Internet Marketing for Smart People

There are some basic business rules you should follow:

• Your pages must load FAST. Most Web surfers will give you about 30
seconds before they click off. Keep your graphic files small.
• Be consistent. This means use the same colors, same backgrounds,
same typefaces, etc. throughout your entire site. If your menu is on the
left on your home page, then keep it on the left for all your pages.
• Don’t mix too many typefaces - stick to a maximum of 2 and, use
standard typefaces.
• Keep the animations to a minimum – to many can be very distracting.
• Don’t use music on a business site.
• Don’t try to be cute or kewl. This is serious business.
• Go easy on the high-tech. Just because you can do something doesn’t
mean you should.
• If you’re selling something, don’t mask it. Let your visitors know your
intentions right from the start.
• Make sure your customers can easily find your company name,
address, and telephone numbers easily. Don’t hide this information.
Begin by deciding what you want your site to accomplish and round-up all the
tools and materials you’ll need to build your site. In particular:
• Have all your content materials – stuff like images, text, and other
media you plan to use.
• Have at least the two popular Web browsers installed on your
computer - Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. You’ll want to
test your completed pages on both. (Your pages will appear differently
on each one.)
• Know your target audience and what you expect to offer them.
• Get an idea of the structure and scope of your site.
There are many sites on the Web that give you all the basic instruction you’ll
ever need to create Web pages. Try searching Yahoo! or your favorite search
engine for information about Web site building for beginners.