![]() | |
![]() |
Website Design Considerations
Q: Should I build and maintain my business Web site myself or pay someone else to do the work for me? -- Wesley L. A: When you say, pay someone else to do the work for you, Wesley, I am going to assume that you are talking about hiring a professional Web site designer to do the work and not your next-door neighbor's teenage son. If my assumption is correct, then read on. If not, go ahead and surf on over to Dilbert.com. You will get no good out of the advice I'm about to give, so you might as well consult Dilbert for your hot business tips. Should you build and maintain your business Web site yourself or pay someone to do it for you? Let me answer your question with a couple of my own. Number one: is building and maintaining Web sites the key focus of your business? Number two: could your time be better spent doing more important things like, oh I don't know, say running your business? If your answers were no and yes, respectively, then you have no business building and maintain a Web site. Remember this: every minute you spend on tasks that are not related to the key focus of your business is time spent to the detriment of your business. In other words, every minute you spend focusing on tasks that do not contribute to the growth of your business and thereby increase your bottom line is time wasted. If you want to be a web designer, be a web designer. However, if the key focus of your business is building widgets, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that your time would be better spent building widgets, not Web sites. Case in point: I once had a very wealthy dentist ask if I could teach him how to maintain his Web site so he wouldn't have to pay me to do it. Now my teeth had helped put this guy's kids through college, but that didn't seem to matter. At that moment he was more concerned about having to pay for changes to his Web site than my personal oral hygiene. Sure, I said, I'll be glad to teach you how to update your Web site, just as soon as you teach me how to clean my own teeth so I don't have to pay you to do it. He got the point. And he charged me enough for the cleaning to keep his site updated for months. Smart man. Many business owners think they can't afford a professionally designed Web site and that simply is not true. While the old adage, "you get what you pay for" is never more true than when applied to Web site design, having a professional web designer do the work for you is money well spent. A well-designed Web site can bring you a many-fold return on your investment. You can't say that about too many other collaterals. While it is best to leave Web site design and maintenance to the experts, it is up to you (or someone considered a subject matter expert within our company) to provide the designer with the content (text and photographs) that best conveys your company's message to your customers. A Web site, no matter how well designed, is meaningless if it lacks the content required to interest customers in the products you sell or services you provide. Here's are a few questions that, once answered, will help ensure that your Web site's message is as appealing as its design. Go over these points with the designer before the design process begins as the answers will help determine the direction your Web site's design should take. What Is The Purpose Of Your Web Site? Most business Web sites have two purposes: (1) to educate the consumer and, (2) to sell them products or services. If you sell shoes, for example, the purpose of your Web site is to educate potential customers on the quality and durability of your shoes and as a result, to sell them shoes. If you paint houses the purpose of your Web site is to educate home owners on why your services are superior to other painters and sell them on hiring you to paint their house. By defining the purpose of your Web site you will give the designer the information required to create a Web site that best conveys that purpose to your target audience. Who Is My Target Audience? Your target audience consists of those folks you want to attract to your Web site: potential and current customers, future and current employees, possible investors, etc. Anyone who might be interested in your company and its products or services is a member of your target audience. Correctly identifying your target audience is vital since your Web site should be designed specifically to appeal to your target audience. Put yourself in their shoes (or in front of their computers). Imagine your Web site through their eyes. If you were visiting a Web site such as yours what would you expect to find and what would you be disappointed not to find? Identify your target audience, then have your Web site designed to fulfill their needs and surpass their xpectations. What Content Should My Web Site Feature? Your Web site content should be driven by the nature of your business. If you're a real estate agent, your site should feature photographs of homes you have for sale and information on buying and selling a home. If you own an auto body shop, your site might feature before and after photographs of cars that you have repaired. Remember to determine the purpose of your site, then develop the content to serve that purpose. What's My Competition Doing? The last question you should ask is one of the most important: What is your competition doing on the Web? Do a Google search for similar businesses and click around their Web sites. How are their Web sites designed? What message are they trying to convey? Are they doing a good job of conveying that message and as a result, selling products? What do you like about their Web sites? What don't you like? Make note of the things you like and the things you hate, then share your findings with your site designer. Remember, you're not stealing trade secrets here. You're just borrowing ideas. Here's to your success. Tim Knox Small Business Q&A is written by veteran entrepreneur and syndicated columnist, Tim Knox. Tim serves as the president and CEO of three successful technology companies and is the founder of DropshipWholesale.net, an online organization dedicated to the success of online and eBay entrepreneurs. Related Links: http://www.prosperityandprofits.com
MORE RESOURCES: Grow Your Local Business with WebLime’s Web Design & Marketing Solutions Potomac Local News Freelancers HUB Launches Custom Website Themes for Local Businesses in London, Ontario FinancialContent 4 Common Myths of Website User Experience Advisor Perspectives How to convert Figma designs to code with Cursor AI theserverside.com Why website development in UAE so popular? London Daily News Unveiling the invisible hand: how AI is reshaping web design UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media Digital Silk Reports Spike in Page Speed Optimisation Requests from New York Brands in 2025 TradingView Sportsman Creative Revolutionizes Web Design for Small Businesses with Affordable, No-Cost Plans and AI-Powered Reputation Management FinancialContent Boomcycle Digital Marketing Unveils Revamped Web Design Agency Service for Enhanced Online Success FinancialContent Digital Silk Reports Surge in UX and Speed Optimization Requests from U.S. Banks in 2025 StreetInsider Web Pacific Lutheran University 2/6/25 – EXPLORE OUTDOOR HAWAI‘I SITE WINS WEB DESIGN GOLD Department of Land and Natural Resources - Hawaii (.gov) A Surge in Mobile-Optimized Web Design Reported for Wellness Brands Across New York: Laser by Aleya Stays Ahead of the Curve Yahoo Finance California Privacy Penalties Focus on Quality Checks, Web Design Bloomberg Law News Web modernization: New pages, same mission, better service US Forest Service (.gov) Web Design and Development Muskegon Community College California Tourism Leverages Interactive Web Design to Engage Gen Z and Millennial Travelers: You Need to Know Travel And Tour World Boomcycle Digital Marketing Revolutionizes Web Design with Innovative Agency Approach NORTHEAST - NEWS CHANNEL NEBRASKA Hudson Brauntz Digital Named Cincinnati's Top-Rated Web Design Company NORTHEAST - NEWS CHANNEL NEBRASKA 15 Web Design Trends for 2025 DesignRush Best Web Design Companies Forbes Skyrocket Marketers Unveils Specialized Web Design and SEO Services for Fintech Firms in Nicosia, Cyprus Barchart.com Wireframe in Web Design: Complete Guide DesignRush ChatGPT was tasked with designing a website. The result was as manipulative as you'd expect Fast Company 18 Best Tech Website Designs in 2025 DesignRush 11 Best Interactive Website Designs in 2025 DesignRush Skyrocket Marketers Launches New Digital Marketing and Web Design Agency Focused on SEO Growth in Delaware Barchart.com The Future of Web Development: Trends and Technologies on the Horizon IoT Business News 8 Best Apps for Web Designers in 2025 DesignRush 16 Best Modern Website Designs of the Moment DesignRush Web 3.0 And The Evolution Of Website Design: What You Need To Know Harlem World Magazine Press Release Distribution & PR Platform ACCESS Newswire 10 Best Medical Website Designs (2025) DesignRush Create and Collab: Announces New Partnerships and Launch of SEO Services for Small Businesses GlobeNewswire Web Design Statistics By UI/UX, Market Size, Web Development, Industry and Demographics Coolest Gadgets 5 Upcoming Web Design Trends for 2022 SitePoint BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: Young Web Design keeps businesses current The Bradford Era |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
RELATED ARTICLES
Creating Personal Web Sites (Part 2) This is the second part of a two-part article about creating a web site on the Internet and the tools that you will need to do it.Some basic terminology that you should take a look at before proceeding further:Web Page: A document that contains information created with the help of HTML. Optimized Web Page Template I want to give you a free web page template that will besearch engine friendly. Why?Well, I assume you want your web page to come up as high aspossible in search engines because that generates freetraffic. Flash - To Use Or Not To Use? Out there in the WWW there are thousands sites using flash for their needs. But the majority sites are not in this list. The Proper Way to Use Images Most people will agree there is nothing more annoying than going to a site and it taking forever and a day to download all the images just so you can see the site. Then after waiting, realizing that the site is completely ugly, irrelevant,or not what you thought is was, and wasting your time. Why Hire a Professional to Design Your Web Site? Creating an appealing, functional, and effective Web site is much harder than it looks. It's not simply a matter of taking a company brochure or catalog, converting the text to HTML, and throwing in a few pictures (although many sites seem to have been created using this technique!). How To Start An Internet Business - Designing For Usefulness The first step to starting any Internet business is conducting keyword research to determine if there is any interest in your idea. Once you identify a need, it's time to consider what your site should look like. What Happened to My Website when I Deleted the Home Page by Mistake? There is a widespread confusion among lots of new website designer concerning the home page.If you get any book, any course, or ask most web page designer how to build a website, they will advise you to build your home page first. 50 Surefire Web Design Tips Tips to brand your websiteInclude your logo in all pages. Position it at the top left or each page. Database Driven Website The solution lies in creating a 'Database driven website', through which web pages are created dynamically which further gives a web site visitor an up-to-dated view of information stored in the database. When the information in the database is updated, site visitors will immediately see the changes that have been made. What to Avoid to Make Your Website Design Effective The effective design is this one, which is maximum simplified, conformable to your users because they are your main purpose. This one, simply and clearly announcing what is your website about. How to Chose Stock Photography for your Web Site So you've decided to take the plunge. You know that stock photography is an effective tool for your web business, but where do you start and how do you choose the stock photo that's right for you. Website Design - Choosing Your Colors Wisely Colors convey emotions and emotions heavily influence the decision-making process. Your choice of colors for your website should mirror the message and feeling you to hope to communicate to the viewer. Internet Tip of the Week: First Impressions First impressions are extremely important if you hope to do business on the Web. After you refine your ads, and if you make your pitch to a targeted group, you will start to get visitors to your web site. How to Get Your Visitors to Create Content for Your Website An ongoing challenge for webmasters today is to provide fresh content that gives visitors a reason to return to their site. Unless you have a full-time staff dedicated to creating regular content, the time involved can be crippling. 10 Nifty Ways to Prolong Your Visitors at Your Website Increasing the length of time a visitor is on your website will dramatically improve your conversion to sales. Use these ten points to check you are prolonging to stay of your visitors. To Flash, or Not to Flash When considering whether or not to incorporate Flash into your website, you must also consider the target market you are trying to reach.For instance, a website which serves as a depository for articles and information catering to lawyers would probably not be a good candidate for a Flash "makeover". The Most Important Question To Ask About Your Web Site! When you design a website how do you start ?Do you start with the banner graphics at the top, or the order page or maybe the sales letter ?All of those are areas that have to be created but they're really not the place to start.The place to start is by answering one simple question about your site. Be Friendly to Search Engines The object of search engines is to give their visitors a list of web pages relevant to the search words, in the order of relevance to the search words. So what do they want from websites?Relevance to a search:The frequency of the search word on a web page is an indicator of its relevance. Mini Site or Content-based Web Site? Are you in a dilemma whether to create a mini site or acontent-based web site for your new product or service? Thepurpose of creating a web site should be to attract visitors andconvert them to paying customers. Is a mini site with a fewpages enough to do this or should you spend more time and createa content-based web site which contains many pages?Let's look at some of the Pros and Cons:Mini SitesPros1. No More Jargon! Pamper Your Audience! When your company built its website, did you think about the content (the text) of your site? Did you write it for your customers? The answer to these questions is often 'No.'The first mistake most companies make when filling their website with content is overlooking who they're writing for. ![]() |
home | site map |
Webdesign-box © 2006 |