Other times the reason could be that traffic is slowing and your sales are slumping and you’re looking for the cause.  What ever the case may be, it must be done to remain competitive.

A general purpose review of your site for keeping content current and links fully functional should be routine and scheduled.  This will ensure that nothing slips through the cracks and becomes a major issue down the road.

Set a reminder for yourself to check your website out at least once a month so that you stay on top of your game.

If you start to notice that your sales are slowing down and you’re just not seeing the traffic that you’re accustomed to you may want to take a long, hard look at your website in comparison to the sites of your competition and other successful websites.

Perhaps your site is not as attractive and engaging as others.  Or maybe you’re lacking some of the interactive tools that today’s customers really want.

So how do you evaluate your site and make the necessary revisions?  Here are a few tips.

First, take a good look at your site.  Jot down notes on what your site offers, how engaging you feel it is and what interactive features it has.

When doing this be sure to look at it from the perspective of a customer, this will allow you to provide a better critique of your site.

You’ll also want to click through your site to test the amount of time it takes to navigate through it and note any slow-loading pages, broken links or difficulty in navigation in general.

Next you’ll need to take a little web field trip.  Search for the sites of some of your best competitors and then one or two sites that are not competition but are simply successful sites.

Spend your time taking notes on the same topics you noted on your own site as well as anything that you feel is particularly attractive to their customers and visitors.

When you’re finished compare your site to the sites you’ve visited and see what you need to do.

If you have a brick and mortar business you must ensure that you have a knowledgeable staff that can interact with them effectively; answer their questions, provide accurate information and be prompt and courteous.

If you have a web-based business you need to provide much of the same customer service functions, but virtually.  In order to do this your website must be interactive.

To create an interactive website you must provide functions on your site that allow your customer to feel like they’re getting what they want, when they want.

If they want product information they need to be able to click and receive, right then, right there.  They may also feel more at home if there’s a means by which they can communicate with your or other customers.

To do this you can create a message board or blog on your site that will allow them to virtually connect with other people with their same interests.

These types of things make a customer feel like their needs are being met and leaves them feeling more satisfied.  And a satisfied customer not only spends more money but will send potential customers your way.

Another important tool for your website is a feedback form.  This form allows customers to give you feedback directly from your site, rather than having to send it from their e-mail.

By placing the feedback form on your site you make the customer feel like their comments, concerns or complaints are important to you, and this makes them feel good about you as a business person.

Be sure to place this form in an easy-to-find location on your website.

While adding these tools to your website may seem complicated, or even pricey, they are well worth it in the long run.

Most web-hosting companies offer these tools and many more in their hosting packages.

For a few additional dollars each month you can improve your customer satisfaction rating and traffic flow greatly.

There really isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to the question. It depends upon the subject of the article, the length of the article and the purpose of the links in question.

Links can be placed beside an article…usually to the left.

These links usually are for the purpose of directing the reader to related information contained within the article and sometimes leading to sponsored advertisements for products and services that are discussed in the article.

It has been determined that the worst place to put links is at the bottom of an article. They are the least effective and generally overlooked by readers.

Links within an article are considered the most effective placement. Links within an article can be given as an http://www.whatever.com link or embedded within relevant words or phrases and appear as keyword.

It is important that links open in new windows, however, to avoid distracting the reader and also to keep them from surfing away from the site.

Articles that are used for marketing should always contain at least one link in the http:// format because the articles are sometimes used by ezines that are published in plain text and links that are embedded in key words or phrases will not be available to readers to click on.

Writers of articles always want at least one link that can be copied and pasted into an address bar to cover this circumstance of the reproduction of an article.

Links beside or within an article can be helpful to the reader but they should be used with care so as not ever to distract the reader from the article itself.