 Watch Out For The Cheap
Business Web Design Promises
Cheap cookie cutter websites for $300 are all over the Internet suckering business people left and right because they don't know any better. The real sad thing is that you are getting what you are paying for. You get a website that doesn't represent your company at all, but rather a website that has hundreds of other companies using the same template. A business website design package that is nothing unique nor anything you can be proud of that says you have arrived at MY company.
Some company web design offerings claim their inexpensive website builders will give a professional business website design within a few minutes. Nothing worthwhile pertaining to web designs takes a few a minutes, especially a fully professional business web design. I have often wondered why business entrepreneurs would spend a few thousand for their store front business sign that is seen only by those in the area of his business and then look to spend $49.95 to build their virtual store front. Do they not realize that the business web design is representing their company's complete product and service presentation? Having a professional business website design is the same as if the business entrepreneur would meet a potential customer in person and tell that person about his products and services in a few minutes. It has to quickly tell the website visitor who you are and what you offer in a few seconds and be enticing enough to have them look deeper into the website to find out more.
Now, don't get me wrong. I am not advocating that a business website design need cost you $10,000. What I am saying is that a good, inviting professional business web design is not going to cost you $49.95 or $500.
You must realize that in each good company web design includes:
- Industry research to find what your competitors are doing. You want to come out the gate making a great impact, not just following the pack. Your company must stand out
- Creating stylesheets to keep your website consistent throughout the website
- Navigation to make it as easy and comfortable for users to find what they are looking for quickly and efficiently
- Graphics planning, preparation and personalization
- Layout planning to get the most visually in a few seconds to be informative and inviting
- Keyword research for your business category for search engine spidering
- Content planning for optimal search engine effectiveness and visitor informational needs
- Website form field validation and anti-spamming mechanisms
- Database interface coding and/or email encoding
- Ecommerce Planning
- Product listing presentation layout
- Product detail layout
- Shopping cart customization
- Order processing
- Customer account access and maintenance
So, you can see that a business web designer puts a ton more work than just putting up pretty pictures on a web page. Especially if you truly want a professional custom business web design that fits your company rather than having your company fit a cookie cutter web design.
Take a word of warning, if you find a business web designer and they only offer 5 or 6 website designs in their portfolio, that is probably as far as their business web design capabilities can take them. Also, just because a company is a "Graphic Design" firm, that is no indication that they know anything about business web designing. Designing a website is a far cry from designing a catalog or brochure.
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