Present a Professional Appearance

If you want people to buy your game, you need to look like (and behave like) a professional business. Customers need assurance that they're not getting ripped off, and a professional Web site and a prompt response to their questions will assuage their fears.

Web Site Don'ts

If your Web site doesn't reflect a business mentality, you're going to miss out on some orders. Here are some things you should definitely not have on a business Web site:

• Diaries containing personal opinions or rants. Not only is this unprofessional, but also, no one cares, and you run the risk of alienating your customer. "Company News" or development diaries are okay, provided they concentrate on your business.

• Meaningless marketing hype about your game. When it comes to explaining why your game rocks, your best bet is to provide an accurate list of the things that make your game fun. Avoid phrases like "the best game on the planet" or "guaranteed to be the only game you'll play for a month," because they make you sound like a piece of spam.

• False or misleading statements about what customers are getting for their money. It's illegal and unethical. Stick to listing features that you actually have. In addition, avoid listing nebulous features such as "a totally redesigned gameplay engine," unless those features really do make a difference in the game. Technobabble rarely impresses; the people who can't understand it don't care about it, and the people who do understand it recognize it as meaningless.

• Web design gimmicks like mouse trails, animated GIFs, background music, and rainbow text. They make you appear juvenile. The exception to this is Shockwave or Flash-based Web sites, which many game companies use.

• Broken links. This is an obvious one. Use software to check your site for dead links or buggy code.

Web Site Dos

On the other hand, your Web site should definitely include:

• Screen shots. A screen shot is worth so much more than a thousand words. Showcase your game's good parts with lots of high-resolution screen shots.

• Cohesive, easy-to-navigate design. Use a modern design that works on as many browsers as possible.

• Contact information. Consider setting up generic e-mail accounts for sales, orders, Webmaster, and support, even if they all route to your personal e-mail.

• A newsletter sign-up. Write newsletters when something happens, and send them out to people who have signed up for them on your site. This not only increases your chances for repeat business, but also keeps your name and products in the forefront of the minds of the people who read the newsletter, which can often result in "word of mouth" sales.

• A message board. If you can supply the time to moderate and maintain a message board, it can be boon for your business. However, beware—a dusty ghost town forum can make your company look worse, not better.

There are many other techniques that can prove useful; check out what other software companies are doing, and if something looks like it will work for you, try it!