Even if you’re not an accomplished webmaster you can still have a professional looking website. You may be like I was five years ago—you’re teaching yourself web design and you’re starting to catch on to that HTML stuff. You’re so excited about your new bag of tricks—but slow down partner, sometimes less is more. In fact the only time more is more is when it concerns chocolate cheesecake or something like that. (I can never get enough chocolate!)

You’ve worked hard to get the traffic—now don’t drive them away.

1. Fatal Flaw One—Bouncing, Wiggling Animated Clip Art

This one is really annoying to website visitors, and a sure sign you don’t know what you’re doing, especially if you have them all over the place. Just because they’re free, doesn’t mean you should use them.

SOLUTION—You’re probably not a graphics designer if you resort to using clip art, so don’t worry about your weakness, just choose a nice color scheme instead in your tables. (More on that later.) Colors don’t take extra time to download either.

2. Fatal Flaw Two—Embedded Music Clips

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Unclear website navigation is much like trying to read a map in the dark.

Many people who are new to web design and e-commerce have trouble creating effective website navigation. Having the expectation for your shoppers to use your website without clear and easy navigation is just like expecting them to blindly find their way to a destination with all the lights out. They will leave your site, lost and confused, without bothering to find out what you offer, and will go to find a website that is easier to understand and navigate.

Building a quality and easy-to-use website navigation will lead to many more sales and is actually very easy to do. To help you create a more effective website, experts at Bright Builders have compiled five easy tips to help you create effective website navigation that will quickly guide your customers to the products or information they’re searching for.

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Websites disappear from the internet everyday. Do you want your website to be one of them?

Of course not.

Then how can you avoid your website's failure?

The answer is - understand the common mistakes other websites made and avoid doing them in your website.

Here are 5 of them, which you should try to avoid at all cost.

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Professionally designed site

First appearances are everything, this is especially so on the internet. If your site looks amateurish then it is more than likely that someone will press the back button on their browser before they even read your home page, let alone buy anything from you.

Web site templates get round this problem as they are designed by professionals who are creating web sites every day. This means that graphics will be well designed and load quickly when people visit your site. The basic design of the site will have been tested with several browsers to ensure compatibility and the navigation system will be functional.

Cost

A web site template costs between R300.00 - R700.00, compare this to a design cost from scratch of about R4000.00 from a web site designer and you can see that you can make substantial savings by opting for the do it yourself approach.

A template is a great starting point for a good looking, well designed site. All you need are some basic editing skills and appropriate software.

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So you’ve decided to start an online work at home business and are just beginning to build your website. You probably have a million different ideas for what you want the site to look like. You will want to take into consideration that your idea of a great website may differ drastically from what a website designed to make sales should be like.

In this article I have offered 5 very important traits of a professional home business website. Implementing these into your website will make it much more effective in getting visitors to do what you want them to do.... Give You Their Money!

Here are 5 traits of great home business website (in no particular order):

1) Build A Professional Looking Site – There are millions of websites on the Internet and many of them are very well designed. Make sure your website is as professional in appearance as your competition. You will be judged on the appearance of your site so make sure you don’t lose visitors because of a bad design.

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Turn visitors into customers

The sole purpose of a website is to sell. Thus no matter how much traffic your website gets and how impressive its rankings are, it all comes to a naught if your sales numbers are not as positive. In fact, this is the most serious ailment that most e-commerce sites suffer from ¨C the matter of conversions.

Conversions are about turning visitors into buyers. The process is not simple and there are numerous factors affecting the outcome.

In fact, the e-commerce scenario is fast changing and you need to be in tune with the latest developments to remain competitive.

An e-commerce website is not just an online catalog. There is more to it than efficient shopping carts and secure payment gateways.

Buying decisions, whether online or offline, are regulated by extra- rational factors. So the important question to ask is whether you¡¯re set up evokes the desire and the trust in visitors required to complete an online transaction.

If you wish to improve your site's conversion rate, here are a few tips -

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Here's some mistakes to avoid when selecting or building your Web site. You know on those days when you have to wear your tech hat.

1) No Value - Too Simple

This is probably the most common mistake made by small business owners online. The site has little value for the service or product their offering. Often it starts out as a "brochure" site. Meaning their current offline marketing material is put online. Unfortunately many sites never progress past this point.

Now don't get me wrong at leasts it's a start, but it may not be enough.

You need to take a hard look an ask if there is anything of real value for the customer once they get there. Does it go beyond your contact information and service offering? Does it need to?

You can build a brochure site, but you might quickly find it's not getting the results you expected.

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Huge Mistake #1: Creating a Website with Flash -- Did you know in a recent study, top internet marketers discovered that having a website created with Flash, actually decreased the response from prospects and customers by as much as 370 percent?

Here's why: Your prospects and customers are most likely visiting your website using all types of different computers, connection speeds and internet configuration settings...

What may look great to one visitor may not even appear for another! You could very easily have shelled out hundreds or even thousands of dollars to have a website created using the Flash technology, only to find out that some of your visitors will never see it! (Not to mention the loading times can cause your visitor to close your site, never to return again.)

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Tips to brand your website

* Include your logo in all pages. Position it at the top left or each page.
* Complement your logo with a tagline or catchy sentence that summarizes your business purpose. For example "Always low prices" is the tagline for Wal-Mart.
* Create a favicon. A favicon is that small graphic that appears next to the URL in the address bar.
* Have a consistent look and feel in all your pages. Use a color scheme and layout that are clearly recognized across your site.
* Have an About Us section, that includes all relevant information about you and your business.
* Include a copyright statement at the bottom of each page.

Tips on website navigation

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In the last decade, the Internet has become one of the most important and effective platforms in which to promote yourself and your products. But if you’re not an experienced webmaster, getting such a project underway can seem a bit overwhelming. However, this article will show you how such a project can become both a fun and an enriching experience for anybody who wants to create his or hers own website. You will learn how to built and maintain a practical and efficient website for all your visitors to enjoy.

The Plan:

The first and undoubtedly most important, but often forgotten, step is drawing up a plan. In this stage of the process, it is the time to lay out the details of your website project. Of course your website is a work in progress, and you will most likely change many things along the way, but if you do not have a clear idea of the direction you want your project to go in, you may find yourself overwhelmed by the magnitude of such an ambitious project and give it up all together. Here are a few things I strongly suggest you do not overlook when planning for you Internet project:

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