Too many small business websites are merely flyers for your company. They’re the equivalent of placeholders. At most, they give people a map to your location. But, at best, they can presell the audience on your products and services. That way, when the customer approaches you, he or she is predisposed to buy. This article explores how do you make a website for your small business.

First, put yourself in your customer’s shoes. When he sits down at the computer, what is he trying to do? Most likely, he wants to solve a problem. If he’s facing a divorce, he wants information on the legal, psychological, financial, and perhaps even spiritual aspects of his situation. If you are a lawyer, providing quality, relevant information on these topics will pre-sell the customer on your services. That way, by the time he picks up the phone to make an appointment, he’s already disposed to hire you.

To understand this, you have to understand the buying cycle of YOUR customer. There is not one uniform buying cycle because every product or service is different. Lower priced items typically have a shorter buying cycle than more expensive ones. The urgency of the situation also impacts the speed. If someone’s bathroom is flooding, they need a plumber now. If they are looking to start a college fund for a newborn, they have more time to make a decision.

So, if your customer needs you NOW, you should have a quick call to action. The client won’t have time to read lots of articles. But, if this is a “big decision” that she needs time to ruminate over, you need to provide lots of quality content and be able to communicate with her over time.

In this case, a “flyer” website won’t help you. You should aim to have at least 20 articles on your website that help people make decisions about the type of products or services you offer. Also, you should have a way to collect their email addresses so that you can be in touch with them periodically.

How do you make a website for your small business that meets these requirements? There are three choices.

You can hire a website design team to build your website for you. If you take this route, it will cost you big bucks for a fancy design. They will probably try to sell you a Search Engine Optimization package. If you want copywriting, that will be extra as well.

Secondly, you can put the page together yourself, registering your domain with one company, getting hosting from another, building the designs from free templates, paying for an autoresponder service, etc. This can be a lonely road.

Finally, you can buy a do it yourself package. These include all of the components you need to do it yourself for one price.

How do you make a website for your small business? With the customer in mind!

Stacy Fox has developed a successful local small business website for her husband, a divorce attorney. She’d like to share with you how she did it on her Small Business Website Marketing blog

How do you create a website? There are three popular approaches.

The first is to hire it out. Whether you hire your teen aged nephew or an expensive SEO company to create your website, you want to direct the designer to consider the following:

1.-Keyword optimization. You want people to be able to find your website with the kind of terms they type into Google or Yahoo. Optimization has both on-site and off-site components. You need to mention the keywords on your page and in your meta tags. You also want to have a linking strategy. If the site designer you are consulting isn’t able to explain why these things are important, check out someone else.

2.-Selling ability. Unless your website is purely personal, you want to make money off of it. You want to be able to sell your consulting services, your personalized baby bibs, or your affiliate program. This means that it has to have the purpose of selling at its core. Fancy graphics, frilly type, and other things graphic designers pride themselves on often distract from the selling process.

3.-Ability to remain in contact with your clients. You want to be able to collect the names of the people who visit your site. This way, you can get in contact with them later. People don’t usually make a buying decision on their first visit. And, when they’re ready to buy, they probably won’t remember your web address. So, you need a way to keep in contact. Usually this means developing a regular newsletter or other autoresponder. Make sure your website designer builds this in.

The second method to create a website is to do it yourself. If a 15 year old can do it, why can’t you. Well, you can. But, creating a professional website for business purposes is complicated.

First, you’ll have to register a domain name. Take care when choosing a name so that it is memorable for the people who come but also gives the search engine spiders (computer programs who index your site) an idea about what your site is all about. Then, you will need to find a hosting company. Usually, when you buy your website, you’ll be offered web hosting for an additional fee with the same company. This is the most convenient method, but not always the cheapest or best one.

Next, you will have to develop the “look and feel” of your site. You can do this by downloading a template if you don’t want to create a site from scratch. There are plenty of free templates on the web or you can pay for a unique template.

Then, you will need to go about creating content. You’ll want articles on your site that cover the fundamentals of your business as well as rank for highly searched keywords. This can be a challenge, but, as you know your business better than anyone, you are the best person to write these articles.

Next, you will want to create a sitemap and submit it to the search engines. This will let Google and the other engines know that you are in existence and they should come visit your site. This is one way you get in the search engines.

You will also want to submit to directories. Additionally, you will want to generate back links through reciprocal link exchanges.

Finally, you will want to put a contact system in place so that you can be in touch with people for the reasons listed above.

If all this sounds overwhelming, that may be the reason that so many companies don’t take full advantage of their website.

However, there are “do it yourself” packages that allow you to create your website yourself with all of the features included. Additionally, these packages provide extensive support in the form of tutorials and forums.

When people ask me “how do you create a website?” I tell them that the package approach is best because you are able to maintain control over the content, you don’t have to pay someone to make additions or changes, and, most importantly, you begin to understand what works in internet marketing and why.

Stacy Fox has developed a successful local small business website for her husband, a divorce attorney. She’d like to share with you how she did it on her Small Business Website Marketing blog

When creating a business website, you have two choices. You can put a brochure online or you can have a powerful marketing vehicle.

When presented with these options, people will overwhelmingly say they want a powerful marketing vehicle. So, why do so many business people create a brochure online?

I think it is fundamentally because they don’t understand how the web works.

Your most recent search on Google was probably about creating a business website. That’s how you ended up here. How do I know that? Because, having an understanding of how the web works, I know how to capture that search. I know how to drive you to this site.

Further, I know what the next action I want you to take is. I want you to click on the link in the resource box below. I also know that 9 times out of 10, you won’t click on the link in the resource box. But that’s okay, because I know that if I’ve done my job right, enough people will do what I need them to do make it worth my while to have written this article.

For those of you who do click on the link below, I know what I want you to do when you get to my home page.

My total plan for taking you through the sales cycle is mapped out. And, I can do that because I understand how people operate on the web.

The question I have for you is do you know how to make people find you on the web and are you able to take enough of them through the marketing cycle and turn them into customers? If not, you are missing a powerful marketing strategy.

This strategy is called “pre-selling” and it’s not a bright idea I had one day. Instead, it was developed by one of the web’s pioneers, Dr. Ken Evoy.

While many Internet Marketers have taken Evoy’s advice to heart, most small businesspeople have no understanding of how to maximize the potential of their web presence.

I’d go even farther and say that most small business people are actually minimizing the potential of their web presence.

That’s understandable. Unlike full time internet marketers, small business people are busy actually running their businesses. Fortunately, there are ways to go about creating a business website that actually makes you money.

Once you understand the value of preselling, you know how to go about creating a website for your business.

Stacy Fox has developed a successful local small business website for her husband, a divorce attorney. She’d like to share with you how she did it on her Small Business Website Marketing blog

Too often, people think learning to build websites is hard. They leave that to the 15 year olds or the professional designers.

Well, I’m not here to say that it’s a cake walk. But I do believe that there is value in the small business person learning to build websites for their own company.

There is an initial investment of time and a learning curve. But once you have a handle on how you can market your small business on the web, your business will explode.

What are the main vehicles you use to generate clients? The phone book? Television commercials? The newspaper?

Unfortunately, all of these methods have become increasingly less effective as a direct result of the internet’s penetration into our lives. People now spend an average of 49 percent of their free time online. Advertising mediums that reached people just 10 years ago are completely ignored today.

And, this is actually good for you!

Why is it good? It’s good because most small businesspeople have not figured out how to make the internet work for them. They throw up “brochure” sites because they’ve heard they need an online presence. But their sites aren’t generating any business for them.

So, if you go about learning how to build websites - and really take the time to understand how the web works - you have a powerful advertising tool for your business.

It will require time. But not as much as you might suppose. If you did everything yourself from scratch, it would be a nearly impossible task.

Fortunately, there are packages that come with “training wheels” for small business people. No, you won’t have a mega-selling first class website in 30 minutes. You know better than that. But with a moderate investment of time, you will understand what really motivates your customer and be able to build a professional website that starts generating traffic - and customers - quickly.

Learning to build websites is a skill worth developing for small businesspeople. In fact, the small business successes of tomorrow are found in those learning to build websites today.

Stacy Fox has developed a successful local small business website for her husband, a divorce attorney. She’d like to share with you how she did it on her Small Business Website Marketing blog

Talking to the web designer

• What should your website look like?

  Obviously, the vaguer you are, the less helpful your suggestions will be. A good starting place is to look at other websites with a similar subject matter. From these, you can either decide what you like, or, through a process of comparison, realise what you don’t want and thus partly recognise what is actually important to you.

  Other interesting avenues of approach come through associative thinking: consider movies, books, music and artwork that you think convey the sort of ‘feeling’ you want from the website. Tell your web designer about them: maybe he can capture some of that je ne sais quoi! Expand your expectations of your website from just a ‘look’ - maybe it can be a ‘feeling’, or also a ’sound’; can you get your visitors to imagine the smell of the website? If you are selling flowers online, you may want them to!

• Communication is key.

  This is an adjunct to the point above, but do not be afraid to go into detail for your web designer. Even if he disagrees with some of your stylistic or organisational choices, everything you suggest will communicate more of what you want your website to be. Details about how it should behave tell us a lot about its real purpose and about what makes it unique, just as the style of a piece of writing can tell us something about its larger meaning.

  There is, of course, a caveat to this advice: if you go beyond suggesting and into dictating; if you only talk and don’t listen: then you aren’t communicating any more, you’re only yelling. You’re paying for your web designer’s time and yes, he is your employee for the moment. But remember that you are paying him because he is a professional: he may not be an expert in your field, but he is an expert at online presence. It’s precisely the fact that you are an expert in your field, which the website is about, and he is an expert in his field, which is designing the website, which makes it so important to meet in the middle when it comes to discussion of the site itself.

You have homework to do!

• Content rules the internet.

  You may have read it before. “Content is king / everything / why they come.” Fortunately, this is true. It’s what makes the internet useful, and it’s why search engines like Google that pay the closest attention to well-ordered and original content are the most-used, and most-useful. Unfortunately, it does mean that you are going to have to do more work for your web site than simply writing an ‘About Us’ page and hoping web-surfers google your exact company name!

  The best web designers will write copy (i.e. words) to go on your website, and they will make it grammatical, attractive, punchy, and all that good stuff. But even the best professional designer can’t learn your years of experience and then translate that to the screen. You have an insurmountable advantage: you really know what you’re talking about. This means that you should be creating lots of content for your website. Why? ^^^^^ - because “Content is king”! If Googlers search for specialist phrases which are relevant to your business / charity / cottage-industry / photo-album, they should get hits for your website! If they’re not, that means that all of your experience in this specific field - all that experience that differentiates you from the rest of the site-owners on the internet - is going to waste.

  This point cannot be overemphasised. The more work you put into the website, the more you get out. You aren’t paying your web designer to be an expert in your field: you’re paying him to a) tell you what I’ve just told you; and b) translate those great bits of information, articles (like this one), specialist notes, tips and loads of details, into meaningful (and searchable!) places on the internet that will make your website very special and very popular.

Zen and the art of website design

• Less is More, More is Less - please, let us find it!

  The slightly cryptic sentence above is trying convey one of the most complicated and difficult-to-accomplish aims of web design. A website needs to be attractive, but simple. It needs to be rich, but navigable. It needs to be dense, but comfortable. But, failing all else, the most important thing is:

  KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!)

  I don’t mean to insult you (or any client), but that’s how the saying goes, and the fact that an insult is right there in the saying probably tells us a little something about how annoying it is when web designers get this wrong. If you have a choice between ‘attractive / rich / dense’ and ’simple / navigable / comfortable’, always choose the last three. Your web designer should always seek the perfect balance, of course. So this section is almost a tip directed more at him; but you can help him by remembering the following tenets of good website design when telling him what you want:

  A website is not a book (usually!)

  Lengthy content is good in the right places (like this article, if I say so myself), but make sure your visitors want to see it before you foist it upon them. Why do you need to keep your initial payload of information simple and concise? Because:

  Web-surfing is a series of choices

  When you pick up a book to read, you have chosen to read it. From then on, every page you look at will be in a sense a reward, some kind of payoff for that choice. As a result, you will pay attention - if you aren’t, why would you bother reading the book at all? (English literature course assignments excluded here.) Websites aren’t like that. Every website’s homepage is a choice: Is this where I want to be? Do I want to spend time here? Usually, the answer is “No.” If you can convince a visitor otherwise, you are 80% of the way there. But before you’ve made them want to pick up the book and buy it - don’t force them to read it!

Your website is not the psychedelic sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey

• Ye Olde Bad Days of Web Design

  This is linked into the ‘Zen’ section above, because it’s about being simple, or being stupid. Web design has come a long way since the early days of the internet. 10-color webpages are largely a thing of the past. Please do not try to resurrect them: they died for a reason. Photos are great; well-chosen and fairly subtle colours (for menu backgrounds etc) are usually fine. Mustard-yellow text on a tiling background of blood-red autumn leaves = bad idea. Your web designer should never let you convince him to do this. If he does it on his own initiative, run as fast as possible in the opposite direction. Look at Google; Amazon; eBay. Yes, the latter two have some colours, but all three sites work with white backgrounds and black text. Google is the cleanest of the lot, and we all know the internet has been kind to them as a result. Messy is fun - for about five minutes. Run.

• The black magic of navigation

  Navigational links and tools are usually pretty boring and simple, and as I’ve stated above, that’s usually a very good thing. The reason it’s a bit of a ‘black magic’ is because sometimes, navigation can be improved by making it more interesting, more fun, and even more usable at the same time.

  The sliding CSS-based menu-tree approach

  This is the most common upgrade from the simple box of links. Pros: This has the advantage of essentially putting your whole site structure into one obvious architecture visible from every page. It makes it quicker to find things and looks gratifyingly orderly and high-tech. Cons: If your web designer doesn’t do it right, this could backfire on the occasional non-CSS or non-JavaScript piece of browsing software. If that happens, your whole site could be inaccessible. This is largely preventable, so make sure that your designer tests the menu system (and the site) under all possible access restrictions, e.g. text-only browsers or even mobile devices. You could even test it yourself, if you want to be extra-sure. When the browsing device can’t handle the navigation interface, a simpler one should load automatially.

  The AJAX-based background-loading interface

  This is the newest navigational innovation. It’s the way navigation on Google’s Gmail service works. You can usually tell that an interface is AJAX-based when you click on a link that sends or receives new data from the website, and only the data loads - the page remains the same. AJAX is the younger (and smarter) sibling of DHTML (Dynamic HTML), which could show and hide page elements already loaded at download time, instantly. The difference is that you don’t need to have already downloaded the AJAX elements. The web code gets the new data ‘in the background’. Pros: This can make interfaces faster (instantaneous sometimes) and prevents having to scroll back down after posting a form, for instance. Cons: Data is unlikely to be indexed by search engines, so anything you put in there better not be some nugget of wisdom a googler might search for in the hopes of finding your website! AJAX takes time to develop, pretty much proportional to the time it saves your users when it’s operational! It’s only suitable for some applications. Talk through the possibilities with your web designer to see if the dividends are worth that investment of time, given your unique situation.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Concerns?

• A quick word

  This deserves its own article (and it’ll get one), but for now, just relax, and read everything written above. If you can talk with your web designer and check off all the boxes above, you’ll have a website that search engines and surfers alike will really appreciate.

For now, good luck, and please get in touch with any questions or suggestions!

David Midgley is Director and Senior Designer for Ice Cool Code Ltd, offering Professional Web Design.

Its amazing to think that kids in high school are making thousands of dollars every month with Adsense.

Not just kids but housewives, retirees, mom and dads, who are just staying at home and have never made a dime on the internet have created full-time incomes by simply placing Adsense ads on their web site or blog.

These are just some of the “super Adsense earners”. You have possibly read their stories as they are among the few who are on their way to making millions just by using Adsense on their websites.

Anyone, any age and gender can become successful at earning an income using Adsense as long as they set it up right they can’t go wrong. How does one go about this Internet advertising?

Writing articles for Adsense is a great way to do it. Using the right keywords in your articles and having Google ads on a certain site has become the most profitable way of marketing that anybody can get into. You don’t need experience or some high education. If you are not using this strategy, there is a good chance you are losing thousands of potential adsense dollars.

This is one of the many reasons why writing original quality articles is now the latest in marketing buzz. Article writing is a really powerful tool to a successful web site and richer individuals. Many internet marketing professionals are already aware of the value of an original quality content and how using keywords can drive targeted traffic into their sites from the search engines.

So why don’t all these web site owners write and submit their own articles if that is what is important?

The main reason is that it takes time. Time to write articles, submit them and get targeted traffic to their websites. That is why many website owners will outsource the article writing and have someone else write their good quality but unique work.

Did you enjoy writing when you were at school. If so then you already have an advantage over a lot of internet marketers that want to make money online and work from home.

With the boom in the Adsense market comes the need for sites to want fresh, quality and original keyword rich content. This way, web site owners can have a steady supply of articles with the proper keywords that they relate to their site contents. The result of this is seen in the sites page rank when indexed by the search engines. Which, in turn, gets more Adsense ads to show above, below or next to the article on their website with targeted traffic.

What do people have to do?

Write quality and original content, keyword or phrase rich articles with links to your website in the resource box. Then build a website or web page with targeted keyword or phrase rich original content for the targeted traffic that originates from the articles you wrote. Finally, you will have a Google Adsense ads that are targeted to your keyword or phrase rich original content site where visitors will get to visit when they come looking for information.

A win-win situation if you think more about it. A favor for persons looking for quality content and information. For the persons writing the original content articles. And the person with the quality original content rich website. Of course, the search engines and its advertisers are getting targeted traffic and sales but so what? As long as you are getting something in your favor, it does not really matter what the others are getting for themselves.

So who else wants to start earning money with Adsense. You. Everyone. Anybody. Internet marketing has many opportunities wide open for this people. Writing articles and using Adsense for your kind of internet marketing strategy is one sure way of getting a piece of that action and cash.

Better not be left behind the many making millions already.

Sheryl Polomka is the author of Income With Adsense. The ebook that reveals the real adsense secrets. The missing step that is vital to having a successful adsense website.

Visit Income With Adsense at http://www.incomewithadsense.com

In my first article in this series, I talked about the importance of creating a custom website that will establish you as a credible Network Marketer. Providing quality content is crucial, but your website also has to be easy to navigate…you want people to judge your content, poke around a little bit (navigate), and at least bookmark your site if they aren’t inspired to take advantage of what you have to offer immediately.

I hope that you have taken my advice and downloaded SeaMonkey, and also downloaded some free templates that you can use to get started. Now for a little research!

Go check out several of the highest ranked websites (you are using the free Google toolbar - right?) Take a look at the navigation bar, usually on the left side of the page (recommended) or on the top to get an idea how the experts are constructing their nav bars. You probably aren’t going to have near the content or number of pages these guys have, but you’re just here for ideas on how to build a tool that makes it easy for your visitors to roam around your “cyberhome”.

Now, copy and paste some of the high-quality content you’ve created into several pages using SeaMonkey. When you get to the point where you need to name these individual pages, make sure that they are called something that relates to the content, and contain a word that you intend to use in your nav bar. This isn’t so much a technical requirement as it is just good methodology.

When you have several pages created, start to build your custom nav bar. Go into the edit mode for the page you’re going to use as your “home” page, and replace the top link in your nav bar with the title you want to use for your home page. It will typically already say “Home” as a default, and that will work in most cases. If you want to rename it, just type over the existing text and you’re done. Well, almost…it’s kind of a personal thing, but I prefer not to enable the link associated with the text for the page actually being viewed. That’s up to you, but it serves no purpose to create a link on a page that simply leads to the same page. OK, so I’m a little compulsive…

To disable a link that already exists, put your pointer somewhere in the text and left-click so that the cursor appears in the text. Then go to the SeaMonkey toolbar and click on Link. This will open a dialog box. If you are disabling an existing link, just delete what is there.

*Note - if you’ve elected to use a nav bar that goes across the top of the page, the first link will be the upper left vs. the top, and will proceed to the right as we go along.

Now you want to build a link on your home page to your second page. Select and rename the second link in your nav bar, highlight the text with your mouse, then click the Link button in the toolbar to open the dialog box. Click on “Choose File”, then find the html file in your main website folder that you want to use as your second page. Double-click the file (it will appear in the dialog box), click OK, and you’re done!

Simply repeat this process until you’ve created all the links on your home page to the other pages you’ve created, then go to each of those pages and build a nav bar that looks the same! You’re getting very close to having a custom website!

One word of advice…test! You can open your home page just by double-clicking on the html file in your website folder. The file will open in a new browser window just as if it’s live, even though it’s only on your desktop. Check the navigation functions on all your pages, making sure that they go where you think they should go. Nothing will discourage a visitor more then ending up on the “Blenders” page when they clicked on “Refrigerators”.

The next lesson will focus on linking to other websites…why you would want to, and how to do it without navigating away from your own website. You want to keep them on your website as long as possible, and bring them back often!

Tried Network Marketing before and failed? It’s not your
fault. Let this rookie “unknown” marketer show you how he
embarrassed the “gurus” by placing over 4,120 people in his
downline in 14 short months, while pocketing over half-a-
million dollars. Now he has honed his SYSTEM into an idiot-
proof step-by-step can’t fail, never-cold-call-again
recruiting machine on steroids! He’ll even PAY YOU to check
it out. ==>http://gwilly1.getnetmlmprofits.com/profits/?mad=2238

If you are a beginning or aspiring Network Marketer that is dedicated to long-term success in this industry, you will have to start building your credibility NOW. One of the best ways to do that is to have your own website. I’m not talking about personalized affiliate pages…there are untold thousands of copies of those pages out there, and you need something that is going to set you apart from the crowd. Before you get started, you will need to create some unique content. I’ve addressed that subject in other articles I’ve written, all available on the internet. Now you need to get that content on a webpage.

You may believe that creating your own custom website is something that is best left to the professionals, but it is not nearly as difficult as you think. The best part is there is an abundance of free tips and tools available on the ‘net that will make the job even easier.

I’m not going to tell you that this will be a snap…it took me a month to go from knowing nothing about the subject to actually getting my webpages to the point where I would actually put them in front of people…and I am constantly tweaking them. I am always on the lookout for better design elements, easier navigation, improved readability, etc. This is not a set-it-and-forget-it proposition; a custom website is like a living, breathing organism that will need regular attention.

The good news is that it will help you to build long-term success like no other single element you use to promote your business.

I will assume that you’ve already developed some content to put on your website. Now you need to find and download a free application called SeaMonkey. Do a web search on “SeaMonkey download” and you will get to where you need to be.

After you’ve downloaded the application, you need to create a folder on your desktop entitled something like “My Custom Website”. Create three subfolders in your main folder, one entitled “Content”, another “Images”, and the last “Samples”. Put your content in the appropriate folder. Images will be discussed in subsequent articles; Samples will be addressed at the end of this lesson.

Now open SeaMonkey. Left-click on the File button in the upper left hand corner, put your pointer on New in the drop-down menu, and left-click Composer Page in the resulting drop-down menu.

This will bring you to a page that is very similar to a word processor application. Now go back to your Content subfolder, select a document, then copy and paste the text into the Preview page in SeaMonkey. You can use the toolbar on the top of the page just like you do in your word processor to change the appearance of the page as it relates to the actual text, centering, etc.

Now click the Save button on the toolbar, and SeaMonkey will prompt you for a title. You can easily change it later, so don’t wrack your brain trying to think of something incredibly clever. When you’ve entered your title and clicked OK, you will be asked where you want to save the file. Choose the main folder you created (My Custom Website).

Congratulations! You’ve just built your first webpage. You can see what it will look like on the internet by simply double-clicking on the html file you just created in your main folder. Your browser will automatically open the page in a new window, even though it isn’t actually on the internet.

You are well on your way to getting a custom website that is ready to publish! I recommend that you play around with the application to get familiar with the features. Also, and I’ve found the Help function in SeaMonkey to have better information than a lot of applications that I’ve paid for.

Before the next lesson, do a web search for “free templates”. Download several that you like to the Samples subfolder you created, and play around with pasting your content into those formats. Practice as much as you can, and try not to get frustrated - you’ll find that the more familiar you get with the application, the more you can do with it.

The next lesson will focus on the navigation bar you’ll be creating for your custom website. See you then!

Tried Network Marketing before and failed? It’s not your
fault. Let this rookie “unknown” marketer show you how he
embarrassed the “gurus” by placing over 4,120 people in his
downline in 14 short months, while pocketing over half-a-
million dollars. Now he has honed his SYSTEM into an idiot-
proof step-by-step can’t fail, never-cold-call-again
recruiting machine on steroids! He’ll even PAY YOU to check
it out. ==>http://gwilly1.getnetmlmprofits.com/profits/?mad=2238

It is quite often said that the first rule of web design is you do not talk about web design.

If traditional graphic design is 2–”dimensional, Web design is 4 or 5–”dimensional. Web design is a complex process that requires a wide range of creative, business and technical skills. Most web designers worth their salt know the phrase web design is a laughably broad term.

I mention the above not to try and put people off either entering into the Industry or trying to do down those who are already in the industry but more as re statement of facts about the state of web design today.

The problem that has arisen in the last few years is such that it would appear to be very easy to become a web designer. Hey it’s cool and it sounds great at parties. It would seem as a result that almost very man and his dog is now into web design. You could take this argument and lay the blame for this fairly and squarely at the doors of the like of Macromedia and Microsoft for making such easy WYSIWYG web design programmes such as Dreamweaver or FrontPage for people to take up and master. But this would be too simplistic and not realistic.

Web design is a complex process that requires a wide range of creative, business and technical skills. Most web designers worth their salt know the phrase web design is a laughably broad term and it requires an ability to see things from as many a side as possible - multi tasking in the extreme.

They say its what’s inside page design that really counts and nothing rings truer where web design is concerned. Web design is a complex discipline that involves a wide range of skills. Of course content is king, the purpose of web design is to present it in the best way possible. When was the last time you saw a new book release from the likes of Amazon etc with a lousy cover and so it is with web design? For the millions of web surfers out there, your web design is their first impression of your business and your credibility.

Good web design is a collaborative process. Every new web design is the solution to a design problem that can be summed up in a series of constraint questions: Who is my audience? What is the audience dynamic and more importantly what do I want my audience to do? Do I want them to read, enjoy, think leisurely and then buy my services or do I just want them to hit the chequebook as soon as is possible?

Web design is a constantly evolving dimension of marketing and it is a field that is crowded and competitive. A Kickass Web Design is Search Engine friendly, effective and affordable but remember the goal of Web design is not merely to dazzle, but to deliver information to the widest audience possible.

Lastly one of the most important rules in web design is that your web site should be easy to read. Web Design is not about decoration - it’s about how the web works.

Stephen Morgan writes about a number of design based issues such as
Custom Graphic Design, Web and Database Design & Marketing, Currently advising freelance with CV360,
a West Coast Marketing Firm

When it comes to getting a website for your business, it is essential that you understand your MWO before you even make a start.

MWO = Most Wanted Outcome.

For most sensible business owners that should be: To make money for my business. Oodles of money.

NOTE: This will definitely vary from business to business but failing to establish this first, is like going on a long journey with no destination in mind. A foolish thing to do in any business.

Sadly, the average Aussie business owner often fails to do this and ends up with a website that is really nothing more than an expensive glorified brochure.

So BEFORE you start…

What do you want your website to do for you?

• Generate more leads?
• Build an opt-in database for email marketing?
• Train existing clients?
• Serve as an automated follow-up system?
• Have a membership section?
• Act as an online forum to create a sense of community online and establish your business as leaders in your industry?

Ever wondered why there are so many Aussie websites might look great , but are dismal failures when it comes to actually making sales…

Could it be that…

Too many webmasters simply fail ask the right questions! (Makes you wonder if they know the answers?)

Such as:

• How do you want to get traffic to your site? (They should give you at least 20 options here) PLUS they should show you how they work in their own business.
• What is your business marketing plan and where does a website fit into it?
• Do you need audio on the site?
• Podcasts?
• Do you need a ’squeeze’ page? (If they do not ask you that - dont walk - RUN! until you find a webmaster who does!)
• Links pages?
• Articles?
• How about streaming video?
• What are your goals for the site?
• Do you need a blog or a standard website?
• What do you need to know about hosting? SEO?

And my favourite question…

Would you like us to create a website for your business with a step-by-step web marketing plan?

NOTE: Because most webmasters couldnt market themselves out of a paper bag if their very lives were hanging in the balance, perhaps that is why many of them don’t ask you that one too often!

But it isn’t all gloom and doom…

You really can have a business website that makes the sale.

Not just once or twice but over and over and over again! Like a demented popcorn machine on steroids, your website can generate targeted, ready-to-buy leads 365 days a year!

But you need to get a web designer that can offer you more than just a fancy brochure.

Finally, an industry secret that can give you a fiendishly clever advantage over your toughest competitors…

Add a contact form to your site that does the job of sorting out the just browsing from the serious and ready-to-buy prospects.

Over the years, using a simple form like this has been responsible for literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra sales!

Getting a website can be like doing handstands on a tightrope - you might want to print this article out and use it as a simple checklist…

Chris Bloor Creates Affordable Business Websites for Australian Business Owners. Read more about Chris at http://ChrisBloor.com and http://www.AustralianBusinessWebsites.com