Picking Your Domain Name
Content, Content, Content
What To Include On Your Site
Get Your Site Noticed!
Pitfalls

Where to begin?
Start by thinking of a domain name for your web site. This is the fun part! It should be something easy to remember for your visitors. Check here to see if the name you want is available. Reserving a name presently costs $70 for two years, not including the price of "hosting" the site on a server. 

Even if you aren't quite ready to put your site online, you should consider reserving your name now, before someone else takes it. Island Desktop will be happy to reserve your domain name for you. Do it today...don't be disappointed!

Content should be your #1 priority. Not only does it keep your clients coming back time and time again, it also plays a great role in how your page is indexed by search engines. You must provide visitors a reason to visit your site, and a reason to come back to your site (and purchase your services!) again and again. Give your readers valuable information, not just an advertisement for your company.

Keep in mind, writing for the web is different than for print copy. Your informative content must have impeccable writing, punctuation & grammar. We can use your existing advertising or marketing information for your web pages, but we may make some suggestions to make for better web reading. 

Web visitors are usually impatient, so you need to cut to the chase and capture their attention in short, interesting blocks of text. Island Desktop will gladly write and edit powerful, original copy for your website.

Bringing Visitors To Your Site
Effective use of the Internet means you have to do more than just put up your web site like so much wallpaper. There are millions of sites, thousands of your competitors, out there competing for browser time.

Without tenants, an apartment building is useless. Without shoppers, a shopping mall is a waste of time and effort. The same is true for a Web site, in that its initial completion is only part of its success. The next step is to let everyone know of its existence, through advertising and other promotion:

• Use keywords to stay in people's memory
• Get your site registered in the right directory index by using the first 50 or so words of the site to generate impact
• Use hypertext links to generate interest, and use e-mail to confirm activity
• Have links to other busy sites, and negotiate other sites to carry links to you
• Refresh your information often - there's nothing as stale as old news
• Run some hot topics
• Carry newsworthy items
• Usenet Newsgroups
• Value-added content (free, useful information)
• Cooperative cross-linking with allied sites
• Non-Internet promotion (brochures, magazines, TV, radio)
• Market-specific advertising Web banners
• Mailing lists and monthly updates
• Word-of-mouth
• Your web address should be listed on every piece of print materials (ads, brochures, business cards, invoices)
• Offer "web only" specials
• Announce your web address as part of your voice mail greeting (...and for more information, please visit us on the web at www.mybusiness.com)

Pitfalls

» Beware of graphics! A picture can tell a thousand words - but it can also take up a lot of  kilobytes. If you're used to using pictures in desktop publishing documents, you've probably never even looked at the file size. But when your readers are downloading your graphics at a rate of 1k a second (or slower!) are they going to wait for that 400k snapshot? (work it out in minutes - would you wait that long?) Use graphics carefully and wisely, and you'll leave your readers happy.

 » Misspelled words click here for the most commonly spelled words in English...Don't get caught!

 » Poor navigation. Don't keep readers guessing what that icon means! The K.I.S.S. theory (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) applies here!

 » Inconsistent page design. Pick a design and stick with it. Don't confuse readers with different designs for different pages.

 » No follow up, delays in responding to email. Someone at your office must be available to check and respond to email regularly, preferably several times per day. Respond right away to all inquiries!

 » Outdated content (dates, sales etc.) This will show readers that you just don't care enough to keep your site up to date. It is like saying "no one is home!"

 » Fonts that are not recognized by the majority of viewers. If a viewer doesn't have a font that you have used to create your site, his browser will use a default font that may look completely different than what you intended. Stick to basic fonts like arial & helvetica, or create a font as a graphic to get more creative.

 » Too many fancy features. Music and animation may show off the designer's technical prowess, but it will slow down your site and make your readers dizzy. Try to avoid anything that makes noise or blinks too much! This can be very irritating! 

 » Blocks and blocks of boring text. Either break it up into separate pages, or add frequent links to the top. Remember, keep your writing "tight"...web viewers are very impatient! They want interesting "chunks" of information.

 » Trying to "save" money by having your cousin/neighbor/buddy build you a web site. They mean well, but will likely not give you the professional design your company deserves.

 » Links that are broken, or that send the reader out of your site never to return!

» Sites that only work in one browser. Check your site in both Internet Explorer and Netscape: you may be shocked to see your site as other people on different browsers are seeing it.

 » Sites that require the viewer to download plug-ins. Most people won't have the patience to do this, may not know how, and will probably just surf to another site.

 » Forgetting to use ALT tags for your images: Remember, many people turn off their graphics to surf the web faster. So tell them what they are missing by using ALT text tags for your pictures.

 » Also check your site on different size monitors. Are your pages getting cut off on smaller browsers? 

 » Under Construction Signs. If the page is not ready, don't put it online. Or tell your readers to check back on a specific date. Don't make them wait for the page to load, only to find out they have wasted their time.