How to Design a Web Page for Your Business
If you own a small, local business, you may not think that you need a web page – but think again. A well designed web page for your business can give you a shop window which extends far beyond your local area. The whole point of the world wide web is that it can extend the scope for marketing your business almost infinitely.
A Business Web Site: Focusing Your Design
Carefully focusing the design of your web page on your key customers and making sure that it is compatible with the scope and needs of your business is of the utmost importance.
For example, if you own a small craft shop in an area which caters mainly to tourists, your business is bound to be seasonal in nature. If you had a well-designed business web page, you could support your over-the-counter business with e-commerce pages, thus promoting your products far more widely and generating income for your business out of season.
This is just one example of trying to make sure that there is a good "fit" between the design of your web page and what you want the web page to achieve for your business.
A Business Web Site for a Small Local Business
A business web page for a small local business can achieve several key objectives for your business. Having an impressive, focused web page will promote your business favourably to prospective customers. It will also ensure that information about your business reaches a younger age group.
As a well established business, you will probably have entries in the local telephone book and will know exactly how you want to spend your advertising budget on conventional advertising.
But e-commerce and web page advertising is a totally different ball game. Once you start interactions with your customers on-line, you can (for example) set up free Facebook, Flickr and Twitter accounts to let your customers know if you have special promotions available, what the best available deals are or even target specific offers to specific groups of customers.
Small business owners ignore the power of the internet at their peril. A well-designed business web page is key to business success for a twenty first century business.
A Business Web Site for an Expanding Business
It is an inescapable fact that some businesses are run as a lifestyle choice for the proprietor. This business owner's aim in life will be to make enough money to get by whilst spending most of his time doing something he likes to do. This business owner may well have a presence on the internet, but he or she won't be looking to expand their business beyond a level that he/she can manage easily.
Most businesses, however, have ambitions to expand. For these businesses, a well-designed web page is of the utmost importance.
Its key features will be:
- A simple but striking design that helps it stand out from all the millions of other websites
- Easy to read graphics which are as accessible as possible to as many readers as possible
- Clear signposting to key areas of the website so that the scope of the business is easy to identify
- Clear contact details including a locational map and a telephone number so that potential customers find it as easy as possible to get in touch or make a visit
- If possible, an advertising "hook" or Unique Selling Point, which will make potential customers identify with that business and choose to spend their money there, rather than in other businesses.
All these characteristics are easy to achieve if the business owner bears in mind the fact that clear communication with as many potential customers as possible is the object of setting up their business web page.
Finding a Web Page Designer for Your Business Web Page
As with many other things in life, personal recommendation is probably a good starting point when you're trying to find a designer for your web page. Don't commit yourself too soon though.
It is of paramount importance that you and your web page designer understand each other. The designer may know all there is to know about web page design, but you are the world's greatest expert on your own business.
A harmonious business relationship with your web designer is your aim, where you trust the designer to help you to achieve your business objectives as best you can within the limits of technical possibility.
Look at as many web pages as you can and decide what you like before you finally decide on a designer. Then study that designer's portfolio of work. Then talk to him or her and make sure that you're able to communicate your ideas easily and that the designer isn't trying to confuse you by using tech-speak.
A well-designed web page is an investment that should pay for itself very quickly and a good relationship with your web designer will help improve your customer base and increase your profits on a regular basis.
