1. 5 Tricks for Designing a High Performing and
Engaging Website
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Tip # 1: Content is King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Tip # 2: Enable Web 2.0 Functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Tip # 3: Jump on the Social Media Bandwagon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Tip # 4: Consider Where Your Audience is Located . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Tip # 5: Optimize Web Server Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
About Verio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
©2010 Verio/NTT Communications. All rights reserved.
2. Add Value with Easy to Install Applications page 2
If your website is slow, boring, or hard to
navigate, it might as well be down.
Visitors have an increasingly short
attention span when it comes to time
spent on a website –– you’’ve got roughly
eighty seconds to capture their
attention*. A poor showing can not only
cause you to lose a sale, it can cost you
your reputation.
Introduction
Company press releases
The days of a purely informational website are at an Upcoming events
end. Merely providing information to your visitors is New product announcements
now a less viable option when your competitors are Service or personnel announcements
engaging them with interactive media and increasingly
complex web experiences. To stay ahead, it’’s important Keep in mind, content includes everything that makes
to consider new technology that better engages your website unique, including text, images, videos and
customers, as well as review how your site is structured, downloads. So when you review your content, be sure
how you use images and other assets, and how the to check all of it for accuracy, relevancy and timeliness.
hosting resources from your provider maximize Look for typos and outdated information (e.g., old
performance. events). Also check every page for broken links,
formatting issues and missing images, files or videos. A
The following five tips will help you design a high sloppy site will result in visitors questioning your
performing and engaging website that keeps visitors on company’’s professionalism.
your site longer, and coming back for more.
In addition, look for opportunities to streamline your
content (keeping the average visitor’’s short attention
Tip #1: Content is King span in mind). For example, if your web pages are
When it comes to websites, the saying holds true, particularly long (more than 400 words or three
““content is king””. Visitors come to your site for a paragraphs), consider breaking the content into
reason: to learn, shop, share, read, watch, listen, and multiple pages that are more specific to a topic, or
ultimately, buy. Website content is at the heart of all reducing the amount of information available online
these activities, and it can either drive visitors away or and making it available instead in a download.
keep them coming back for more. If you haven’’t
updated your website content in the past six months,
you’’re well overdue. Both visitors and search engines
Tip #2: Enable Web 2.0 Functionality
like fresh content on a regular basis. Even if your site is As we mentioned before, effective websites do more
simply informational, there are many ways to keep it than simply provide information. The power of the
fresh, such as periodically adding: Internet is in its ability to provide an interactive
experience. By incorporating Web 2.0 technologies,
your website becomes more engaging for visitors
* According to a Silverpop landing page study in 2007 because it is no longer a one way conversation (you
http://www.marketingscoop.com/Article_Tools/Silverpop_Landingpage.pdf
©2010 Verio/NTT Communications. All rights reserved.
3. 5 Tricks for Designing a High Perfoming and Engaging Website page 3
telling, and them listening); it transforms the Tip # 4: Consider Where Your Audience
relationship by encouraging a two way dialogue. is Located
Web 2.0 includes a variety of technologies, including With the advent of Web 2.0 technology and social
real time chat, blogs, RSS feeds, Wikis, photo and video media sites, even small businesses can receive global
sharing, and podcasting. You don’’t need to add all of attention online. If you want your website to perform
these functions to your site. Many companies start with well for all your visitors, regardless of their location, you
a blog (which also helps with Tip #1, keeping your need to consider the technical environment they will be
content fresh). If you sell products online that coming from. Most developed nations, for example,
customers may have questions about during the buying have high speed Internet connections. But in many
process, adding real time chat to your site gives developing countries, dial up (56K) connections are still
shoppers a way to quickly get answers while they’’re in the norm. Remote areas may depend on satellite
the mood to buy. connections, which can also be slower than broadband
or DSL.
If you have repeat customers or a loyal following, you
should consider adding interactive features to your site. If potential visitors reside in an area with slower
This could include a user forum or ““Wiki”” (user connection speeds, your website will take longer to
generated content area) that enables them to share load, especially if it contains a lot of graphics or
information and ask questions of each other. Or you multimedia. If you intend to do business internationally,
might set up an area for customers to share photos or consider these two options:
videos of them using your products or services. Choose a web hosting provider with a global
footprint in multiple countries. This will allow
you to set up one hosting account to serve
Tip # 3: Jump on the Social Media multiple regions around the world.
Bandwagon Alternatively, you can mirror your website in
multiple countries or geographic regions. This
You may wonder what social media sites like Facebook, involves setting up your hosting with several
Twitter and LinkedIn have to do with your website. The providers around the globe, or distributing your
truth is that social media sites can bring new traffic to static content by way of a content delivery
your site by getting you in front of people who may not network.
find your site otherwise. It can also increase repeat
visits to your site. Either way, when someone visits your site your web
pages are served by a provider in their country or
Many businesses have simply adopted social media as a region, so pages load faster that they would if served by
new and less expensive way to continue the one way a provider halfway around the world.
conversation about themselves or their offerings. While
this may increase brand awareness, it doesn’’t take full
advantage of the power of social media. Tip # 5: Optimize Web Server Performance
Your website is an extension of your brand, so it needs
If you want to fully leverage social media, you must go to be reliable and fast –– especially with the increased
beyond tweeting a link to your latest sale or advertising traffic you’’ll be getting from implementing Tips #1, #2
on Facebook. Take time to participate in conversations and #3 above! If your website loads slowly, people will
and share information with your target audience. This go somewhere else. And they’’ll take with them a
will transform you into a valuable resource instead of negative perception that your company is not as robust
just a company trying to sell something. Plus, it can also as your competitors.
prompt you to update your own website with blog
posts, white papers, and videos. Of course, when you When developing a website, it is easy to focus on the
share these, the traffic comes back to your site! front end or user experience. But it’’s just as important
©2010 Verio/NTT Communications. All rights reserved.
4. 5 Tricks for Designing a High Perfoming and Engaging Website page 4
to consider the actual web server or hosting solution.
When you review web hosting companies, you need to
consider the specifications included with your plan. It’’s
important to look at:
Amount of disk space,
Data transfer rates
Resources (such as CPU and memory)
The more resources you have, the faster your website
will load. This is of particular concern if you have a high
traffic site, an ecommerce site, or a site that includes
multimedia; all of which can require greater amounts of
resources to load quickly.
Perhaps you’’ll only need a small amount of disk space,
data transfer and resources to start, but be sure your
provider can easily scale your solution as demands and
traffic increase. Selecting a web host that can continue
to support your needs is a critical step if you want to
continue to provide a high performing website as your
business grows.
About Verio
Verio is the leading provider of Web hosting, application
hosting and SaaS solutions to the global SMB market.
Since 1996, Verio has been committed to offering
optimum performance and highly secure and reliable
solutions to both retail customers and its expanding
global network of OEM and viaVerio channel partners.
Verio is a wholly owned subsidiary of NTT
Communications, one of the world's largest
telecommunications companies, and owner of a world
class tier 1, global infrastructure that spans five
continents. This financial and technical strength,
combined with business hosting solutions available in
nearly 200 countries, makes Verio uniquely positioned
to service the needs of SMBs worldwide, now and in the
future. For more information, visit:
http://www.verio.com/web hosting/.
©2010 Verio/NTT Communications. All rights reserved.
