subject: Essential Ingredients In Your Website Design [print this page] These days, it seems like the companies that don't maintain a professional website don't actually exist. Even if your business does have a site, if it doesn't feature the major ingredients that are essential in a winning web address, then you may be losing out on engaging all kinds of new customers--which means you're also missing out on additional revenue.
The best thing you can do for your business's online presence is to bring in a third-party website designer onboard to get the job done. This is all they do, so they're the experts at first building a site and then making sure both you and your customers are satisfied with it. If you aren't sure where to start, then they can consult closely with you to build a design based upon your vision and their suggestions.
If your business is still getting off the ground, you can still launch a website to attract curiosity and educate locals on what your company is going to be all about. One of the best ways to do this is to add a company blog to your site.
When I was in college, I was part of a team that was building a new bookstore that was one part of a new outdoor shopping mall in Orange County, California. My manager started a blog connected to the company's main website to track our progress and talk about everything that went into constructing the store.
This helped already-loyal customers get excited and feel involved while also attracting potential new clientele in the area by building anticipation that our chain would now be present in their area.
If you have a product that can be shipped easily, don't forget to make it orderable through your website. More and more, people are opting for the convenience of shopping from their couch, but this means that the ordering apparatus should be secure. The website design company you enlist to help out should be able to do this for you.
The web address itself should be concise and easy to remember--not only to keep existing customers back, but so they can more easily pass it on by word-of-mouth. If someone can't remember it or at least find it easily through a search engine, then they likely won't visit it at all.
When it comes to the layout and look, make sure it is simplistic but still aesthetically appealing. I do NOT recommend having videos, sound bytes, or music playing right away, as these are prone to be irritating to many web surfers. Other than that, just have fun! If you do, it will show.
