4. Apply the power of Search Engine Optimization

If you are still not doing it, you are out missing big time! Search engine optimization, popularly known as SEO, is about optimizing your website in way so it appears in top search results when people make search queries in popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN etc. Anyone can learn search engine optimization but if lack of time and interest is holding you back, hire a consultant or a SEO company with a successful track record.

5. Earn Revenues from Your Website

You would be pleasantly surprised to know that everyone with a website can earn revenues from it. You can become a contextual publisher (AdSense, YPN etc), become an affiliate, or simply set up your own store and sell online. With e-commerce revenues totaling up to billions of dollars; why not take a small meaningful share of the chunk? If you have a service or product you can sell online, don’t stay back.

6. Design and Visual Appeal – It Counts!

Your website needs to look visually appealing and there are no two opinions on that universally. Visually appealing however can be a matter of personal tastes, however following are some industry standard best practices.

• Avoid Splash pages. Splash pages are actually a hindrance and increase the number of   clicks and time to reach your homepage.

• With a large number of internet population now switching to Mozilla browsers (FireFox), make   sure your website is cross-browser compatible.

• With the various screen resolutions available, (600 x 800, 1024 x 768 etc) always check if   your website looks acceptable in all popular screen resolutions. Also check how your   website appears in hand held devices such as mobile phones, PDA’s etc.

• Use flash and other rich media sparingly as users with low speed internet connections may   have difficulty viewing them.

• Meticulously focus on the design consistency. The colors, layout, and buttons, should be   consistent across the site.

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