There’s nothing wrong with hiring a professional to build your site, in fact a lot of times I encourage clients to.  The problem is many times they get talked into expensive website packages that they don’t need or don’t understand. So I thought if you have a website or are thinking of launching one soon, it might be a good time for a check up!

Here are the 13 things your website MUST have in order to Succeed in today’s competitive market place!

• What is the purpose of your website?  Yes it is vital that you have this nailed down as it will determine a lot of the content you choose to include on your website. It might be to inform them of your services.  Or build your list.  Or increase sales!
• A contact form with an autoresponder program.  This should be a No-Brainer!  You need to be able to capture your web visitors contact info. so you can follow up with them regularly! I use 1shoppingcart because they are reliable and affordable.
• Pictures and Graphic!  You need to be able to show what you are offering.  Try to keep your photos fun and interesting.  Don’t use just a head shot for example!
• Easy Navigation!  This is a big one!  I can’t tell you the number of sites that I have been on and just can’t seem to find what I’m looking for.  Keep it simply and easy to use!
• Strong Headlines and Direct Response Copy!  Good Copy writing is King!  Too many people drop the ball on this one and it is killing their conversions!  Spend some time with it or hire a professional.  It might just be the best money you spend! Include lots of
• Testimonials!  Dan Kennedy and other top marketers always say you can never have too many raving testimonials.  They will build your trust and credibility fast!
• Online video!  Yes you need to have this!  Youtube is one of the most visited sites on the net.  If your site doesn’t have online video people will wonder why.  Trust me when I say your competition is all over this one!
• SEO Optimization!  SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and can be the difference between ranking on page 53 and ranking on page one of major search engines like Google and Yahoo.  Start educating yourself on how to do this right now.  This is one of the few things that I encourage clients to outsource if they don’t understand it.
• Your Complete Contact Information!  It baffles me when people leave this out!  How are people supposed to contact you if you don’t show them how they can reach you?  Enough said.
• An Updated Blog!  Blogs are a lot easier to rank with major search engines because the content is always being updated.  Plus it gives you another important media for communicating with your prospect and customers.  Google loves blogs!
• Free Offer or Sample.  Michael Port calls this the always-have-something-to-invite-people-to in his book, “Book Yourself Solid”.  This can act as an enticement to get people to share their contact info with you.  You can see my own always-have-something-to-invite-people-to by CLICKING HERE and checking out our free monthly teleconference training!
• You need a product or services page!  This page allows you to showcase your products and services and alows people to buy them from you online!  Again here is mine.  Click Here.
• And last but not least you need a way to process your orders a.k.a. a online shopping cart!  I use several solutions for this.  1shoppingcart.com again is a favorite if I’m selling a digital product.  Clickbank is great!  And I use Paypal.

Just by including these things to your existing site will improve it by miles from most of your competition!  You will get more qualified traffic, build better relationships with your customers and make more sales!

If you are having trouble with figuring out any of these 13 strategies, I invite you to check out my Crash Course Marketing System that I have created to help newbies to internet marketing get up to speed and building a solid online business as quickly as possible!  Just Click Here!