Site and sound

Entrepreneur, May, 1999 by Kim T. Gordon, Heather Page

With a vast number of small businesses adding sites to the Web, a ho-hum entry simply won't cut it. Your site has to capture the attention of visitors, provide information and keep visitors coming back for more. Just ask Fred Waymack, 48, co-owner of International Travel Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee. Two years ago, Waymack's company set up a Web site (www.itbna.com/fiesta) to provide information to the parents of 4,000 students - members of 18 high school bands - who were using the company to make travel arrangements to and from the Fiesta Bowl.

Waymack used Microsoft FrontPage to design his Web site. FrontPage is a WYSIWYG program that provides professionally designed themes or graphical templates, so Waymack could give his Web site all the bells and whistles necessary to look professional and present a big-company image. He also used Microsoft Access to maintain 18 separate databases to track flight times and other travel information for the individual bands. Then Waymack's firm designed 18 sub-sites around the databases, assigned a password to each and used active server technology to instantly update flight times.

The Web site impressed clients and lowered the company's overhead for everything from staff time to printing and postage. As a result of the site's success, Waymack decided to expand it significantly. In the past year, the $4.5 million travel agency has spent $20,000 on Internet marketing and has positioned itself as an innovator in its market niche. "Because of our ability to stay at the forefront of technology, we now have a close ratio of about 80 percent compared to about 25 percent before," says Waymack.

To lose your Web site's amateur status, consider the following tips:

1. Design for maximum readability. Artsy backgrounds and fonts can make a site difficult to read. Choose dark type on a solid white background.

2. Make each page stand on its own. You never know which page on your site a visitor will bookmark. Include contact and copyright information, as well as a navigation bar, on every page.

3. Make navigation simple. Sketch out how your information flows, and design a system visitors won't get lost in. If you're selling products, make that clear on your home page and provide quick access to catalog copy.

4. Don't overdesign. Too many extras can slow load time and cause impatient visitors to move on.

5. Include a response mechanism. Involve your visitors by using contests or offers for special information, such as an e-mail newsletter.

6. Keep the site fresh. Update your content continually to give visitors a reason to come back.

Kim T. Gordon is a national speaker, the author of Growing Your Homebased Business (Prentice Hall) and president of National Marketing Federation Inc., which provides marketing guidance by telephone to small and homebased businesses nationwide. For information and books, call (800) 2-SOLVE-IT.