Running a successful website involves more than merely ranking high for your chosen keyword and getting traffic. How your site looks and behaves is also an essential part of making a successful website. Tons of research has been done on finding out the best way to convert visitors into long lasting customers. A customer friendly website is the most important thing in the arsenal of anybody trying to sell anything online.

Here are a few tips to making a customer friendly website:

1. Hire a Professional Web Designer
Your 12 year nephew who knows a bit of HTML isn't exactly the best person to turn to if you want a professional looking website. Professional webdesigners can not only make your site look good (which is essential for evoking trust in your customers), but also know all the ins and outs of placing different elements in the right place. When starting off in the online business, trust only a professional webdesigner.

2. Pick a Quality Host
What could be worse than spending hundreds of hours building your website, spending hundreds of dollars in marketing, and when the traffic finally starts to trickle in, finding that your host has a downtime and your site is not reachable. A reliable host should have 99.9% downtime. Don't go with mom-and-pop hosting companies; pick only the top ones like Hostgator, MediaTemple, Dreamhost, etc.

3. Have a Contact Form and Privacy Policy
A contact form is a must. Make it easy for your customers to get in touch with you by including your email address or putting up a simple form. Same goes for a privacy policy. Have a well written privacy policy that tells your customers about any information that you collect. It will put them at ease and save you a lot of trouble later.

John is a blogger who has been writing online for the past 3 years. His latest blog is about Florida health insurance. Check it out here: www.FloridaStateHealthInsurance.com.