If it's time for a business website ...
This is not a pitch. It certainly does not have to be us that you hire. Hire someone whose business it is to make your business look its best. The other rules listed here are the job of the web designer. I have put them here so that hopefully you will have a better understanding of why the professionals do what they do. Now that the decision has been made, another week or two won't hurt. Take time to interview several designers. Find one willing to listen to your business goals and focuses. Find one who will be willing to maintain your site when you need changes made, not just do the 'fun' part and leave. A website must have growth and change or no one returns to it. Check out their references and ask their clients if their maintenance is reliable. Find the right site designer at the front end. Changing in mid stream can be a disaster.
Rule #2: BITE THE BULLET, SPRING FOR A DOMAIN NAME
If you have a business, act like a business! Would you trust a store in a strange town that had just the street address on the outside? Sounds "fly-by-night" to me. Be a professional, buy the sign for the front of your website. It's the best deal going on the web today. And don't go for too cheap! Remember how your dad used to say, "Ya' get what ya' pay for"? There are many places on the www to purchase a domain name - do some research. The highest rate to register a domain name is $70.00 for the first 2 years, $35.00 a year thereafter. You can get it for less than this. We always deal with Domain Direct. It's less expensive than the afore mentioned $70.00, but offers the best customer service and easiest interface we've found.
Rule #3: SO DON'T BE A STRANGER
This rule fits right along with rule #2 above. Let your visitor know who you are. Give them contact information right up front, maybe even on each page, maybe even a link button of its very own. Each person who visits your site is a stranger. You're a stranger to them, too. Make it easy for them to know who you are. Your name, your physical address, phone and fax numbers are legitimate things for a potential customer / client to want to know. It's part of building credibility in your business.
NOTE: (2006) The days are long gone when a business could, in good faith and in an open manner, put their business email address on their own site. Spammers are some of the widest spread violators of our time. They have no ethics, only greed. Speak to your webmaster, even if your website has been around a while. Have him or her put a 'blind' contact form up for you. A form for which the email address does not show - even in the code.
Rule #4: A PROFESSIONAL APPEARANCE IS A MUST
Repeat after me ----"A white background is beautiful"!!! There is nothing more frustrating than going to a site you feel will be exactly what you're looking for, only to find the information is unreadable due to poor background and text color or texture choices. Your web designer will likely use colored text to indicate links and to emphasize important concepts or points. Too many different colors make your text hard to read. I know you're excited about your new site. But if you're not selling rodeos, your web designer will keep it low key and avoid looking unprofessional, so trust the people you hired. And when they try to talk you out of large blinking and / or multicolored scrolling text, please listen. Nothing is more distracting when a buyer is reading for content. Almost as distracting is music or the voice in the background reading the text (never at the same speed that you do). Another thing your website designer might do is to make the main page of your new site short. Good! Don't get edgy, thinking you're not getting your money's worth. If your first page has everything packed into it, it's confusing and seems endless, like a book printed on one page. If your front page does its job, visitors will go deeper.
NOTE: (2007) Re: -"A white background is beautiful". Guess I need to 'keep up.' The new discovery is that 'black is beautiful', too. NO, ladies and gentlemen, this is not a people color statement. This a website background color statement! It would seem that less energy is needed to handle (with whatever that entails) the darker colors on a website. Imagine that. Who knew!! Well, I say, "go for it!" Go dark / go 'green'.
Rule #5: ALL THE WORLD IS DIFFERENT
Don't you just love that shade of purple? Well, it might not be that shade on Harry Smith's computer. And that 'fill out' form may be the cleverest you ever saw. It might not work on Internet Explorer. You know that really classy looking typeface you like? Chances are it'll look terrible on a Mac or a PC, whichever one you don't have. Remember your web designer's job is to make sure that your business site is effective on all prospective customer's computers. Listen to what this person has to say.
Rule #6: I WANT IT ALL, RIGHT NOW!!!!
Even if your site has the best content in the world, if it takes forever to load no one but your mother and sisters will hang around long enough to view it. If your main page does not load quickly, your visitors will lose patience and click away. Stare at your screen for 10 seconds. It will seem like an eternity. Web surfers are impatient to an extreme -- if your main page hasn't caught them in less than 10 seconds, they will simply leave. In view of this, please understand why your site designer is keeping the graphics small.
Rule #7: DOES THE PHRASE 'MISH MASH' MEAN ANYTHING?
Design, layout, and navigational items should be consistent throughout the site. This is not the place to prove how many colors you know or how many backgrounds you like. Visitors need to know that they are still at your site and haven't wandered off. You know how you feel when it's the right time and the kids have changed the channel. You panic and can't find your favorite TV program? Word to the wise! Now is not the time to make all your pages different so that visitors won't be bored. Consistency and ease of navigation is all important. Leave it to your web designer to make it easy for your visitors to move through your site -- they'll stay longer, and come back sooner! And, hello, maybe even buy something! Which brings me to the next biggie.
Rule #8: TO CHARGE OR NOT TO CHARGE
Now is the time for all good webmasters to come to the aid of your company. If you are selling something, accept credit cards PERIOD. One hears all the talk about folks being leery about using their credit cards on line. Well, believe me, the chances of their sending you a money order are slimmer still! Besides, credit card companies are trying really hard to come up with ideas to make buying online with a credit card less risky. They are on our side. They want to profit with online sales just like you do. By all means, make it possible and easy for your customers to send money orders and any other form of payment you like, but don't neglect credit cards. Online credit card sales are better then doubling every year. Don't lose sales. BUT, be cautious. There are scam artists out there, there are folks who will rip you off. AND, you, as the seller, will be liable and will be left holding the empty bank deposit bag. Watch your back. And do yourself a favor, hire a web professional who has the reputation of also watching your back. AND listen to what they tell you.
Rule #9: SPELING MISTTAKES
Proof your site before it goes on line. Be sure that you carefully check and quickly report any errors in spelling and grammar to your designer. We do try our best (I personally have 2 dictionaries and a grammar book beside my computer), but slip-ups happen, trust me on this. Few things will convey an unprofessional image more quickly than spelling or grammar errors. Building trust is an absolute must online.
Rule #10: "THIS SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION!"
It's real simple, folks. If it ain't finished, it ain't a website!! Your business website, like your business itself, should be an evolving, growing entity. So that's not what we mean by 'finished'. Simply put - all the graphics must come up, all the links must work and the navigation system must be in place with no 'coming soon' dead ends. If a potential customer reaches your site and encounters 'dead ends', they are NOT coming back! And, PLEASE, no unprofessional, cute, little 'under construction' signs.
Businesses are built and kept,
one customer at a time !
Not Your Mothers.com
Member of the
Eastern Shore of Virginia
Chamber of Commerce
one customer at a time !
Not Your Mothers.com
Member of the
Eastern Shore of Virginia
Chamber of Commerce