New Year Checklist for Web Designers

Hi,

As the New Year rolls in, your web site might be in need of a tune-up. What better time to examine and retouch your web design than now? Here are some simple ways you can examine your webdesign and online business for needed improvements, easier methods or a better success rate for the New Year.

1. Check Your Design

Take a look at all your Web site's pages and the design you have used for each. Pretend you are a visitor entering the site for the first time, and look at your site objectively. You might want to ask a close friend to examine it with you. Ask yourself the following questions:

a) Would I continue browsing around this site as a new visitor?
b) Are there any sections or statements that appear confusing?
c) Do all the links work properly?
d) Does the design flow with ease to the goal I wish to achieve with each visitor?
e) Is my presentation clear and concise?

2. Check Your Navigation Statistics

Your Web host provides site stats that can be used to your advantage tremendously. With these stats, you can view how many visitors you've had over the course of a day, week, month or year as well as their surfing patterns on your site, and the keywords they used to arrive at your site.

Examine how your visitors surf once they've arrived at your site. Do they continue to view more pages after entering, or are they clicking back out immediately? If they appear to be leaving as soon as they arrive on a certain page, try to find out why and fix whatever might be hindering them. Check with your Web site host if you're not sure how to view your site statistics. These are critical to your online success.

3) Set Web Site Goals

A Web business needs goals like any other venture. Use the New Year as a time to set new goals for promotion, number of visitors you wish to gain, sales, building customer relationships and perhaps even adding some new products or services for your clients.

4) Check Your Pricing

The New Year is also a great time to check your pricing against your competitors, if you haven't done so recently. An increase or decrease might be in order. However, only you can test the waters to see if this is true for your business.

5) Do Something Offline

The final step is to do something offline for a change. Maybe there's a favourite hobby you've allowed to slip because you spend so much time on the computer! Try not to let your online business take away from your personal life. Use your "off" time to do things with family and friends - offline. This will increase your creativity and help relieve online stresses as well.

I hope 2010 is a great one for your web site and for you.

Kind Regards

Harvey