Here are a couple of lessons in website usability from my perspective.

One: know what you want your website to be. Is it a static brochure? Will it be a sales tool? Will it be a knowledge dump? Hint: It can’t be all 3.

Like all marketing materials, it has to have a clear message, a call to action, and a flow. By flow, I mean that like a one page microsite that has copy then a call to action followed by more copy and another call to action (ad nauseum), you website should have similar flow: some copy, a call to action, and a next button or More Info link.

That call to action can be: call now; email us; sign up; buy now; or other actions.

Too many choices for the visitor is not a good thing. If you feel you need to do more than one thing with your website, make it obvious. For instance, buttons like Customers click here or Members login make it easy to segment your visitors.

Your landing page is where people arrive on your website (usually the front page). With search, links or a Google Adwords campaign, people can land on any page of your website.  The landing page has less than 7 seconds to load and capture the visitor’s attention.  Headline, content, call to action.

The content has to be relevant, clear, concise, to the point, informative, and in plain English.

My website is not a good example because there are way too many tabs, but that’s left over from the original website developer who disappeared on me. There is no call to action on most pages.