Do you think of your website as your store? If no you should. That's what it is isn't it. How would you like your store to be? Clean, neat and professional or dirty, disorganized and unappealing? When is the last time you walked into a dirty or cluttered store? How did you feel? Did you want to just turn around and walk out or even wash your hands? Did you think that what the store had to offer was cheap and below par in value? If that's the way your site looks then maybe that's what your customer is thinking!

You must have an atmosphere that is pleasing to buyers. One that tells that buyer that you are not an amateur, but instead a trained, seasoned professional. Your site is a direct reflection of

your product and that is why that having a well designed website can make or break your sales.

Take a few minutes a look around at several web pages. What makes them appealing? Were there some that you closed out of immediately? Why? Is it clean or cluttered? Can you pick out the information you need quickly? Is it easy to get to different sections or pages at the site? Take notes and do your research. While it's true your store is different than a brick and mortar store, you can't just take a scrub brush and some paint to it to brighten it up, there are some things you can do.

Think like your customer. Think about what they are looking for. Keep in mind that when a person visits your site they have a goal in mind. They are either seeking information or shopping for a product. Give the person what they want without having to search for it.

You have only seconds to capture their attention. Make those seconds count by 'grabbing' them immediately. Keep the information short and simple. Be sure that all the information on your site is relevant to your product. Make the buyer think that they need your product to solve their problem.

Your main page is what you see as you enter any store. It serves a very specific purpose. it should be short, simple and clean. It should be easy to view and load very quickly. It should not take more than 10 seconds tops to load on any computer. If it does your customer will leave. This is your first impression. It is best to have links that are easily viewable by the reader that will navigate to further information and details should they so choose.

To make your web site more appealing to the eyes, you should stick to mild colors. Loud colors tend to hurt the eyes after awhile and people may just go to another site. Since screen resolutions vary among monitors, it is a good idea to set the pixels to a standard 800x600. This will be sure to accommodate all screen sizes. Do not have a lot of graphics or pop ups that annoy or confuse your customer. Save the pop up for an important sale or a newsletter sign up and have it come up only once during a page. There is nothing more aggravating than having to constantly click off a pop up.

Pop unders are another good choice. A pop under comes up at the time you customer leaves your site reminding them to do something like sign up for a free newsletter or ad an additional product or come back for a sale. The customer has already gotten his information from your site and has completed his transaction and is usually willing to take a look at another offer.

You should remember that a lot of Internet users will not use the same browser as you, and therefore you should be sure that your site looks as good on other browsers as it does your own. You can do this by downloading several browsers through which to look at your page. If you do not wish to do this you can ask friends to check out your site for you. You could even write up a short questionnaire for them to fill out with questions like how did they like the site, the color, how long did it take to load, what type of computer, internet hook up and browser are they using. All this information will help you make your site better and increase your sales.

Remember you have only seconds to capture the interest of your customer. I'm sure you've gone to sites only to just click off if they don't appeal to you.

Copyright ? Kathy Wozniak