It's easy to create a "pretty" website. You could create one yourself (yes, really). Pretty is good, but it's not enough on its own to justify the investment in a website. We have identified seven critical "must-haves" that your website must be good at to really succeed. Make sure your website attends properly to all seven - we can help make sure you are getting the results you deserve.

1) Search engine seductive
There are three main ways to get people to your website. You can tell them about it yourself, pay for advertising, or persuade search engine, like Google and Yahoo to offer your site first for relevant searches. This last way is free and effective. In fact, entire businesses exist simply to get you there, often for a large fee. Our websites include a good helping of this "Search Engine Optimisation", or SEO, to make sure the right people just "happen" to find you.

2) Engaging: 5-second rule
"Surfing" the web is so easy, your potential customers are usually only two clicks away from a competitor (i.e. competing for their attention, from an alternative supplier to the news or Facebook). You have in the region of five seconds to convince them to stay, and looking good is the first hurdle. We discuss design with you and create a "look" that fits your requirements - we don't ask you to choose from a limited set of templates.

3) Easy to use and useful
"Usability" is not just about buttons working properly. It's that feeling of being in the "right place". Your site will be tested by a qualified expert, using well established guidelines for usability and accessibility. This ensures all your customers will easily find their way around your site and will stay on your site long enough to take action.

4) Inspire your customers
Existing customers are, for most businesses, the easiest source of new sales. The site needs to encourage existing customers to feel a part of your business, by justifying their existing purchase decisions and leading to interest in further purchases.

5) Interest new prospects
At the same time, new potential customers need to feel that your business is for them, that they can and want to become existing customers. We can help write "copy" to whatever extent you need, from using the text you supply word-for-word to writing pages from scratch for you.

6) Keep readers on the site
Every page of your website should have a purpose. We will help you decide this as part of the design process. Once on a page the customer should be led towards the next step in the process...

7) Lead readers to action
For a business, there is little point in attracting hundreds of people to your site if they simply read a page and then go away. The purpose of a page may be to inform the reader of a product, but there should always be a clear and "logical" action for the reader to take. It may be clicking a "Buy Now" button, signing up for a newsletter, telephoning your business - the important thing is that the potential customer is "lead" to take some action in a chain that leads, ultimately, to making a purchase.

WebAbundance specialises in creating effective websites for small businesses. We speak in plain English, because most people are too busy running their business to be a computer-whizz. We can also help you with specific problems, such as "buying a web address" or setting up a temporary page.

For MORE details on HOW to apply the 7-must-haves to YOUR website, just complete our contact form, or give us a call on 0753-060-2201. Let's get this started.