Web Site Scan
6. Is Your Website SCANABLE?
Do you have a FAQS Page?
FAQS stands for "Frequently Asked Questions" and your website should have one, and here are my suggestions for developing it:
1) List at the very top the questions that you get asked the most, - and give their answers, of course.
2) List the questions that you want them to ask next—this is a marketing opportunity, so don’t miss it. People may not often ask you, "why should I do business with you instead of someone else?" but list it anyway, because they SHOULD be asking this question, and then give the answer.
3) List the questions that they should be asking, that you typically answer for them because they do not know to ask. You know your business and profession better than they do, usually, and there are simply questions that they really should ask but are simply not knowledgeable enough to ask. Ask these questions for them and then give the answers.
4) At the top and bottom of your FAQS page, provide a link for them to ask a question that they do not find the answer for, telling them that you will answer it personally. Do this, and then add it to your frequently asked questions page.
If they have the question, there will usually be many others that would, too.
Do you need on on-site search script?
If you have a large website with lots of pages and lots and lots of content, you should have on on-site search available. You can get "plugins" for these from various search engines or you can have your website developers install a custom one for you. Search engine scripts (programs) can be easily installed and configured (by those that know how, of course).
How well is your page content outlined?
People read books. People DON’T read websites. They SCAN them.
Use bold headings to help them along the way. Lots of them.
Use short paragraphs, just two or three sentences each. Really. Just two or three or maybe four really short sentences.
Link from encapsulated content to a fuller description, and then offer the full document via another link, thereby letting them dig deeper when they want to.
Heavy content pages will usually rank better in search engines, so they may be found more easily. For these pages, add a nice graphic in one of the page’s "hot spots", on the left or right side of the page, near the top, but beneath your main website graphic, which should ordinarily be at the top of your page.
Link from this graphic to your home page or the corresponding "landing page" for that page.
How SCANABLE is your Web site? Grade it!
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