known “Elevator’s 60 seconds Speech”. In addition, thoughtfully customize your site’s navigation menu to make it easy for the viewers to navigate around your website.

2. Easy to Contact – Always leave contact information on your website, especially on the Contact Us or About Us page. It can be a phone number, an email address, and/or an office address. If you are a business that provides services, you may want to place your direct contact information in highly visible locations, without it being too interruptive. You want to make it very easy for the customers to get in touch with you.

3. Clean Code – Use clean-coding approach to develop your website for friendly access by search engines and Internet browsers, (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, and Safari).

4. Browser Compatibility – In the web development process, make sure the website is compatible with the five main internet browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, and Safari. This enables your website to display consistently on different web browsers.

5. Comprehensive Site Optimization – Optimize the website’s graphics, pictures, and codes to make sure the website is loading fast on all web browsers.

6. Search Engines Submissions – Register your website’s domain(s) with search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo, for better indexing when called upon.

7. Website Updates – Once your website is set up and launched, it is very important to maintain your website on a regular basis. Your website’s contents and images should say what you intend them to say. In other words, stay current with your website information.

8. Dedicated email address — This kind of email address is unique in a way that it carries your domain name to help the recipient(s) know that the email is coming from your organization. For example: If your name is John Thomas and your website’s domain is www.MyWebsite.com, then your dedicated email should be JohnT@MyWebsite.com. Dedicated email helps make your contact information appear professional online and on paper as well.

9. Google Analytic – Set up a Google Analytic account and then use its analytic-code to embed onto your site. The Google analytic tool enables you to generate comprehensive reports on your web traffic. It is most useful when you are running a certain marketing campaign, especially online.

10. Website Database Backup – Back up your website’s database weekly or monthly (depending on the kind of website you have), so in case your website is hacked or crashed for some reason, you can use your most recent backup files to re-configure your website quickly to bring it back online.

About the Author
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Phong T. Nguyen – Strategic Internet Marketer & Web Designer
Website: Minneapolis Web Design, Rochester Web Design | http://www.proweb365.com/