Thanks for joining me again. In this part of the series, we’ll talk about trying to keep from looking like a clone. 9. Presents an appearance in keeping with what you're selling: This step just takes a few minutes of objective observation on your part to make sure your website presents the personality of your company and has the kind of image you intended to project. If you have a very serious service to offer, such as financial services, your website should have very little fun stuff on it. It should present a very professional image. In most cases, it should contain no moving gifs, no cartoons, and no goofy stuff. If your site sells toys, its image can be completely fun. This is, like some of the other elements, subject to opinion, so just do what your heart tells you. If you have any doubts at all about the appearance of your site, change it until you feel right about it. Check out other sites of your biggest competitors to get an idea what is selling in the way of website presence. There will probably be a lot of things about their sites you do not like. Use your creative sense to make a site that is uniquely yours. One financial services company had a lot of success by offering a calculator utility on their site that allowed visitor's to figure out how many years and at what interest rate it would take them to save the kind of money they wanted to have available at retirement time. 10. Sells in a very subtle way: There's nothing more annoying than to go to a site to read up on some information you really need to brush up on, and every other paragraph is a CLICK HERE or to buy it, go here. I can understand an FAQ area where this goes on, but not your main page, please! The most effective sites on the Internet are those that provide a lot of free information, but they might have a banner at the top or a click through on the side of the page in case the reader is interested. Most of the really bad sales letters I see on the Internet are nothing but that -sales letters with no real redeeming value to the reader. If you're not willing to give away any of your knowledge on your website, how can you expect to sell any? In a retail store, people walk in expecting to buy. On a website, they're aware that you're selling something, but it's kind of like that store where you that the salespeople are constantly nagging you, asking you if they can help you. Subtlety says it all! 'Nuff said. 11. Is not like everyone else's: This kind of goes along with Element number 11 of presenting the image your company has. Have you ever noticed that many sites that represent companies in the same category all look alike? I'm not picking on any sites in particular. You know which ones they are. Try not to be a clone. This could take a long time to figure out how, but it is really crucial that you make your site unique. If it reminds visitors of someone else, they can easily lose the brand identification that you'd like them to have about your product. If your site is memorable without being obnoxious, they'll remember you. The Internet makes it really easy to forget what sites you went to. Make sure your site is one they'll bookmark or add to their favorites in order to visit again. That's the ultimate compliment - the one you're working for. "Please come back soon" is tougher to ensure on the Web. One site deals with the mechanics of using a program called Bryce 3D by Metacreations. The site has a very unique name, but it also epitomizes Bryce 3D's capabilities because of its awesome graphics. You may have been there: www.digitalblasphemy.com. Great place to pick up free wallpaper for your desktop, which keeps people coming back, but it is also a great place to just learn about Bryce 3D. People don't easily forget the name or the focus of the site. This is your ultimate goal. Another website you won't soon forget is www.websitesthatsuck.com. You’ll especially not forget them if they decide your site belongs in their list of Sucky Sites! Thanks for your joining me again! You’ve been so patient. (grin) Next time is our last time together, but we’ll talk about something very crucial to keeping your website in your visitors’ minds: Keeping in touch. See you again soon!

About the author:
Lynne Schlumpf is the CEO of Route 66 Cyber Cafe, Inc., http://www.r66cci.com, a Web hosting and design company specializing in promoting websites for new owners, building affordable e-commerce sites, and providing reliable web hosting solutions as an affiliate of Virtualis Incorporated.