Three core principles to create a website that converts

When creating a new website there are some key principles that you need to consider. One of the first is how well your website converts. I was listening to a podcast last night Target Internet and they had a great resource from the Conversion Rate Experts called  Making Websites Win. Here are some of the top take always for you.

1.Principle: The top companies design for function, not aesthetics.

It is tempting to focus on the style and design of a website but as Making Websites Win explains some of the best converting website's in the world (Amazon Google, eBay, Amazon, Craigslist, LinkedIn, Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube) focus on their audience and the function that web needs to provide for them.

Principle 2: The top companies carry out experiments on their websites

When was the last time you viewed Google Analytics to see how your website was performing? I have got to admit I only just looked before writing this article and was very dismayed to see my bounce rate high on my home page. Top companies continually seek out to improve their websites by testing and analyzing how they perform. Making continual improvements over time is the key.

Principle 3: For reasons that are subtle, the top companies make frequent, incremental changes, and rarely (if ever) have huge site redesigns

If you update your site in incremental iterations like this, you get three benefits:
1. You get to see what's working (and what's not working) on a granular level.
2. Your site-improvement process stays nimble because it's always in use and is not mothballed until the next mega-redesign.
3. You decrease the amount of work-in-progress (work that has been carried out, but is not yet at a stage where it can bear fruit).

More Web resources can be foundhere.