Things to improve on your website

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Step back and make an honest evaluation of your web site. Most sites that were designed four or five years ago are long overdue for a design overhaul. Here are the things that most sites can improve upon:

1. Graphic design - Sites designed four or five years ago look like a kitchen that was last updated in 1975. Website design has made huge strides over the last several years and significantly contributes to people's impression of your company.
2. Contact information - Make it super easy to find your phone number, address and email address. Consider adding it to the top right-hand corner of every page. Don't just bury it on the 'contact us' page.
3. Home page information - When people land on your home page, they should be able to immediately validate what products you have through text and graphic information. Make sure your home page clearly tells a story about your business. Also, get rid of the fancy flash intro that keeps people from getting to the meat of your site.
4. Product information - People are coming to your site to discover whether or not you have a product or service that meets their needs. Make it easy to find and navigate your product information.
5. Use of Flash animation or scrolling marquees - While this was new and exciting five years ago, usability studies show that people find this distracting. Use animation for a purpose such as to demonstrate a product application or to show different angles of the product.
6. Web analytics - This is a fancy phrase for looking at the reports to know what is working and what is not working on your site. You can learn a tremendous amount from how people use your site which can help you improve your new site.

The above are just a few things to get you started. If you really focus on the marketing aspects of your website, it will never be a finished product. You will always be adding and changing things.