Put your best foot forward on the Web. Your customers want a Web site that is informative, uncluttered and easy to navigate. Follow these tips to give them what they want:

• Be consistent. Make sure the look and feel of your Web site content works together with your other marketing materials. Graphics and images don't have to be identical, but they should be in line with your overall company brand.
  
  
• Pay attention to load times. If a page takes more than 12-18 seconds to load, you risk frustrating your customers. Be alert for graphics and files - they usually require longer load times. Test load times on your site frequently.
  
  
• Keep it simple. Make your site easy to move around and navigate through. Build a consistent menu structure. Put local menus (for a page or section) on the left side of the page. Use site menus (overall site navigation) at the top and/or bottom of each page.
  
  
• Make it easy. Customers should be able to get to the information they seek with one or two clicks. If they have to drill down through too many levels, customers may give up and leave your site.
  
  
• Avoid scrolling. Keep as much information as possible above the bottom of the screen view. You won't lose customers that way. Avoid horizontal scroll bars.
  
  
• Develop online-specific copy. Don't recycle your conventional marketing materials - write new copy for the Web. Keep your paragraphs short - no more than 2-3 sentences. Allow for white space around your text and use links to provide further details on separate pages.
  
  
• Be concise. Don't overload your site with information - focus on the most popular or most requested information. Include all contact information: local and toll free phone numbers, e-mail addresses. Ask customers to fill out a request form for a call-back.
  
  
• Build long-term relationships. Ask your customers for permission to contact them using online communications. You'll build brand awareness and customer loyalty.
  
  
• Optimize for search engines. Identify 6-10 keywords that people might use to find your site. Because search engines look for these keywords, be sure to incorporate them into your site content. Submit your site to search engine organizations using the TELUS Site Promoter Tool.
  
  
• Follow the steps. We've created a simple step-by-step tutorial for TELUS Shared Hosting. It's a breeze to create your own Web site using our site building and editing templates.