If you are considering the thought of creating a new website or blog, whether to just promote your business online, or in order to make money online, the easiest way to ensure success is to think of your website as a meal.

Before creating your website, just like cooking any meal, there are a number of things to consider:

Planning. When it comes to creating a successful meal, unless you are a master chef you don’t just hope the ingredients in your refrigerator are going to create an award winning dish. There are a number of elements to think about, such as who is going to be eating the meal, how many ingredients and how much of each ingredient is the correct amount to get the perfect flavour and texture, how will you present the final product, and most important of all…is it something they will enjoy.

Your website should be no different.
Before diving in and hoping your website will magically be a success, think about who will be reading it (eg, gender, age, etc), how many categories, topics or pages your website or blog needs to cover. Too little it might not cover enough to be interesting, too many and it is hard for you to complete or just too much for your reader to absorb. Finding the correct balance in content is critical.

And like a meal, getting the ‘texture and flavour’ is very important. Your website or blog could be the most informative site out there, but if it doesn’t have any character to it it will be just plain boring! Add some humour, something unique, or just your own quirky twist to brand it as your own unique ‘dish’ and you will find you will get the end result you want…people will enjoy it!

The flavour of the webpage or blog isn’t just about the content though, ensuring it looks delicious is even more important, so you can catch the attention for people to ‘taste test’ it.

Templated websites are the equivalent of a packet mix. The restaurants of the top restaurants in the world most likely don’t use a Sara Lee pudding mix to serve in their restaurants, so if you want a website that is uniquely your own and not a replication, don’t use a website template unless you really can’t help it. Templated sites never really fit your personal style and always look out of place and usually unprofessional. Pay the money for a few hours design by a professional web designer and start with something unique that you own.

Establish your point of difference. In a city like New York there are literally thousands of restaurants that would serve up a nice juicy steak. Yet what is the difference between the restaurant that struggles for the business compared to another restaurant just up the street which is booked out months in advance? You will find usually it is their unique point of difference…it might be the lighting, the friendly staff, the presentation of the meals, the view, the music, or the additional touches like a warm cloth to wipe your hands with. Whatever it is, this is the secret to their success and popularity, and in the end their revenue.

Your website should be no different, offering something that makes your website uniquely different to all the other websites out there. It can be as simple as offering free downloads, or information no one else provides. A free online service such as quick easy bookings, or a regular newsletter about products. Whatever it is, find yours and integrate it into your website.

Once you have cooked up your website, the secret is to keeping it popular.
Like a meal, the best way to achieve this is keeping it fresh!

Revise your website’s ‘ingredients’ regularly, making sure that the content is fresh and up to date.
Request feedback from visitors, or if you are running a blog allow comments and actually read and reply to people’s feedback. these are your readers and if they can help you improve your website you will ensure they are coming back, and probably recommending your site to others. Keeping your readers appetite wanting more is what drives them back!

Bon appetit!

Author: Chris Bourke of Devision Design and Web SEO Coach
Chris is a web designer and online internet marketing coach from Australia.

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