Peak Internet - Website Standards and Practices
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Hello, Louis Dawson here, owner of Peak Internet. Myself and select team members do all the production work for Peak Internet. Our clients like my ability to do almost everything, from copy writing, to location and product photography, to customizing their shopping carts -- to recruiting a team for larger projects. I've been involved with the online world since the old days of Compuserve and the newfangled "net" more than a decade ago. I've seen it all, and will help you avoid the Internet mistakes that have cost so many people so much money over the past decade.

Text: Every serious business owner want to to share extensive information about their endeavor, but unless you're providing information that can actually be used by a website visitor, it is better to be brief.

When we write web "brochure" copy, we edit down to the bare minimum, using short paragraphs and sentences -- always thinking of the busy web visitor. Our how-to and adventure content writing is more wordy, but we still avoid diatribes.

Stale Content: Data should stay fresh. If you expect your website to produce results, you must constantly update it. Look for parts of pages or articles that can be corrected or re-written. Add new pages now and then. Delete pages that are hopelessly out of date unless they have historical or archival significance. Include a focused links page that's up-to-date, with no broken links.

Sales: Successful websites serve rather than just sell. Even the most sales oriented website should include information that can be used by a visitor, and thus reward them for visiting your corner of the web universe. At the minimum, include a links page that lists carefully chosen sites you think your visitors could use. Provide a few how-to articles or adventure narratives. We can write such content quickly, or edit and re-write nearly anything to the point where it will look terrific!

Grammar and spelling: While it is tough to get things as perfectly edited as a printed novel (witness this page?), website copy should be in the top percentile of perfection. Consistent and correct spelling is a must, possessives must be correctly written (its or it's?), proper names should be checked and double checked. Your budget may not allow Smithsonian levels of writing perfection, but the basics must be near perfect.

Slowmo: While many of us have fast web connections, the most useful and successful websites are still designed with slow modem connections in mind. Your homepage should load instantly on a fast connection -- or in a few seconds on a slower modem. Content laden "sub-pages" may load slower, but should still be optimized and not include huge graphics. Peak Internet specializes in making attractive web images, and we have numerous ways of providing "enlarged" images when necessary and at the discretion of the website visitor.

Focus: A website can be as big as you want it -- as scattered as you want it -- as annoying as you want. Keep it focused. If you have other things to promote or tell people about, buy another domain name and start another website. Talk to us, we'll help you do this quickly, for minimal cost.

Commotion: The only web animation we feel is sensible is to provide optional videos to users with fast connections. All other blinking, jerking, flashing and dancing graphics in the world will never equal a few seconds of well produced video -- a couple of well written words -- or a fast loading and attractive still image. More, animations may look cool the first time your visitors see them, but by second view they're stale, and by the third time your valued visitor is clicking on their browser settings and trying to TURN IT OFF -- or jumping to your competitor's site for some peace. Double the above for sounds.

Homepage look and feel: Your homepage (otherwise known as your greeting page) is the first thing people usually see when they land on your website. It should be simple and punchy, with excellent copy writing that's short and concise. It should load fast, and have a couple of attractive images (smiling human faces are best). More than anything, most (if not all) of your greeting page should show on the visitor's screen without them needing to scroll. I can't over emphasize the importance of this. Most visitors are not motivated to scroll when they first see a site, more, quite a few people actually have trouble coordinating their mouse to grab a scroll bar slider and pull it. You have something you want your visitors to see -- MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM!

General: Simplicity, usefulness, pleasant and interesting copy writing. Unified design and colors. Fast loading. Uncluttered. That's our mantra at Peak Internet Marketing.

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