Elements of Successful Web Site

ELEMENTS OF SUCCESSFUL WEB SITE

For the quality if E-commerce web site, you have to have the vision or foresight how to succeed in a virtual environment. The world is your market.

Since we have chosen a virtual business in a virtual environment, we have to think of a way that everyone will know about our virtual presence in this virtual community. Here are some elements that will help you get noticed. The common characteristics of successful business websites are:

Visibility - Looking for web pages in the Internet is like looking for a needle in a haystack. To keep your site on top of the hay and visible, register it to as many search engines, such as Lycos, Infoseek, AltaVista, Webcrawler, Excite, Hotbot, All The Web, Direct Hit, Snap.com LookSmart, MSN.com, Netscape NetFind, Thunderstone, PC Beacon, etc., and with catalog listings such as Yahoo, the Open Directory Project, Galaxy, etc.

Regularly Updated - How do you feel when you see this on the website you clicked on -"last updated August 1998"? You immediately feel an eerie atmosphere that send out signs that the website has been "abandoned" or, worse, "dead". Remarkably successful sites always look fresh with new pages added, old pages updated, which keeps viewers that urge to come back to watch or see new features every time.

Gold Mine of Information - The successful site contains powerful, relevant and useful information, more information and more information. More than a visitor could absorb in one visit and easy return to previous pages or forward to next pages is an asset.

Clear Navigation - There should be consistency of arrows, icons to guide the visitor where to go--providing the "guided tour" facility but giving them the feeling that they are on their own.

Keep Visitors "fenced-in" - Many websites have links that sends the visitors out as they click through links. You spent time and effort to bring them over to your site. You must exert utmost effort to keep them in.

True Value - Products, Services, contents, features, and resources are your assets. Websites are not only for marketing and for selling. Some successful websites provide relevant and useful information and services to visitors for Free.

Quick Response to Queries -- Inquiries are attended to as quick as it came.

Organization - The site must have a budget and personnel support and should not be dependent on dole outs. Active participation of everyone involved and everyone knows what is going on. It emotes the professional atmosphere when a visitor comes in to visit. Information

Gathering - The site is capable of gathering information about its users, normally done through surveys, newsletter subscriptions, contests, etc. to give you the idea about who your visitors are, their preferences and reactions.

Internet tools - Make use of other tools such as Gopher and FTP sites, e-mail supported programs.

Good Design - A good design correlates with appropriate choice of text and images, interplay of imagery with the content of the pages. There should be proper choice of graphics and colors.

SECURITY

NECESSITY, MEANING AND MEANS

Commerce depends on confidence and so for commercial reasons, business must ensurethe security and integrity of the electronic transactions and records. Establishing trust is necessary for the long-term business relationship in commercial transactions. Establishing trust involves gaining respect for the parties involved in the transaction, the payment mechanism employed, and the technology used to communicate instructions about the transaction.

When the transactions are carried out in traditional physical form, one knows the face of the person with whom he