What makes a successful corporate website?

“Anyone can create a website!”, exclaim Kevin, my 12 years old nephew who just posted his first entry in his Blogger account. Like young Kevin, many people has this misconception. Even though what Kevin just did was something I can be proud of, but creating a successful corporate website is not a child play. It is a continuous journey that requires effort and lots of technical knowledge. Any experienced webmaster can tell you this. Without proper technical knowledge, your website will be just another pile of HTML files lying unnoticed in the vast cyberspace.

You know your website is successful when…

1. Your website rank higher than your competitors’ website in Google on your targeted keywords.
2. You begin to form a new department dedicated to handle sales lead from your website.
3. Your returning visitors is more than 50% every month and stays for more than 30 minutes.

So what makes a successful corporate website?

1. Search engine friendly – The common problem I have seen with most corporate website is they are not optimized properly for search engines. Even though there are many factors in determining your website ranking in search engine result, having a website which in “not ready” for search engines will simply throw away all your efforts, no matter how many incoming links you have or how great your contents are. FYI, 90% of our sales begin in Google. So search engine is important! Don’t neglect it.
2. Regular content updates – Another problem faced by most website owners is they find it too troublesome to update their content. Most of the cases are due to lack of proper tools. In the end, they gave up and left the content unchanged for years. Regularly updated content is one of the “secret” to a successful corporate website because other than your visitors, search engine also love fresh content. Editing your web pages or even add new web pages should be as easy as writing an email.
3. Attractive Design – Your website design is very important after you manage to generate huge traffic to your website via search engines. A good impression stays forever and it will persuade them to stay longer so that you will have more opportunity to convince them to buy from you. A good design should project your corporate image the moment your visitors look at it. It must not be too confusing and easy to navigate.
4. Easy Contacts – You know your website campaign is successful when you are overwhelm by phone calls and emails from your website visitors. That time, you might want to set up a new department dedicated to handle your website sales. That is why your visitors should be able to reach you conveniently online and via telephone or email.
5. Know your visitors – Are your visitors leaving your website after 1 minute and never come back again? How do they find your website? If it is from search engines, what keywords do they use to find you? These are some of the information you should know if you want your website to be successful. The more you understand your visitors and their preferences the easier it is to convince them to do business with your company.
6. Reliable facilities – A successful Website must be supported by a solid IT foundation with minimal downtime and a proficient technical team.