Friday, August 14, 2009

8 Web Design Steps To A Great Business Website

A well-designed website is the biggest marketing tool for your business and has a better chance of getting a good marketing ROI compared to any other available options. Hence when undertaking web design for your website, you need to take into consideration the fact that it should be attractive and interesting to potential online customers. A simple search for your product or service online will get back millions of websites providing similar services. Combine that with the split second interest of the visitor and you have a tall task on your hands.

This tough task of designing a great business website can, however, become easier with the help of 10 simple steps to web design.

  1. Design your Home Page
  2. A home page is the most important part of your website. When you start the web design of your business website, you should give your undivided attention to this page. This is the page through which visitors decide whether to explore the site further or not. They also judge whether your products or services are worth their attention through the information you give on your home page. You need to instruct your web design company to make sure that it designs something attention grabbing and unique for your home page.


  3. Design a Company Profile Page
  4. Also remember while undertaking web design that a detailed company profile is important to establish visitor's confidence. You can list down your experience and achievement on this page and give the visitors reasons to trust you. A web design company will know the kind of language and design for the company profile page which attracts visitors.


  5. Design a Contact Information Page
  6. You want the visitors to not only browse through your website but make decisions to buy from you or at least make an inquiry. The web design of a website should be such that it calls the user to action. Including a contact info page on your website as well as at the side bar of each page ensures that the visitor knows you are there to help him/her every step of the way. For example, if a visitor is on the product page and wants to ask a question, it helps if he/she has the contact information of your company available on the same page. Remember that if you ask your visitors to take the extra effort of clicking even once more than required, they can leave your website. Instruct your web design company to keep the contact page simple, with your address, email ID and phone number visible easily.


  7. Include a Navigation Menu
  8. Let the visitor know where he/she is within the website so that navigating to the previous page is easier. Your web design company should ideally design a navigation bar at the top of each page. If your pages are short, it can even be at the bottom of the page.


  9. Easy Accessibility
  10. The foremost goal of web designing should be making the site accessible. The information visitors are looking for should be accessible easily to them. Experts suggest that ideally a good website should make most of its important pages available at no more than 3 clicks. An expert web design company can design such easily accessible pages for you. If the site is complicated you will lose potential customers just because you buried important content beneath useless pages, ads or banners.


  11. Minimize Flash and Blinking Banners
  12. Visitors find it very annoying when they are interrupted by too much flash or constantly blinking banners. Plan your web design in such a way that there is a minimum of such effects. A professional web design company will know a way to integrate flash in the site in such a way that it looks attractive without being a botheration to visitors.


  13. Limit the Page Length
  14. As said before, website visitors have the attention span of a few seconds. They do not like long, winding pages and information for which they have to scroll down a lot. So while planning website design, ask your web design company to keep the pages short so that the information is easily visible to the visitors.


  15. Use a professional
  16. A professional web design company will know all these steps well in advance and will know how to make your website an eye-catching one. An experienced web design firm will also know appropriate White Hat SEO techniques to incorporate in your new website. Research a bit for the appropriate web design company and hire its services to design a great website.



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