Untangling Web design: whether your Web site needs a touch-up or a complete overhaul to bring it in line with today's standards, these tips will guide your way

Pool & Spa News, May 7, 2004 by Julie Sturgeon

"Just keep all three elements higher on the page so no matter how small the consumer's computer monitor is, they still get the impact," he suggests. Noncritical information falls into that bottom third of the page, where visitors can scroll down if necessary.

Lots of photos are a plus, in Steimle's experience--as long as they are large enough for the details to be seen. "To go to a company's Web site and see a page of 20 small photos is really frustrating," he says. "Most visitors expect to click on the image for a larger view, but they want a clue as to what they'll see."

Copy

Finally, don't treat the text on your site as if it were a stepchild. Vital sales, marketing and company information should be on hand, or a few short clicks away.

Whether you wax poetic or pithy, be sure to reach out to potential customers. Give them a reason to identify with your company and the products you sell, and offer them an incentive to contact you. "Remember, people purchase on emotion," Steimle says. "The purpose of a pool company's Web site should be to create an emotion that leads them to want to buy a new pool."

You'll also definitely want to spell out your guarantees and return policies, says Philippa Gamse, president of Total 'Net Value in Santa Cruz, Calif. Consumers will pay more for an item when they know the store stands solidly behind the sale, she says.

One last note: Fill your copy with keywords--those nouns customers might type in when using search engines to find pool and spa-related Web sites. The search engines look for words on your site that match the customer's query. If you only have graphics on the page, the search engine can't find a match, and your site could be overlooked.

Don't forget to be descriptive when it comes to naming the title of your Web page, says Sharron Senter, editor of The Marketing Portal and founder of Senter & Associates in Merrimac, Mass. For example, instead of calling a page by a vague title such as "Supplies," name it "Outdoor Wooden Spas" or "Parts and Chemicals" to capture the attention of search engines.

With these aspects nailed down, your Web site will feature the tools necessary to effectively represent your company in the virtual world.

RELATED ARTICLE: flash flooding.

Ask any Web designer whether you should use Flash or any other similar multimedia applications on your company's site, and immediately you'll get a strong reaction--either pro or con. These software programs integrate text, audio, video and graphics to create an animated/streaming-video effect.

"Flash and languages such as ColdFusion are 'cool,' but they aren't worth it," says Melanie Broemsen, a search engine marketing specialist with Canton, Ohio-based The Karcher Group. Broemsen cites a variety of reasons to avoid Flash. No. 1 on her list: Search engines have trouble reading it. Also, the programs make the page files larger; anything greater than 50K runs slowly for users on dial-up connections. Then there's the fact that Microsoft lost the right to use the embedded technology, so its soon-to-be released version of Internet Explorer won't support Flash without a lot of extra work, she says.