Over the past couple of decades, Internet users have learned that not all websites are created equal. There are a few things that the web savvy browser will look for without even realizing it. If you do not provide the answer, your visitors will come to their own conclusions.

Who wrote this page?

Remember that not everyone will find your website by typing it’s URL directly into their web browser. Most new visitors will follow links from search engines or other sites. One of the first things they’ll want to learn upon arriving is whom they are dealing with.

Since visitors can land on any page, you want to have a visible element that identifies your company on each page. This is especially true of the most common points of entry into your website. If you don’t know which pages those are, you should consider adding Google Analytics (or one of it’s generic equivalents) to your site.

If there are any sections of your website that display content which does not originate from your organization (for example, a blog, news feed, or forum), the authorship of those elements should be clearly indicated.

Is the author reliable?

With the explosive growth of Web 2.0 this question is now frequently answered in two parts: What qualifications does this author have? What do other people think of this author (or their writings)?

The first can be addressed by using a portion of your site to list your relevant qualifications and professional associations, include client testimonials, and list brands or products that you carry if it is appropriate to do so.

Consumer review sites like Yelp or Angie’s List and blog rating sites like Digg or Sphinn drive the second. These sorts of sites are more relevant for some industries than others. If you’re unsure if you should worry about your Web 2.0 presence, you should look for some of your competitors and see what they are up to.

Is the site relevant?

Again there are two things to consider here. Are you addressing your visitor’s questions? And, are you keeping your answers up to date?

Stale sites are quickly deemed irrelevant and ignored. Whenever you make a major change to your operations (a new address, different hours, &c.) you should immediately correct the corresponding information on website. Likewise, if you update or add new pages to your site, this should be reflected somewhere on your most common landing pages.

If you have a content management system (CMS), you can make these changes to your website yourself without any lag time. If you still have someone manually maintaining your site, you should track how long it takes him or her to make your updates live.

Since reliable and relevant websites are the ones most likely to receive return traffic, you should make sure that the answers to all three of these questions align with the message you are trying to send.

Other thoughts?

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