Web design solutions for small business » Small Businesses

Website Design for Small Businesses

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:00:07 +0000

It is natural everyone wants to be the best company out there, from name cards to web sites. However, most small business owners forget to ask themselves what is the main purpose of the website in the first place. Do you want to create an impressive web site that wows your visitors or a simple site that converts them? To me, I work on the latter. Majority of the small businesses do not have the budget to create a top-notch design web site in the first place, so why not concentrate on the conversions to increase sales?

There must be one page in your site that clearly describes what problems you are solving. Do not get too carried away telling people about the features of your products and the guarantees up front. You have to convince your visitors that your product / services will solve their problems before asking them to take actions.

Businesses do not have to do transactions with anyone who does not reveal who they are. We are doing businesses, and most importantly, you need to build up the trust factor in your web site so that your visitors or prospects are comfortable with you before they send you the check.

Having your logo upfront will certainly help your visitors to be aware of where are they now and lower their defense while surfing around your site (assuming that you have your logo displayed in every page).

It doesn’t matter when you are big; everything you do is for branding. However, failing to comply with this factor is a life and death situation. For small businesses, results are the most important when it comes to selling your products and services to your customers (to-be). Never say without showing. Small business can get their website designed from a company that offers cheap and good quality web design in Delhi.

All web sites out there say that they are the best. Instead, show what you have done. Some examples can be your portfolio, or even testimonials from your customers. Regardless of what web design layout you chose for your site eventually, you need to address the above points in order to maximize your web site.

Is Small Business Web Design Different to Larger Companies?

admin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 07:35:33 +0000

If you’re ready to develop your own website and online presence, of course you are thinking about getting your own specific needs met. After all, there is an infinite array of options for a website, and you want to end up with an online presence that’s a great representation of your company, what you do and indeed your entire brand. Knowing this, is web design different for small businesses and larger companies?

The answer is a resounding yes, web design is different for small businesses and larger companies. Companies of different sizes are going to have very different needs when it comes to their web design.

A small business may have a website with only a handful of pages, providing basic information and encouraging visitors to call for more information. A large business may have hundreds of pages on their website, and they may have a design that allows for secure online transactions. Of course these are just two potential end results, but the point is that the size and type of company that you run has a major bearing on how your online presence should end up appearing.

You also have to remember that your online presence isn’t that different from any other aspect of your total advertising and marketing plan. Would a small business take on the same media campaign as a large company? Would they advertise in the same ways, promote themselves as being similar or spend the same amount of money to reach a goal? The answer to all of these questions is no, and so it holds that with web design, small companies and larger companies have very different needs and desires, and will go about satisfying them in different ways.

Knowing all of this, when you’re ready to get on board with a web design agency, you want to find a company to work with that has experience working with companies that are like yours. That means companies of the same size and companies that fall into similar industries. Web designers with experience dealing with similar companies will be more familiar with your needs already, and will be more likely to produce an excellent end product.

The web design that you end up choosing will in many ways reflect your business and your status. After all, your website isn’t a standalone project, it’s a piece of your brand, and with the ever-growing importance of the Internet, it’s a large piece of your brand. Therefore you need to be consistent with your approach between offline and online representation and you need to find a web design that meshes with your image.

Without a doubt, there are major differences between small business web design and large company web design. It’s much more than the number of pages you have on your site, it’s the types of online services you provide, the style or image you project with your online presence and more. Find a web designer that works with companies of the same size as yours and you will be more likely to achieve success.

Web Design For Small Business

admin — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:20:43 +0000

Its just a plain fact that any business in this day and age can benefit from keeping and maintaining a web presence. However; for the small business owner, the whole concept in its entirety can be a bit overwhelming at times. Operating capital may be short and besides for the small business owner, there is always local advertising options that do deliver results.

Web Design For Small Businesses That Want To Appear Larger

Even so, web design for the small business is still important for several reasons. To start with, a small business can showcase far more of what they have to offer with a website and once the initial expenses are paid and the website is up, its cheap long term advertising. Also its a cinch to make your small business look much bigger than it actually is in a website.

When Local People Go Looking, Where The Heck are You!

Did you know that its possible now to find out the exact number of people in your area who are searching online each day for whatever type of goods or services that you’re offering? By incorporating proper keyword search engine optimization techniques, you can make it to where your site pops up every time these certain words are typed in. Believe it! Right now someone else’s site is taking all of this local business.

Keep It Simple and Affordable In the Beginning

When it comes to web design for small business, the key to keeping initial design costs down is to keep it simple. Remember that in the beginning your site, being that it is new, won’t be getting the amount of hits that it will further down the road in the future. So forget about video streamers and all the user interactive stuff. You can add all that later after you’re no longer a small business ands your getting more hits.

Use the Necessary Keywords In Your Websites Text

Besides photos, videos and user interactive features don’t figure in one “ioda” when it comes to search engine optimization, which is the process by which you get bumped to the front of the line when people are looking for your products or services online. Your printed text or “content” is key. Read up and learn how to manipulate the text in your site so that it will give you maximum results in the search engines.

If Your Site Is Flawed Then Of Course You are Also Flawed

Lastly what ever you do, don’t try to save money by handing your web design project to some local kid or worse yet don’t try to do it yourself. Bottom line: If your site looks amateurish or flawed in any way, people who go to it are going to think that you and your business are flawed and amateur. The truth is that that a professionally designed “rock bottom basic” site is far more affordable that you might think and a basic site that looks professional will serve you far better in the long run.

Website Design for Small Businesses

admin — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:49:48 +0000

Website Design for Small Businesses

Designing for any online business is a vital and serious issue as it says a lot about the business, its owners and product or services. It is the thing which keeps a customer on a website and its easiness compels and convinces him to buy a product. So it’s important to have a professional look.

No doubt launching a website for small business is a hilly task. To achieve it you better do some research on your needs; the site purpose, the target audience and finally look for skilled website designers, developers and graphic designers or a designing company. There are many different website design companies, offering different facilities. However for gaining an effective internet presence what should be the look of site of small businesses? This article will guide you in understanding the structure for your site specific design. Keep this article as a reference point. When you go through the process of development then check out each part to have an effective web site for your products and services in accordance with your target audience.

Choosing web designer- Don’t go by the cheap web design. This will certainly diminish your professional image among potential customers other than financial losses. To have a professional web design, don’t compare web designers by their price; always look at your requirements regarding the type of service, internet marketing and updates you needs w.r.t. growth.

Domain Name

Choose simple, short and relevant domain name for your site. Don’t get settle down on anything to get your web space as every word on your web site has relevancy in its success. Being a serious online venture you should register it for at least two years. You can get your own domain name by paying as little as $ 17-18 for 2 year registration with ICANN approved sites such as Register . You can find out if the name you want is still available by using the free search tool on the sites.

Web Hosting

Web hosting can be obtained free of cost from content portal sites such as Yahoo! Geocities . Such sites invite users to establish Web sites on their domain in order to create a critical mass of core content on their online property. The user does not have to pay for service because it is subsidized by banner advertising. As they do not charge, they offer limited service depth and relative quality. They do not even provide customized hosting services where domain names are personalized.

So, avoid getting lured by the free hosting providers as nothing is really free. It mostly retards the downloading speed of web pages. Even avoid messing around with small time web hosting. Affiliate yourself with a reputable company that provides top-notch service and have the resources to provide fast and reliable servers.

Text Content

Content of the site deserves utmost attention as it’s the words that people read, it’s the words that call people to action, and it’s the words that sell. The rest also helps, but a site with poor content is an as bad as a site without any words.

Keywords

Order to end up high on search engine use the relevant keywords and place them accordingly on a web page. The number of times each word appears on a web page is the factors that determine how high you end up in search results.

Regarding resolution

Sure that your pages should work at any resolution, from 800×600 to 1280×1024 and beyond. Currently the most widely used screen size is 1024 x 768. Of course, the general guideline is to optimize for your target audience’s most common resolution, so the size will change in the future. You shall see the statistics for the month of January for the last 2 years provided by w3schools seem to reflect the general trend we are seeing on the Web.

Year Higher 1024 x 768 800 x 600 640x 480 Unknown

2007(January) 26% 54% 14% 0% 6%

2006(January) 17% 57% 20% 0% 6%

It’s always safer to keep your web site at less than 750 pixels wide as you don’t want to alienate your visitors by having them scroll to see the whole page. Make sure that that your web pages show up the same in all web browsers.

HTML Tags

You will have to make sure that your title, description, and keyword meta tags are bang on with the text on each web page you build. The linking structure of your website should have to be good as it’s easy for the visitors as well the search robots to understand the details. All of your optimized pages must be linked from the home page itself.

Graphics

It’s good to place web graphics in context with the information being presented. If you have product descriptions on your web site, then you should have the related graphic depiction next to them. Avoid using graphic that has no any relation with your text. Overusing graphics will only make the site look amateur. Make sure if you use web graphics as links that they work at all times. There is nothing worse than clicking on a graphic that does not work.

Conclusion

Basic tips for small business website are just the tip of the iceberg. You should also have to provide correct contact information plus regular updating w.r.t. your products; which I already explain in detail in my earlier articles. Web design can make or break your business. So always remember to create a site that is appealing and easy to navigate.

Your website should be like an investment and for that you are certainly going to receive a return.

About the Author

Alex Roderick

The Author is the owner of a web site design Company, and providing Web Design and Development Solutions to clients across USA and UK for affordable and sensible prices.

Website Designs for Small Businesses

admin — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:16:15 +0000

Whether you own a service business or a retail venture, your web site is the strongest tool in your marketing arsenal. A well-conceived, well-executed web site by a reliable web development firm can help you in strengthening relationship with customers, boost your branding efforts and encourage sales. Regrettably, many small businesses fall victim to some common web site woes, such as pages that do not load properly, inappropriately written text, shopping carts that malfunction etc.

These mistakes can easily hit the trust of visitors as they will avoid doing business with any such site that is not made properly. To create a full-proof site, keep in mind the following details:

• Well organised layout

You will be surprised to know that more than 45% of small biz websites fail to prominently display obvious info, such as phone number, email address, office location and working hours. Why would people like to visit your site if they have to hunt for a separate “Contact us” page?

Solution: Display your phone number clearly across your site. People will like to call and enquire if you make it easy for them to have your number. Having a process in place to follow-up all inquiries that come through your website can prove to be extremely helpful.

• Pages that load quickly

Cluttered and slow-loading pages will give users headaches. People are not much interested in multiple fonts, animation, large images or You Tube videos. They want a site that gives them complete information and loads instantly.

• Appealing colour combination scheme

Different colors have different implications, and different effects on customers’ buying habits. The colors you choose should always reinforce your brand. If your logo, letterhead and business cards feature red and green, use red and green on your site. You can also ask the web developer to research colour schemes being used by your competitors and by other sites featuring products similar to yours.

• Easy navigation

Sites are not made for customers to get lost while looking for the product they are interested in. If visitors can’t find what they want quickly, they’ll click to another site that’s easier to navigate.

Considering a variety of navigation structures and menu styles in advance can help. You can also keep your most important pages only one click away from your home page when possible.

• Keyword specific text

Text can make or break a website. If the content is either not keyword specific or not written in a persuasive way it will fail to attract both- search engines and potential customers.

• Simple yet powerful ordering process

The payment process should be simple to use. Anticipate the questions that people might have and add a FAQ page to your site. Give visitors a feeling that their credit card details are safe and sound as you are using a trusted gateway partner.

These specific strategies are the minimal points that you should keep in mind while getting your website designed. The expectations of consumers have changed and they want to see applications of new technology. Brochure-styled sites are a thing of past now. You need to have a site which is interactive enough to grab the attention of those who browse through it. Only good designers can successfully shape ideas in a fruitful way to create sites that are ‘sticky’, engages people and encourages them to return.

Web Hosting for Small Businesses

admin — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:30:43 +0000

There are a number of web hosting for small businesses. This type of plan will depend on the type of site you have. You may need a small business web hosting option that includes e-commerce. You may require something that will keep track of your customer list. Your site may be simple and only include company and product information. Whatever your situation, there is a small business web hosting plan out there that is right for you. To find a small business web-hosting plan that is right for your company, you’ll first need to decide exactly what your site will be used for. Do you want it to be very helpful and content driven? Do you want to sell your product items online? Do you want to maintain a database? Do you just need a web hosting plan that will accommodate an only designed website? If your site is already designed and ready to go live, it will be fairly simple finding a web-hosting plan that will lodge your small business. All you’ll need to do is collect a list of companies that offer small business web hosting plans and then see if they accommodate the features that you need.

You’ll need to research carefully, because web-hosting companies do not always disclose the finer details on their main pages. The better way to find a reputable web hosting company is to find current customers and ask them some questions. In order to truly understand how their customer service and consistency measure up, you’ll need to get past their website and see what other people have to say. For example, if you select a company based solely on its price, you could be losing money in the long run if the server is constantly down. By renting servers and memory allocation, the small business saves on time and resources. It also frees the small business from the trouble of dealing with maintenance protocols and securing the network.

If you are interested in acquiring the services of a web-hosting agency, ask for quotations, the products and a list of services that go along with them. Compare offers and always choose one that gives extensive after-sales support, as free technical support really benefits small businesses. Most Web hosting solutions providers feature are highly reliable, high performance platforms. The web host’s mainframes are usually located in areas least visited by tornadoes, earthquakes, and other calamities to decrease the risk of system failure. Servers and Mainframes are, of course, automatically backed up by emergency power supply. Web hosts also provide junk mail filtering, standard virus protection, and most importantly, a domain name for your Web site.

Web Design and Hosting Mistakes

admin — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:39:33 +0000

Small businesses new to the Internet often tend to make the same mistakes when trying to establish their online presence. CODANK Charlotte Web Design suggests that you conduct thorough research before embarking on any web site design or hosting projects for your company in order to avoid these common mistakes.

Below are a few web design and hosting mistakes that are common:

Placing too many pictures and animations on your website

Try to refrain from cluttering your company’s website with too many images and pictures. Search engine crawlers are not able to collect enough information to index your web site if you do not have text. Do not get wrapped up in having a nice looking site and forget about the content.

Ignoring bandwidth restrictions

Do not place large files, documents, or photos for visitors to view because it will make it difficult to navigate around the web site. Pictures take up more bandwidth than text does.

Not focusing on Search Engine Optimization

The most seen mistake is when a company builds a web site that ignores search engine needs. Be sure to hire a SEO professional who is qualified to help you take advantage of this great marketing tool.

Lack of a business plan

Construct a definite business plan and stick with it from beginning to end. Even if your progress starts off slowly, do not abandon the plan. Each element will help your company in the long run.

Be sure to define your target market and invest in advertising that will properly grab their attention.

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Critical to Small Business’ Success in Quality Website Design!

admin — Wed, 21 May 2008 06:38:19 +0000

With careful considerations, usually financial, superior quality website design is mostly out of reach for small business organizations. Leading web design services normally demand a higher budgetary requirement. However, with more companies bidding for web designs, as well as technology made affordable, small business can now have top quality business website design that is not only priced reasonably, but allows them to attain their goals as well.

Realizing the importance of a good website design to generate traffic to small business to empower them to grow, some providers are offering their web design services for this purpose. For more details visit www.html-branders.com As a matter of fact, even an internet giant like Yahoo has started to offer this type of services to small business.

Why is quality website design essential for small business?

A quality website design is essential for small businesses to make its mark in the World Wide Web that is transforming to become the hub for ecommerce. A growing number of companies are establishing their virtual fronts on the World Wide Web through their respective internet sites. So for them to survive, companies should have the capability to break new grounds and be as creative as feasible. This is especially applicable to small businesses where it is improbable for them to squarely compete with bigger corporations in terms of resources.

What is nice about quality website design is that it doesn’t have to be as costly to develop a successful web design. A great web design can spell success and realize millions for a small business.

A good quality website design for small business can also build its identity and set it differently from other small businesses. In a small business setting where every element is equal, making your business standout with its own identity is essential. A good website design will ensure that you are only one of its kind. You can log on www.video-web-wizards.com It has the ability to persuade web site visitors to deal with you first and foremost.

Success in web design for small business can happen with the following:

• The design should effectively convey the message of the company to its target audience

• A good web design should be able to stir general as well as specific interests of internet surfers

• The web design should be able to generate traffic and consequently increase sales for the company.

• The design shall enable faster results for the company

• A good design will allow for better use of available tools

• It should also allow any organization take advantage of the benefits of technology

A lot of business companies are getting a grip of the importance and urgency of establishing a quality website design. In the world of the internet, a high quality web design is a potent tool to stay alive in an intense and ever-changing field of competition. Small business wants to be found. They need to be known. They need to legitimize their foothold on the virtual ground. They need to create their own mark in the World Wide Web. Success is their only way. A quality website design can bring them there.

Web Design for Small Businesses

admin — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:32:40 +0000

Internet marketing has evolved into one of the most powerful and most-used business tools for companies ever since “Google” became a synonym for “search”. The internet has proved to be a weapon of the best and worst kind for businesses. It offers the opportunity to expand a company’s client base from just its immediate geographical vicinty to networking connections and prospects worldwide. It’s nearly impossible to fathom that any business still not online will remain so much longer… because their competition is already there and is profiting in ways the brick-and-mortar-bound business cannot.

Creation and promotion of even a basic website can increase profitability and visibility, and with the proper invesment of creativity and money, can continue continued growth into the future. But the creation of any just any sort of website isn’t enough. In order generate interest and create return visitors leading to business transactions, it’s important to make sure your site is professional, easily navigable, and markets your product in a compelling way.

Professionalism is achieved through detailed descriptions of products and services, having multiple contact options for customer service and support (both online and offline), even making certain that things such as spelling and grammatical errors are nowhere to be found on the site. While that seems obvious, it’s interesting to note that over 60% of websites contain significant spelling and grammatical errors. This is understandable on certain kinds of sites…but, for a business…this kind of issue can affect your credibility. A plethora of software tools are available for the sole purpose of making sure such mistakes don’t find their way onto your website—so utilize them.

Making sure your site is easily navigable is another critical issue. If your potential customers are having trouble locating the product or service that they need, chances are they’re not going to waste more than a minute on your site… after all, in most cases, there are tons of other sites offering the same thing. Utilize the basics of site organization with tabs, a search bar, and properly organized information, pictures, links, etc. Nothing is more frustrating for a customer than disorganization.

Finally product placement and marketing on the website is key. There are web designers, graphic designers and flash technicians who can take a simple website from decent to great. If a visitor is finds it a pleasant experience to visit your website, they’ll stay longer… which increases the chances that they will purchase your product or service. A boring website reflects on the company and the product, and in the fast-evolving internet market a business has about 5 seconds to grab the interest of a potential customer, or lose them to the lure of another, more compelling site.

5 Questions You Must Ask When Selecting a Web Design Company

admin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 06:33:16 +0000

For small businesses, having a quality website can make all the difference between success and failure, but finding the ideal web design company can be a daunting task. There are numerous professional web design firms and freelance web designers all around the world so HOW do you go about selecting the right one to design your company’s website? Once you’ve planned what you want your site to achieve, you can start searching for the company that will bring your plan to life. You want to hire the best company for the job, so just as you would interview prospective candidates for a job vacancy, you need to ask web designers some important questions to ascertain whether they are suitable to undertake your project. I have put together a list of the 5 questions you must ask when selecting a web design company to help you through the selection process.

1. “Can you build the type of website I want?” This is one of the most important questions to ask. You can generally get a reasonable idea of the answer to this question by checking the web designer’s portfolio. If you can see examples of sites they have created for other companies in the same line of business as you and those sites look similar to what you have in mind, then the answer is more than likely going to be yes.

2. “What online marketing solutions do you use and do you have case studies/testimonials to prove that your techniques are successful?” Once you’ve established that a web design company can build a site to match your precise requirements, you need to consider how they will market your site. Particularly in the case of small businesses and companies just starting up, a well designed website is as good as worthless if potential customers can’t find it. Optimizing text to make it search engine friendly, designing e-mail marketing campaigns, managing pay-per-click campaigns and offering advice on affiliate marketing programs are all examples of the ways a professional web design firm can help you with Internet marketing.

3. “Does your company provide additional services such as web hosting or graphic design?” Small business owners often like to have all of their web related matters dealt with by one Web Design Company. Not only does this make the whole process easier to keep abreast with, but it can also work out cheaper if you have an ‘all inclusive’ package of services.

4. “How will you maintain my site once it is launched?” You need to know that your site will be managed properly after it has been launched. Bear in mind things such as the need to update content regularly, make modifications to the site’s layout and the possible expansion of your website once your business gets recognized. If your website has a content management system then you can update/add content yourself but changing the layout or enlarging your site is a job for the professionals.

5. “How long will it take to complete my site and how much will it cost me?” If you’ve received similar answers to the above questions from the designers you’ve talked to, this final question will probably determine which web design firm gets your business. A fixed price quotation is generally going to be a better bet than one based on hourly rates. If the web design firm is going to offer additional services such as Internet marketing and web hosting you may be able to negotiate a yearly fixed price contract.