subject: Business Website Design That Delivers Depends On Defining Your Goals [print this page] A successful business website design doesn't just happen organically. The best-performing business websites are well-planned and focused on delivering a specific result. Like anything else, before you can achieve a specific result, you need to define your goal. If you haven't already decided exactly what you want to accomplish by having a presence on the web, go through the following goal checklist to help you define the purpose of your website so that you can create a business website design that delivers.
Building Brand Recognition
The most common type of small business website serves the same purpose as a brochure or business card it helps boost your presence in the community and helps customers find you. While a brochure site is the simplest type of business website design, professional design is important. An amateurish site doesn't represent your business well. Web design pricing for a basic website is low, and the return on your investment is more visibility and a professional appearance for your company.
Providing Product Information
Potential customers often go to a business website to learn about the products the business provides. A retail store might choose to display a weekly sales flyer on its site, for example. A good web design for a restaurant might include the menu to entice potential diners or to make it easier for take-out customers to place their orders.
Generating Advertising Income
Designing a website to attract context-sensitive ads requires a great deal of knowledge of search engine optimization practices, including how to choose keywords, and the best website design practices to make it easy for search engines to find your site.
Selling Products or Services
A website designed to sell requires specialized programming, such as integrated catalogs and shopping carts, order tracking functionality and customer support options. There are many specialized business website design solutions available to help you build a sales website.
Earning Affiliate Commissions
Many larger companies offer commissions to websites that direct customers to their products. Affiliate web sites present specific challenges that often contradict many of the best business website design practices, but the underlying principles call for professional knowledge of search engine optimization and site design.
Providing Customer Support
A good business website design will often include customer support pages and options. Depending on the level of your business, that may be as simple as a Contact Us page with an email form or as complex as providing manuals and help files, an online chat option and generating return authorizations that automatically route a request to the correct department.
Reducing Business Expenses
Many businesses find that their websites increase efficiency and reduce their expenses. A carefully planned business website design helps you save money across nearly all cost centers from ordering to customer service to catalog printing.
The list above includes most of the common reasons for building a business website. Check those that apply to help you determine your needs in a business website design before you contact a professional site design company to help you define what you hope your website will accomplish for your company.
