8 Golden Rules For A Successful Website By: Nathan Tarrant Those who are experts at marketing on the internet know that it is important to have a highly effective website. They know that the number one reason why people do business with them via the internet and their website is confidence and trust. If their site looks trustworthy and fills the visitor with confidence, that visitor will start to begin a relationship with the owner of that site. As a coach for the most successful marketing series in history, Guerrilla Marketing, I spend a lot of time looking at client’s websites with the premise of helping them increase their presence on the internet and increase the number of relationships they have with potential clients. Guerrilla Marketing teaches 8 golden rules that when it comes to having a highly effective website, experts who build successful businesses through online marketing stick to, be it for local internet marketing, internet marketing for small businesses or the international market . 1. Planning When planning something for the first time, be it a website, a marketing campaign or a new sales strategy, you always have to begin with the end in mind. What is it that you wish to accomplish exactly from your website? When people visit what do you want them to do? Do you want them to read something? Sign up to your free newsletter? Learn some new skill through a video post? Whatever it is when people visit a website for the first time they stay on the site for a maximum of 10 seconds if the site doesn't grab their attention and tell them what to do. So if you want them to download a free report or product, get them to sign up for a conference call, or simply just tell them about your company, make it clear and simple If you have too many options on your homepage, visitors will not know what to do so plan now what it is you want from them. 2. Content I have just alluded to this in the first rule. You have up to 10 seconds to grab a visitors attention so what are you going to say that will not only get them to stay, but depending on what is planned for your site, get them to come back in the future? Remember to grab their interest. Don't hit them with too much information, too many options. Keep it direct and simple and most importantly, interesting. 3. Design The way your site is designed will determine as well whether or not a visitor stays at the site or clicks away. Is it easy to navigate around? Is the page too full of colour? Does the background make it difficult to read the text? Are there too many flashing images or demands on the visitor to take action? Consider all of these and ensure your site is pleasing to the eye and doesn't put people off. 4. Involvement It is important to get a visitor involved in the site. Offer them free samples, products, reports, e books, all delivered to the visitor if they provide their name and email address. This enables you to interact with the visitor after they have left the site. Successful Marketers don't set their website up so the visitor just reads information, the visitor has to begin the relationship by interacting with the website and then the marketer keeps that relationship going through regular and interesting correspondence via email. 5. Production This is putting the first four rules in place. Don't just do one or two, or leave one out – if you want to be successful at marketing online then implement all of the four rules so far and make sure that they work in harmony with each other. 6. Follow up You have got your visitor to interact with you on their first visit; you need to ensure that you keep that interaction going. Successful online marketers know that it can take over seven interactions before someone buys from them so they make sure they follow up on the first occasion and keep doing so, not just until the visitor buys from them, but forever or until the visitor requests that they stop. 7. Promotion Having a great site is one thing, promoting it so people find you is another. Successful marketers promote their site not just on line through search engine registration or linking to other sites, but also through promotion off line too – In Guerrilla Marketing we teach that marketing is everything you do in business and there are over 100 different ways to market your business, so those businesses that are successful at local internet marketing, promote their website in all their literature, mass media, adverts, when talking to people – they look to promote at every opportunity they can get. 8. Maintenance The worst mistake you could ever make with your site is to leave it alone and not keep it updated. Ensure that it looks refreshing, inviting, and up to date with the times. That links don't go down, that pages don't take ages to load. Make sure your site is regularly maintained and up to date on all fronts. This is particularly important if you blog. It is not good driving traffic to your blog or promoting it at every opportunity if the last post was a few months ago and on a subject matter that everyone has moved on from. About the Author: Nathan is an expert in local internet marketing and marketing for small businesses through both successfully turning failing businesses around and being an accredited coach for the most successful marketing series in history, Guerrilla Marketing. Nathan provides small businesses with marketing strategies and internet marketing methodologies that can help any business, regardless of its size, to  expand their client base, drive more traffic to their websites and multiply their profits. 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