When a small business owner is looking at getting a new website built. It can be a long frustrating process that many times ends with the small business owner not getting the production from the website that he or she was looking for. This is because many times a small business owner is so busy running their business and simply does not have the time to learn about what it is that makes a website successful. Combine this with the mistake many small business owners make by hiring the cheapest web design company they can find and you all of the sudden have a recipe for disaster. Our professional team of Phoenix web designers have developed a list so that you understand exactly what it is that you should be looking for in your new website. This will at the very least give you the knowledge to know what to explain to your web design company. We would suggest working with a professional Phoenix web design company that will give you suggestions and tips on how to make your website even more successful but if they aren't in your budget then it is good know what to ask for. Let's take a look at what all successful websites should have on them.
- Consistent Look and Feel – A website should have a consitent look and feel no matter what page you go to on the website. We have seen it far to often where every page on a website looks like it belongs to an entirely different website all together. This generally happens because you have a different person in charge of every page on your website. If you do go with a content management system then I would suggest only having one maybe two people updating your website.
- Pages Should Be Neatly Organized – When people are going through your website you want the navigation and the pages to be organized in a manner that makes sense to the website visitor. For example you wouldn't want to go to a website looking to purchase a product and click on Products just to discover that the product you were looking for was listed under the about page. I know this is an extreme example and likely not to be the case but I am telling you many websites have these type of critical organization skills on them.
- Give Your Audience and Interface That is Easy To Navigate – Many web design companies attempt to design and develop this out of this world website that only they can understand. Yes, it may look great but if a visitor your website stuggles with the user friendliness of it then you are likely to get the same result as if your website was terrible. Nobody is going to stay around and attempt to learn how to use your website. They will move on, and it will likely to be to one of your competitors.
- Present Your Business as Professional and Trustworthy – In order to convince people to purchase a product on your website that they can't see or touch and to trust your website enough to give you sensative payment information this step is a must. If your website looks anything less that professional and trustworthy then you can forget about any customers making a purchase through your website. You have a real opportunity to grow your business with your new website so don't mess it up by creating a less that professional website.
- Friendly to Both Search Engines and People – One of the biggest mistakes when a small business owner makes when they begin a search engine optimization campaign is that they begin to get obsessed in the wrong thing. They only look at their rankings on the search engines and begin to ignore the most important thing, CUSTOMERS!! A successful web marketing campaign isn't based upon your rankings on the search engine it is based upon your return on investment. That is why it is very important that you right your content to sell your visitors first and worry about SEO second.
These are 4 fundamentals of a well designed web design that you should consider when getting a new website developed. Don't go the cheap route just because your trying to cut down on expenses. If you look at a website as a business expense and not an investment that is exactly what it is going to be, just an expense. You have a great opportunity to take your business to new heights so you should put the time and money into your website that you would put into any other investment.