How to Make Visitors Add You to Their Favorites

If you want your visitors to come back again and again, you've got to get them to add your website to their favorites (also known as bookmarks in some browsers). That's the menu where they can save websites that they want to use again, clicking them easily to get to them. Being added to a user's favorites is like getting an ad for your website right there in their browser's menu, for nothing. But how can you do it?

Make it Easy

The option to add a website to the favorites menu is quite hidden, and people don't often think about it. You'll get far more people adding you to their favorites if you offer them a quick and easy 'Add this Site to my Favorites' link somewhere towards the top of the page. Even if they don't actually use the link, it still draws attention to the browser's favorites function and makes the user think about it, increasing the likelihood of them adding the site to their favorites sooner or later.

Pay Attention to the Title

Once your site is in people's favorites, of course, it's not going to do you much good if they can't find it again later. You need to make sure that the name and purpose of your site is clearly stated in its title, as that's all they'll have to go on when they're looking through their favorites. Make it long enough to be specific, but not so long that it looks self-important or information gets lost off the end.

Tracking Who's Done It

It can be difficult to know who's coming in to your site using a favorite they saved. Usually, you would look at the referrer to see where they came from but if they type the web address or use a favorite the referrer will be blank. There's no way of telling which of those two things they did unless you send people who use your bookmark link to a special address for example www.example.com/bookmark. However, this method is not foolproof because not everyone who adds your site to their favorites will use your link to do it.

Promise Updates

If you want people to add your site to their favorites then you need to give them a reason to come back. The best way to do this is to make it clear exactly how often your website is updated. You might write at the top of your website 'updated weekly' or you might simply write the date when you last updated the website. The second way only works if you update your website often.

Could You Be Their Homepage?

Of course, if you want to go even further than just getting people to add your website to their favorites then you should consider trying to get people to make your website their homepage. That is, the website that loads automatically when they first open their web browser and that they get back to when they click on their home button. If you can get your website as someone's homepage even for a relatively short length of time then they are likely to see your website dozens of times in a day.

So how can you get people to set your website as their homepage? It's a little more difficult than just getting them to add your site to their favorites as it works differently in different web browsers. In Internet Explorer you can give people a link that makes your website their homepage automatically. For other web browsers, however, you will need to give the visitor a set of instructions. This will require some research on your part but will generally be instructions on how to open the web browsers options or preferences menu and use the section that allows the homepage to be set manually.

Before people will make you their homepage, though, you need to offer them the kinds of things that they might want on a homepage. You can't just expect your own content to be enough, you need to give them other things too, such as local weather or a box that they can type searches into to search the whole web using a popular search engine.

How to Persuade Website Visitors

One of the most common problems of websites is how to persuade their viewers to do the ‘call for action’. Really, it can be hard to make them click that purchase or subscribe button. First, you have to give them the details. These details include their needs, wants and benefits that will accrue them. But how do they should end their visit? Is the decision a sure GO or an awful NO?

To lead visitors to take your ‘call for action’ often means that your homepage can be used to channel visitors to a route of rich information and good choices. Websites are all about products and services. They revolve around these stuffs to direct viewers to their primary goal. It is hard to direct different types of visitors when there are lots of unrelated products and services. Therefore, how can web design lead the viewers to an affirmative consequence? How important is it? Actually there are pointers to do so and these pointers must be faithfully complied with.

1. Keep it simple. The goal is to direct the viewers to the ‘call for action’ thus, do not add up loads of unrelated images and contents. They will just make the viewers astray and confused.

2. Too short is not always so good. Information available should suffice the visitor’s cravings. Another, the ‘call for action’ must not be vague. It must be clear and convincing. On the other hand, contents must be subject to categories where they can be fitting.

3. Apply the principles of web design. Colors, images and contents, even without seeing them websites can persuade through the use if web design principles. Take your edge in web design and use it for the site’s advantage.

4. Give quality options. Make sure that these options will get their undivided attention so as to bag a sure go!

If you have these qualities then you can be sure that your site can strike the soft spot of even the most undecided individual in town! Keep the option burning and clickable.

Want Your Website Visitors to Return?

If your like me you have searched on every search engine any possible way to advertise your website. I have filled out submission forms till my fingers have cramped up. I have looked at link farms, long boring articles on SEO, I even have articles sent to my inbox everyday in hopes of finding the next “new” way to attract visitors.

So now you have designed your site and your thinking it looks great. “Who wouldn’t want to visit my site?” You have all your affiliates set up, you have your ads (by Yahoo, Google,…) and your ready to start making some money. You have your exchange links set up, you listed on every toplist you can think of and you even paid money on some Pay Per Click program in hopes of visitors. And you even have your tracking program in place so you can tell who is hitting your site and where they are hitting from. You even know what pages on your site are popular.

So why are you only getting first time visitors? Why do they only visit one page? Why are they not returning?

One answer - pop ups.

If you belong to one of those exchange link programs that provides pop up, pop unders,(pop up under the main page) or exit pops (as I call them, when you close your site this page appears) then you could be chasing away your visitors.

I consider my self to be an above normal Internet user. I have several websites that I have created and between them I have thousands of pages in cyber world. I know when I click on a ad or link and all of a sudden pop ups appear out of now where I slightly freak “like whoa!” and once I clear my screen I make a mental note not to click that button again. Imagine how a novice surfer is going to feel. They may never click on an ad again. That kinda defeats all of us using ads. You will get hits added to your counter but they wont be return hits.

In no way am I bashing these programs. But like any good web designer, know what tools are in your toolbox and know how and when to use them.

Can It Really SEE Your Visitors Thought Paterns?

This you DO NOT want to miss: The newest report out on "seeing" what people look at when they browse through your site and how they react to certain layouts, headlines, images, and text formats.

Do you really want to know what people see when they visit your site? You think you're ready for the harsh reality?

The project managers of the EYETRACK III team, Steve Outing and Laura Ruel seem to have done quite a bit of work and I want to thank them for their findings.

So how do we utilize this new found information ? Knowledge is only power, unless it is applied.

Applying Knowledge: Homepage Layout

Quoted From:

"The eyes most often fixated first in the upper left of the page, then hovered in that area before going left to right. Only after perusing the top portion of the page for some time did their eyes explore further down the page."

It is mentioned all throughout those articles that the people they tested and had the EyeTracker III track their movements, and they repeatedly looked towards the upper left hand corner first. The logical reason for that would be because many people in the world read left-to-right. Only certain people can read right-to-left.

That would be another explanation why they even tested sites that used their menu on the right and why most of the people tested, seemed to be drawn to the menus on the right.

Pay Attention As To What You Add On The Top Left Hand Corner!

Msn does this so perfectly, here's what you can find at the top of MSN, MSN Home, My MSN, Hotmail, Web Search, Shopping, Money, People & Chat .

The study shows that with having important links at the top, people will gravitate to those links first. First impressions are huge, even more than most of us consider sometimes.

Things you can add at the top to maximize the space:

- Add a link To Their Favorites button
- Tell a friend link
- Search function
- Company specials
- Site Map
- Contact Us
- Log-In
- Print Page
- Newsletter Subscription
- Daily News Report

How To Improve Your Content For More Exposure:

If you have information or news that you want read right away, try to implement and position that information near the top. The study shows that by adding a small "caption" of the article, people will generally read the caption more than if there were only a headline to the article.

On the other hand, it doesn't mean that people will read the entire article more but ... You may attract readers to that article that may have just brushed the headline off.

The key to your content is flow:

If you want people to scroll down and view the content that you have near the bottom of the page, make sure that ALL of your content flows towards the bottom. Try not to break it in any way. The more flow you have, the more people will browse down.

Many aspects of web sites functionality is sub-conscious. Implementing more and more tested strategies will increase your chances at a successful and powerful website.

Does mimicking newspaper formats help your content?

Not really, the Eeyetrack III didn't show a more positive response to websites that did mimic newspapers and their content. In fact, the reaction to the content was approximately the same as any other column online.

"It is very easy to get people to visit your site once, It's even harder to keep them there and/or get them to come back." MRL

Can you increase the time spent on your site?

With the EyeTrack system, they also tested "time" factors into their findings. What they found wasn't too shocking since most humans react the same way when browsing and & learning online.

Our attention span online is very limited, you need to grab their attention right away. If you don't grab someone's attention at first glance, they will click away on the spot.

What kind of design layout is the best?

Nothing too flashy seems to be the winner. It was stated that the individuals that were tested with the EYETRACK III didn't even look at many of the graphics online until the end. People seem to gravitate to text and headlines before they take a look at specials with graphics. This is such a turn around from newspapers and magazines.

So does this prove that content is king? I would think so.

Image & Graphics, can they really work?

Its was stated that, the size of your image/graphics did make a difference. The larger you can go, the better. So it may be wise to make sure that your advertisers within your site, have the largest graphic visible to the eye to gain the most exposure for your advertisers as possible.

If you don't have advertisers on your site don't worry. Try to implement large images for your companies services/products and specials. Please also keep in mind that not everyone is on high speed internet or cable. Make sure to test your site for download speeds and keep your download time to a minimal. You don't want to lose your visitors because it took more than a minute to download one page.

Everything has it's purpose:

Like mentioned before, internet marketing success is not one thing all the way, it's 100 little things coming together. Implementing these findings from the EYETRACK III will increase your chances at winning your visitors hearts and getting them to come back time and time again.

Sitting around, reading articles like these and not creating new strategies will bring you the same results you have now. It's the people who take information like this and really try to implement them on their site that will achieve better results online.

Do yourself a favor, if you haven't read the EYETRACK III report, take some time out of your schedule to read the report right away.

Web Don’ts – Don’t Frustrate Your Visitors

Web Development – a Complex Task

We are living in a real eBusiness era with more and more companies realizing the importance of having an online presence. Yet, these companies still don’t understand that the Internet is more than just a global network connecting billions of computers. Internet has succeeded in doing what power and territory-hunger rulers were only dreaming about. Internet defines and unites the global village.

It is this village opening new ways for commerce, and with the milliard inhabitants out there, the competition is harsh and the struggle for first positions in major search engines makes it even harder for many low-budget eBusinesses to deliver what the Internet users are really looking for: quality content in an adequate package.

As content is “food” for the search engines too, it is vital for the web designers to find a balance between substance and design, in order to keep both the robots and the users happy. So far this seems to be a distant ideal, since web designers seem not to be able to focus on both of the issues. This is where the idea of SEO expert comes in handy. Yet, because paying a small fortune on SEO and another on web design doesn’t sound very appealing to low budget eBusinesses, there are companies offering an “all in one” solution: graphic design, coding, programming, content management, marketing and SEO – and they call this web development.

The question is: can big results be achieved with little money? Not really, but it is not impossible to keep it up with some of the most experienced developers if the basic rules are respected. Many new Internet entrepreneurs believe that all they need to do is to put up a web site. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A web site can mean the difference between success and failure. While time, money and experience are needed to achieve astonishing results, basic principles are the ones keeping a website away from failure.

Major Don’ts

First rule when you create a web site is: do not frustrate your visitors.

Difficult navigation is what drives away more than 87 % of the Internet users. So if you have to be innovative, try it another way, not by creating impossible menus and confusing layouts. Brand your web site. Respect your visual standards used in your offline activities. Don’t use different colours and styles for each web page. Consistency is what you need to be easily remembered later.

The design is one of the most powerful tools a web site has. It tells the surfer how professional your business is. Don’t use annoying flashing banners, blinking texts or arrows. Keep it simple, easy to read. Decent.

As an Internet user yourself you’ve probably experienced the frustration of waiting for a web page to load. This happens with most of the flash sites but also with other graphic-based web sites. Slow downloading is what drives away more than 84 % of the Internet users, according to NetSmart.

Unless you have a world-known web site everyone dies to visit, forget the flash idea. Don’t get this wrong, flash is a great technology, perfect for astonishing online presentations, but when it comes to the first page of your web site, you’d better find another way to amaze your visitors. With more than 85 percents of users out there having flash plug-ins, there are still the 15 percents that don’t. So try not to ignore a minority.

Be sure your visitors are able to find enough information about your company, your services and products and make sure they are able to contact you if they need. The information should be actual and up to date, unless you run a history web site. Try to offer interesting content, as more than 50 % of the visitors tend to walk away if the text is boring. Write and design with your visitors in mind.

Don’t use “under construction” or “coming soon” pages. Your visitors will hate you if you do. If you are not ready with the content, just don’t publish that page.

Don’t use pop-ups – they are as annoying as blinking images, or maybe worse. Google, Yahoo, and Earthlink… they all provide toolbars with pop-up blockers. Have you ever wondered why? That’s right: because people hate them. If you really want to point out a new great service or product you provide, than try to attract your visitor’s attention another way. Create a “What’s New” category for instance – and keep it actual if you do.

Make sure your web site is compatible with all the browsers. Forget the “best viewed with” idea. People will walk away instead of changing their browser to view your site.

There are many other don’ts when it comes to web development. Point is if you stick to the basics you stay away from failure. And success will come along, in little steps.

What colour combination should I use in my website and how it will helpyour visitors on the long run

To some people, the more colourful it is the merrier it is. However, in a more general definition of a well balanced website appearance, it is not always the case. Words such as nice, wow or beautiful can be very subjective when it comes to evaluating the appearance of a particular website. For some, a colourful, flashy and bright website can be appealing while a darker theme could be better for others. So the main question now is - how do you go about choosing the right colours for your website?

The biggest and most widely practised concept of web colour implementation is the RYB approach. Being the main three colours, Red (R), Yellow (Y) and Blue (B), hence RYB, these 3 colours are known to have a great impact on how web visitors react and interpret messages on your webpages. You'll realize that most of the links on the web are underlined in a default blue. Error messages are usually in red. Yellow provides a nice light addition which compliments dark backgrounds really well. Orange (red + yellow) texts for example is extremely popular with black backgrounds. Try it and you know why. Take a look at www.microsoft.com for example. It has an excellent application of the primary and secondary colours together with the support of black and white. Apply this technique to your web designs and you'll improve the overall layout appearance significantly, if not greatly.

Different classification of websites require different approach. In most cases, you don't want to have a corporate website with a black or any extremely dark background. Apparently a white background seems to signify formality and a certain level of layout cleanliness. Not that a dark background can't have a clean cut look, it is just a typical mental translation of human observation that the colour white is in fact the cleaner one or simply easier on the eyes. Black background in the other hand, frequently portrays something which is fancy, elegant, playful yet has a reasonable level of seriousness in it.

A majority of designers or rather webpage creators believe the role of emphasization by utilizing light and dark colours. For example, a dark background combined with a light content area, simply attracts visitors to emphasize more in the middle, which happens to be the content area. It simple works too if you have a light coloured background with a dark content area. Alternatively you can add patterns or images into the background to spice things up. Just don't get these additional items to change the original apperance of your colours. The only issue with background with exceptionally large images is that it might kill some of the attention that you want your visitors to have on your main content.

There's nothing wrong with having a website with either a light or dark background, provided that it looks good, and of course if it is nicely presented together with a readable content with a friendly user interface. How do you know if it looks good is simply something that can't be measured by words, but rather by simply looking at it. If you look at it and by some spontaneous self agreement, that you think the colour fits perfectly with everything else, then you've hit the big jackpot. If it works otherwise, and you just feel like there's something wrong, play around with the colours till you have that comforting feeling that you've done a great job.

You might be thinking right now, which colour goes with which colour? You can either browse all over the net, looking at websites and noting down good combination of colours as you go or you can simply go to http://www.colormatch.dk. This website is extremely simple and easy to use, yet very powerful in terms of features. Simple and straightforward, you simply choose one dominant colour for your website and it'll simply chooses for you 6 other colours which compliments your main colour, together with the colour codes. Simple as 1-2-3. Note that colormatch.dk only works in Internet Explorer browsers. Try googling for colormatch and get enhanced and modified versions of the original.

Additionally, always try not to get your website too dark or too bright. You can use either one or both of them at the same time, but not too excessively, and try to find a supporting colour which compliments or enhances your initial choice. Try to balance up usage of colour tones all over your website too. If you think that the upper right of your website is too bright compared to the rest of your page, then either you reduce the brightness to equal the overall layout or simply brighten up the rest of the website, in a controlled manner of course. If you're adventurous, replicate that bright top right area to the bottom right area, making the right area somewhat a "bright coloured zone". The key point here is to maintain the balance of your colour usage. You don't want to drive a car with one of the door being slightly and yet obviously darker or lighter.

Lastly but not least, try to limit the number of colours to a reasonable amount. 2 to 4 are good amount of colours, not counting black and white. Black and white are just simply too important to not to be used. If you really need to use extra colours, try to use a darker or lighter version of your main colours. If your main colour is red, wine red, crimson or even maroon are good alternatives. Even certain tone of brown could actually look like red sometimes. Try to "recolour" your graphics or get some graphics which tally with your overall selection of colours.

Another good concept to follow is to apply a colour scheme according to your logo. If you logo has orange and black for example, try to enhance that colour by applying those same colours as well as the same colours with different tones throughout your whole website. Some designers even select their colours based on the pre selected images they have for their website. Certain images are just tend to be too exceptionally perfect to be omitted, thus explaining such occurrences.

I hope this guide will help you to get your colours right and have a better understanding of what to choose and what not to do in any of your future web design works. Nevertheless, try not to limit your creativity and imagination based solely on this article. Get your ideas flowing and experiment with your ideas constantly. Good luck!