Tips on how to design your site for easy navigation and choosing the right domain name...
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TIP 1 - Make it simple to navigate
Make it as simple as possible to navigate your website. When I say simple, I mean simple.
Lots of new and often experienced webmasters make the mistake of cluttering their home page or any other page with many links, flashing banners, java, etc.
Does this help your visitors navigate your site with ease? No, not at all.
Filling up your web pages with banners and zillions of links only serves to confuse visitors. Too many choices. They don't know where to go or what's really important or unique about your website - except click the browser's back button in frustration and never return!
When I talk about site navigation, I don't literally mean 'navigation links' at the top, side or bottom of the web page. Yes, this is important too, but far more important is designing clear and concise web pages that logically flow from one page to the next, so visitors get to your offer, product, service or free content with minimum of fuss.
If its easy for visitors to navigate your site and get what they want, the better your chances of them staying around.
Confuse them and you'll lose them! Its as simple as that.
TIP 2 - Domain Names
If you are considering starting an online business, the first thing you'll need to do is register a domain name.
Why bother registering a domain name?
There are many advantages.
- You appear professional and much more credible
Which one sounds more credible and looks professional:
http://www.yourname.comhttp://www.freehost.com/yourname/website/index.html
Yes, the first one.
While there is nothing wrong with hosting your site using your ISP or a free web hosting service, if you plan to do business on the Internet, potential customers will think twice before doing business with you.
It costs little to register a domain name these days (around US$10 - $25, depending on where you shop) and potential customers will be under the impression that you are not serious about what you do.
- Short, easy to remember domain name
Which one is easier to remember:
http://www.yourname.comhttp://www.freehost.com/yourname/website/index.html
Yes, the first one again!
If visitors forget to bookmark your site, sign-up for your email newsletter or cannot memorize your domain name within 10 seconds of arriving at your site, there is a strong chance you'll never see them again!
Make it easy for visitors to remember your domain name.
- Its very inexpensive to register
A few years ago domain name registration did cost upwards of US$35 per year for a .com, .net, .org.
These days you can register a domain name for as low as US$10 per year. I use http://www.itsyourdomain.com because their service is fast, reliable and competitively priced (around US$7.92 per domain name registration per year).
If you have trouble coming up with a suitable domain name for your website, try (http://www.nameboy.com). This free service will list two-word combinations that are available for registration.
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HTML Code Of The Month
Note: Copy and paste the HTML code into Web Page Teacher to see how it works and what it can do for you. Create a web page with Web Page Teacher (Click here to download)
--Creating An Automatic Drop Down Navigation Menu--
This is a simple navigation script that will redirect your visitors with a drop down menu that will automatically advance to the selected page without a submit button.
Place this script where you'd like your menu to appear. You can add as many links as you like, but keep in mind you must use full URLs, starting with "http," when linking to web sites outside of your own.
