THANK YOU FOR USING GOARTICLES.COM
The Articles Search Engine
Take A Moment To Visit Our Other Top Web Sites:
http://www.dropjack.com http://www.seo-news.com
http://www.sitepronews.com http://www.exactseek.com
http://www.blog-search.com http://www.smartwebgadgets.com
Use and distribution of this article is subject to our Publisher
Guidelines at http://www.goarticles.com/publisher.html
================================================================
Title: How a Custom Designed Website Can Help Your Business
Author: Sherry Holub
Article:
Over the years, the internet has grown into a marvelous avenue
to promote your business. In my last article, "Why Your Business
Needs to Have an Internet Presence"
(http://www.jvmediadesign.com/info37.html), I discussed 5 valid
reasons why your business needs a website. In this article, I
discuss some things to avoid and how a custom, professional
website can help your business succeed.
Professional is the key. Remember, the internet has a global
reach. Some of your new potential clientele may be learning of
your business for the first time by visiting your website and
the old cliché, "you never get a second chance to make a first
impression", still rings true.
When a business makes the decision to gain an internet presence,
whether they are the largest corporation or the smallest home
business, they may be tempted to take what appears to be the
"easy way" to get the company website up and running fast. The
three major potential pitfalls here are:
1)Some hosting comes with "do it yourself" capabilities and
pre-made templates. Although this is a great way to upload
photos of your summer vacation for your family and friends to
see, this is not a good way to make that great first impression
for your business. In short, these "solutions" really do not
present a professional image, and often use very minimal
templates and overall poor layout and design.
2)Many companies now sell website "templates" for low cost,
making it easy for you to get up and running quickly. While this
is true (you can get up and running quickly and many of these
companies do sell more professional designs), you run the risk
of other businesses using that SAME design. And to buy a
"unique" copy of the template the cost is often just as, or more
expensive, than if you were to hire a professional company to
create a custom design for you.
3)Complete websites for $100! This may be a bit of an
exaggeration, but I have actually seen advertisements for
complete websites for very low prices. You must remember that
you are investing in your business when you decide to have a
custom website developed, and you really do get what you pay
for. A professional design firm creates original designs, from
scratch, tailor-made for each individual client - and the prices
for that work can vary a lot, but do expect to pay a reasonable
amount for the services.
These three potential pitfalls aside, the process of getting
your business onto the World Wide Web does not have to be a
confusing, time-consuming, and costly affair. Below is a
succinct outline of the process.
1)First, you need to design on your domain name for your
website. Avoid names with "-" in them and very long names. Try
to be as succinct as possible. It is easiest for your visitors
to remember a URL that is your company name, or at the very
least, keywords that describe your company. For instance, if
your business is ABC Accounting, you could consider
abcaccounting.com or something such as accountingservice.com.
You may find that your first (and second!) choice for a domain
name may already be taken, so you may have to get creative. Just
remember that a domain name that reflects your business is key.
2)Shop around for the right design firm. There is no shortage of
companies who can handle the design and development of your
website. Do not be afraid to shop around. Prepare a detailed RFP
(Request For Proposal) that outlines things such as the goals of
your website, your target market, the information you would like
to have on your website, and advanced features such as
ecommerce. Review the portfolios of companies and send out your
RFP to the ones you feel have the skills to do your job. When
you've narrowed down the prospects, do not be afraid to ask for
personal or telephone interviews. Find out what their design
process and work flow is like. Ask for recommendations about
what type of web hosting your site will need. Also, make sure to
review the design agreement or contract with the company you
choose (a professional company will ALWAYS require a contract
before work begins).
3)Have a basic idea of what you would like your finished site to
look like. It's a good idea to do some "surfing" of the web to
see what your competition and similar companies are doing, but
look outside your industry as well for designs that catch your
eye. This will give your design team a place to start and an
idea of the style of design you expect for your own website.
4)Work on your "content". The content of your site includes all
the text you wish to display. This is a very important aspect to
your site. Although you do not want to overwhelm your visitors
with nothing but pages and pages of text, you do want to offer
clear, concise, professionally composed and edited information.
Proof read, proof read, proof read! If you are in doubt, it is
best to consider hiring a professional copy writer. Remember
that grammatical errors shout "unprofessional!" to the viewer.
5)Once your site is up and running, don't be afraid to add or
edit your content periodically. This keeps your pages "fresh"
and shows repeat visitors that your business is active and
"takes an interest" in staying up to date.
About the author:
Sherry Holub received her degree in design from UCLA in 1995.
She is now the Lead Designer and Creative Director at Southern
California Studio, JV Media Design. http://www.jvmediadesign.com
================================================================
FORGET EXPENSIVE PPC ADVERTISING
Give your Website Top 10 Exposure across 100's of Search
Engines and Web Directories delivering 150 Million+ Searches/Mo.
$3 - $4/Month - Quick Inclusion - World Wide Placement!
Your Keywords - No Bidding - No Click Fraud - Stats Tracking
< http://www.exactseek.com/featured_listings.html >
================================================================
No comments:
Post a Comment