Building a Website
With what is available today, anyone can build a website
. There are dozens of low cost and free software packages, and with many of them, there's no need to even learn to code in HTML, CSS or any other language. With a little patience you can find a WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) software package, and quite easily, with some clicking and dragging, you can create a web page in under five minutes. Yes, you could. But the fact that you could does not mean you should.
The World Wide Web is literally littered with thousands of poorly done, poorly executed unvisited websites that have disappointed their operators, and in many cases have cost far more money in the long run than if the site had been done properly from the beginning.
Unless web design is you core business, creating your own website is roughly equivalent to doing your own dentistry, or representing yourself in a court of law. It's possible, but not recommended. A website is every bit as important to your business as your brick and mortar shop. Just as you wouldn't set up shop in a tumble down shack, you need to be sure that your website conveys the right impression to your potential clientele.
So, why consult a professional? There are some very good reasons, indeed.
The look and feel of your website should convey professionalism from the moment a visitor arrives. The site should be polished and sleek, with the design and layout that web users have come to expect. The site should flow with a strong element of continuity and seamless transitions from one topic to the next. The page order must be thought through and logically ordered, and the pages must be linked together with both graphic links, and static word links. The relationship between your site and complementary sites must be developed and presented in a manner that is both intuitive and easy, without ever risking the possibility of a visitor leaving your site altogether for other sites. Your graphics must be used properly, and often, and the images themselves need to be created professionally, or, if you choose to use commercially available images, the copyright issues must be considered and properly handled.
Web users have become accustomed to a certain level of sophistication in their web experiences, and the majority will simply skip a site that fails to live up to that expectation. There are simply far too many competing professionally done sites for users to bother with amateurish examples, and the general feeling is that if you can't field a well done website, you can't deliver whatever your selling either. Web users have no patience for "creative" fonts, or non-standard layouts. They want to see very well written text handled properly, and kept to a minimum. They want interactive, well done graphics, good link management, and the proper type of link used for a given function. Web users expect good graphics management and that translates to an interesting site that loads quickly.
Aside from the web users' expectations, website operators and owners need to rely on their site to drive traffic and increase sales or at the least, generate interest. Simply publishing a website will do neither. A site needs to be properly designed, and then properly managed and published. The very content of your site must be honed to drive traffic. Search engines index sites according to some specific criteria, and search engines are responsible for the vast majority of traffic on the web. In order for the search engines to index your site, and to increase the popularity of your site among search engines, you need someone who understands the intricacies of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Your text, your graphics, your links all play into this very important web science. You need someone who understand inbound links, outbound links and considerations external to your site (like article generation or web rings) which are among the many facets that increase your rankings, as well as practices like link farms or hidden keywords that can get you banned from a search engine altogether.
There is also a need to understand SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and programs that can use legitimate ads on the internet to bring traffic to your site, or use your site as a profit center by selling ad space. There are other programs that allow you to partner with other websites to act as marketing outlets for each other, and many other ancillary activities. Someone needs to understand how to leverage these ideas, all while managing your cost for such programs.
Another area for external expertise is managing your website after it's published. In this day and age, you simply can't post it and forget it. Someone needs to be responsible for maintaining your site, and for ensuring that there is new content posted regularly, and that links are constantly checked to guard against a broken link, or a link that leads to an unexpected destination.
Whether it's your intention to publish an informational site, a display site or an e-commerce site it is important to remember that this is an area where it will pay handsome dividends to employ someone who understand that science of web development. It is as crucial to contract a professional in this area as it would be to hire a
professional for taxes, bookkeeping, legal issues or plumbing and electrical. Although it is true that most small business people are take charge people, in some cases it just isn't a good idea to DIY.
Building a Website
By: Codie Hart
Generate Traffic to Your Site with Twitter 6 Promotional Product Ideas To Send In The Mail How to optimize a Website – The traditional way Domain Names Worldwide - Are You Paying to Much for Your Website? Get In Touch With The Person Of Your Dreams Through The Dating Sites What Not to Do When Optimising Your Site Get Traffic to My Website - Tips to Increase Website Traffic What Would Rather Have? A Site That Converts Or A Site That Looks Good Como funciona hospedagem de site? The Clock - One Of The Best Promotional Item Enhance your eCommerce website through quality web design Five Top Tips For A More Effective Website Tips To Follow While Creating Your Promotional Tool Kits