A Good Web Site
A quality web site is clear as to what products or services it offers. It sets apart its service from other similar services. A successful site must have information, knowledge and entertainment (broadly speaking). A customer who feels he/she has obtained something of value from a site will eventually follow with their money.A Site's effectiveness can be measured through: 1) Site statistics determine the origin of visitors, how long they stayed, which "pages" were visited, what was the "path" through the site, what "words" were used to locate the site and which search engine found the site. For example: a person may have spent ten minutes on the front page, then directly went to the price list and order form, but not read the product information. Thus a lack of "value" to a unique product has been lost, and as a direct result, a sale.
2) Be prepared to pay $199 US each to list in several search engines. List in Yahoo first than Inktomi and finally the open directory (no cost for this one). If you don't pay it could be 4 or 5 months before your web site gets listed.
3) Design is important. A person's interest in your service needs to be sparked, an explanation as to how your service can meet their needs is necessary
4) A quality web site should provide testimonials of satisfied customers that enhance the credibility of the business and its service. Many a small businessman who relies on word of mouth to enhance their business can obtain a new customer "lead" if the testimonials have spoken well of the service or product.
5) Consider listing your business web site in local "generic" sites such as Discover Nelson, Virtual Trail or Castlegar, or specialty sites which feature business or services similar to yours.