Now it ’ s time to actually plan your web site. This is a lot of fun. Whether or not you are an artistic type, you probably already have some pictures in your mind of your ideal site. After all, you have years of experience visiting and viewing web sites of all kinds. We recommend you take at least a few days to visit lots of different sites, make conscious observations on their appearance, and take notes about what you like and don ’t like.

The colors used in a web site have a strong psychological impact on your visitors. Among graphic designers and advertising experts, the combination of black, white, and red is believed to telegraph an appearance of authority, business acumen, and trustworthiness. Once you begin to look, you will notice that many web sites of big companies employ that combination. A similar effect is achieved with navy or royal blue and white, with red accents.

Our subconscious minds associate various qualities and internal states with each color. Green connotes wealth and growth. Yellow is often associated with intelligence, and it also reminds of us spring and sunshine. Orange provides a buzz of energy. Blue is the color of healing and tranquility. Red represents action. Pink reminds us of love and harmony. Purple represents luxury and wealth.

Your web site must convey an atmosphere of professionalism. After all, you are asking your visitors to pay money for your products or services, so it is important you communicate a sense of serious purpose and a businesslike attitude. A person landing on your home page will be inclined to do business with you based on the level of trust and confi dence instilled by that fi rst impression of your site.

Still, one of the most interesting paradoxes of Internet business is that, although the World Wide Web reaches every continent on planet Earth, the Internet is an intensely personal medium. Even though your web site will be accessible to millions of visitors from all over the world, people whom you would likely never otherwise encounter, those visitors are interested in making a personal connection with you.

The most successful web sites communicate a strong sense of identity. This may be a corporate identity, but in most cases it will be an individual personal identity. You can choose to cloak your identity behind a corporate veil, but our experience has shown you will be most successful if you allow people to get to know you. We have both met many wonderful people, and even made some close friends, among our visitors and customers. There are many more whom we will never meet, but who have honored us with their trust, simply because we have let them come to know who we are as individuals. In practical terms, that means we include our photographs on our sites, and we share selected personal information regarding our philosophies and activities. We keep our readers up - to - date on the important events of our lives and give them a behind - the-scenes glimpse as we travel, speak, and network with associates.

We do encourage you to strike a balance here. Take reasonable precautions to keep your private life private. Use a business address. Even though you may work out of your home, rent a virtual offi ce to use as your business address. Every modest - size town or city has a store where you can rent a postal box and get a physical address. We suggest you not display photographs of your children or publish their names and ages. We make these recommendations out of a general sense of caution, recognizing there are some unbalanced people in the world. We believe people are generally good, however, and we have tens of thousands of readers who have enriched our lives as well as our bank accounts.

Unless your business is an opinion site that highlights your political or religious point of view, we recommend you stay mute on those topics. Your grandmother was on to something when she instructed you to avoid dinner table conversation about politics and religion, and today that is truer than ever. It is unfortunate we can ’ t all share our various points of view without fear of censure and with mutual understanding, but in our current rabid talk radio culture, there is no point alienating potential customers.

Politics and religion aside, however, let your individuality shine through on your site, particularly in your blog (we say more about blogs in Get the Word Out). Inject your own unique sense of humor and personality. Write about the things that interest you, and don ’t be afraid to be a little controversial. After all, pablum isn ’ t very tasty, and that goes for intellectual pablum, as well. Give your readers a reason to come back for more of your personal wit and wisdom. If your friends consider you quirky and unique in some way, make sure your readers see that side of you, too.

A good way to begin the actual design of your site is to do a layout on paper. The heart of your site will be your Home page, Also called your Index page . When your visitor arrives at your site, your business message should be the fi rst thing he sees. There should be no doubt as to what kind of services and products you offer. Most sites also have an “ About Us ” or similar page, product catalog pages, and pages devoted to content of interest to your visitors.

Include only those pages that are relevant to your topic. Keep your design clean and simple, with plenty of white space. Don ’ t confuse your visitor with a multitude of choices. Make it easy for him to fi nd his way to access content, and to buy. Limit your use of exotic design elements such as Flash technology. You want your site to be attractive, but you are not entering an art contest. Keep your attention, and your visitor ’ s attention, on your message. Studies show the average web site visitor will spend only a few seconds waiting for a site to load, so limit your graphic, audio, and video elements to those that will display almost immediately.

Ease of navigation must be one of your primary considerations. When a visitor arrives on your home page, she should be able to immediately understand the layout of the site and fi nd links to all the other pages. We devote a later section entirely to search engine optimization, but it is important to know a few facts from the beginning. Your site will be more easily found and indexed by the search engines if you put your links on the right - hand side of the site. The information you want referenced in the search engines should be at the top of the page. As much as possible, link all your pages to each other, except in the case of your product sales pages. From a sales page, your visitor should have no obvious options other than to click on “Buy Now”!

Unless yours is an affi liate sales site, do not include links to other sites. That ’ s like welcoming a cherished guest into your home and

Immediately showing him to the back door. It ’ s hard enough to keep your visitor ’ s concentration focused on your site. Never invite him to leave! If you sell products on an affi liate basis as a limited part of your business, keep those affi liate links on the product sales page. If for some reason you feel you must provide links to other sites, keep them together on a separate page.

Be sure to copyright your pages, and include a privacy policy. You can read more about these issues in the chapter, “Plan for Success. ”

We have talked a lot in this book about providing good content, and of course we are going to talk even more about how to sell your products. But think of your Internet business as a three - legged stool. Content and sales are two of the legs. The third is your mailing list. One of the most important things your web site Must do Is collect names for your list. As you ’ ve already learned, 95 percent of your visitors will take a look around and then move on to another web site. They may love your site; they may even bookmark it. How many sites do you have bookmarked on your computer desktop? How many of those have you ever gone back and revisited? Yeah — same for us.

But if you collect your visitor ’ s name and e - mail address, you can write to him and remind him how wonderful your business is. You can offer him reasons to visit again and again, and deals too good to ignore. We discussed some of the practical details of collecting names earlier in this chapter. We talk much more about building and using your mailing list in the chapter, “Get the Word Out.”