This is not a lesson in HTML or script, it’s a breakdown of what I have found works and what doesn’t. Before I get into that I want to emphasise that I’m no I.T guru or webmaster geek, just an ordinary guy and before I go into it I just want to say you might want to get a cup of coffee as this is a bit of a read;

  • Domain

It’s all in a name. Your domain can make or break you depending on your market place. For instance if you have a diet advise site you don’t want your domain to be beandeatwhatyouwantwhenyouwant.ws OK maybe a little over exaggerated but I have shown two important examples here.

You domain needs to be something you can spell and more importantly something which your readers could tell their friends without getting a response of ‘what? how do you spell that?’ Also try and keep it fairly short to minimise the possibility of mis-spells.

Secondly the extension. By that I mean .com, .net, .org, .co.uk etc. Your extension can make you trusted, memorable and professional. Without doubt in my opinion .com and .net are the two best extensions to use, common and trusted they form the solid foundations for your website. Local extensions are fine if you’re focused on attracting a local audience and can be totally usable when reaching a global audience, that said bear in mind that a recognisable global domain will look professional.

Extensions to avoid; .ws, .biz, .tv, .info, .me In my opinion and according to a lot of website fraud investigators these extensions are largely associated with malware and spam. That said if you are using one of these extensions it doesn’t mean your doomed, just means you have an on-going battle to keep people’s trust.

  • Buttons

Digg this, Re-Tweet, Share This, Follow, Subscribe, RSS all buttons that I use on this site. You could go crazy, there are buttons for everything. The thing is to have the right mix. You need the right buttons for your site. If you have a website that talks about Twitter tips, you need Re-Tweet buttons. If you talk about Digg, yep you guessed it, Digg This buttons.

Even if you don’t have a social media specific site you need still need the ability for your readers to spread your content to their friends. Also by having the means to collect their email address and for them to subscribe to your RSS feeds you are laying the ground work for a loyal audience.

  • Archive

You spend hours and hours writing great content, but once it’s buried under new content it could get lost, all that work for nothing. By putting a link to each months archive you are giving your readers the option of reading what else you have written.

Make it even easy for them by adding a recent comments and most popular post link too. If you look on this site you will see all of these things. You can go even further by having tags at the end of each post, for instance at the end of my Twitter related posts you will see a tag link Twitter that brings up all related posts. Adding a search box on your site which will increase your chances of your old content never becoming old.

  • Layout

I prefer the magazine/thumbnail style on my home page. This serves as a great way to reduce bounce rate (Bounce is when a reader exits your website on the same page they arrived on, essentially not visiting any other pages other than the one they started on). It also gives more content to the reader.

If you focus your whole home page on one article you are playing a risky game, if the reader isn’t interested in that particular post, they will leave and possible never return, however, if you lay it out with a few different posts on your home page with the post title, image and a brief excerpt, you are going to have more of your content read.

Think of it this way, when you visit a website, how many times do you scroll down to view the whole page? If you can’t see what you want without scrolling or clicking anywhere, chances are you will close the page.

  • Bulk

I’ve talked about giving your reader exposure to your content, but don’t over cook it. The last thing you want is for your readers to click a link to an article they want to read and not be able to read it due to the amount of stuff you have crammed into each page.

I prefer simple clean sites, that said you have to make it interesting enough that it stands out from the crowd. With my layout of excerpts and thumbnail images it provides enough colour etc to be pleasing without being garish.

  • SEO

You need to bear this in mind, whether you use a professional Thesis theme or a free website, you need to think about how SEO friendly your site is. Think about your keywords in your posts, I try and make sure my key words are in the title and in the first 160 characters of the post, obviously this isn’t always possible but its what I try and aim for.

Beware of heavy banners and badly scripted sites that will put spiders off, if you don’t know anything about website coding or optimisation, play it safe and stay simple with a reliable theme/template provider, you can find a stack of good ones on wordpress.

  • Quiet

A quiet website is a dead one. You can be quiet in two ways, not posting enough fresh content on your site and not talking about your site enough.

Content is key to keeping your readers happy and interested. If you don’t keep posting new content on a regular basis your audience will dry up.

If you don’t get out there and tell people about your website they won’t come, plain and simple. Get out there and network.

  • Loud

You can be too loud though. Don’t shout from the roof tops about how amazing your website is if that’s all you’re going to do. Your website could be too loud too, flashing images, rotating banners, animated characters even audio playing straight away. Top all this with a pop up asking for your email address straight away and you have got a loud website.

We have all been on a site like this, and we have all clicked that close button. Find the right mix of loud and quiet.

  • Tabs

Your page tabs are the main navigation tools for your site. Make sure you have an ‘About’ and a ‘Contact’ tab. You may want to consider a comments policy if that is allowed on your site. Essentially you need to add any relevent page tabs, but don’t go nuts. I hate it when I see 20-30 page tabs all over a website and to make things worse the webmaster has decided to make them flashing neon colours.

  • Kudos

If you allow comments or your audience has the ability to send in their thoughts via email, then make sure you mention them in your latest content. Some of my posts are inspired by readers and I acknowledge them with links and mentions where ever it seems right.

By adding kudos you are engaging with readers on a personal level. A level which can be seen by other readers, which may cause them to get involved too.

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So what does everyone think? Drunk your coffee yet?

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