Choosing a web design firm is a crucial decision, as a well designed website can bring you more business and a bad one can drive business away. Doing a quick online search (or looking through the yellow pages) will reveal a whole slew of design firms to pick from in just your area alone, so how do you go about selecting the right one?

The first step is to educate yourself. I am going to let you in on a little secret that you may not know about the web design business – there are several  types of designers and each one specializes in a particular aspect of web design. Here is what you need to know:

The Website Designer - this person creates the look of the website. They define how the pages will be laid out, where the text will go, what colours will be used, how the pages will be linked together, etc. They take your vision for the website and visualize it on paper.

The Website Developer - this person is responsible for all the technical aspects of the website. This includes writing all the code to make the website come to life (ie making images move), getting and formatting the content from the content management system, and implementing the website designer’s designs.

The Graphic Designer – this person is responsible for creating the graphics needed for the website. They often work hand in hand with the Website Designer to help select the colours and fonts that should be used on the site.

If you are extremely fortunate, you can find a single individual that  is highly skilled in all of these areas but normally this isn’t the case. Someone who excels at visual design is often poor at implementing the technical components. Likewise someone who is good at implementing the technical aspects is usually poor at designing the visual aspects of the site. This is because the creative process involves using the right side of the brain while performing logical and technical tasks requires the use of the left side of the brain. So, most people are either right or left brain dominant (just like most people are either left or right handed). Hence if the majority of web designers fall into only one these two categories, then you will want to find a web design firm that has a qualified team of individuals behind it.

Finding a web design firm that utilizes a multi-disciplinary team makes it more likely that you will get the website that you want. This of course means that it will cost more to have your website developed as more individuals are working on it but it also means that it will get done faster as well. The key thing to remember is that you always get what you pay for.

In Part II of this article we will look at the key characteristics and qualifications you should look for in your designer. In Part III, I will demonstrate some tricks you can use to actually verify if the web designer you have chosen is actually any good.

If you have any horror stories or questions about the website development process, then please share them in the comments below.

2) What is the structure of the site and how many pages it will contain? Even if you are willing to delegate most website decisions to some one else, there is no getting away from some of the basics, such as the size of the website and how it’s pieced together. These decisions determine how much the website will cost, and how functional it will be. Consider both the information that your visitors will need from you, and the messages that you want to convey to them. Your developer can help you piece this puzzle together and offer helpful suggestions. Ultimately, the message here is that the structure and size must be absolutely clear before proceeding with the site development.

3) Who will prepare the content? After you have decided on the number of pages and where they go, you will need to start preparing the content. Content includes the text, graphics, video, links and anything else that will go into each page of the website. If it is a new website, content will need to be prepared from scratch. Writing text, shooting and selecting high quality photos or purchasing stock photos, and video production are all tasks that need to be completed in addition to the website itself. Many business owners plan to develop their own content but underestimate the time required to do so. If the content is not ready when the developer has completed the design and the programming, the website launch will be delayed.  Those who are  redesigning an existing website, can recycle all or some of the content from the old one, and make changes later.  Figure out how much of the content you can do yourself  (if that is your plan), and ask your web developer what resources they have at hand to complete the rest for you. Copywriters, photographers, and video producers will all come at an additional cost, but well worth considering if you want a highly polished site.

4) How should the website look and feel? You should think of your website as your virtual home on the internet. Just as you would hire an architect to design a custom built house that is tailored to your specific needs and desires, your web developer is accomplishing the same task with your website. Inexpensive, template-based websites are available  but they will look like every other website on the internet. A web developer can design a website that  is unique and tailored to your needs.  Part of that tailoring is defining the look and feel of your website so that it makes a good first impression with your visitors. If you already have a ‘look’ reflected in your logo, brochures, storefront and so on, these can form the basis for your website and should all be shared with the person designing the website to determine colours and other design elements. Non-tangibles should be shared as well, for instance, do you want the website to feel whimsical, soothing, or edgy? It often helps to look at and critique 5 or 6 other websites for businesses like yours and share these impressions with your web developer. Communicate features that you like and don’t like about the websites. This will help the designer to get a better sense of the style and image that you prefer.

5) Be open minded and flexible. Remember that this is a two-way process between you and your web developer. Sometimes problems are encountered that may require giving up some of the features that you would have liked in your website. This can happen for any number of reasons, but they usually involve time, budget or technical constraints. Hopefully these issues would have been identified and addressed when the project was initially being scoped, but occasionally unforeseen circumstances do arise. If they do, then this is when being open minded and flexible becomes important – for both you and your web developer. Chances are that your web developer has already encountered this issue before and has a possible solution for them,  however it may not be the ideal solution. Consider the circumstances and the proposed solution and see if it is workable. Likewise your web developer should be equally open minded and flexible to consider any solutions you may have. Between the two of you you should be able to come up with a remedy that allows the project to move forward.

Following these five tips will go along way to ensure that you have a productive relationship with your web developer. Building or redesigning a website doesn’t need to be a chore, it can be an exciting, creative and enjoyable experience if you are prepared for it.

If you found these tips helpful or have other tips to offer then please share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

On the surface it looks easy enough. Write some text, include a few pictures, throw in some HTML and CSS to pull it all together, or using free templates available on the internet you can just insert your text, and voila, you have a website. How hard can that be?

Let’s begin by looking at some of the benefits of building your own website:

1. Learning Something New: If you tackle a project that you have never done before, it becomes an educational experience. In order to do something yourself, you need to do research and educate yourself so that you know what the best practices are, what software you’ll need,  and the steps involved to complete the task. If you have the time and the interest you can take courses, read books on the subject, perhaps browse a few websites for additional information, and maybe interrogate a friend or two for some advice. Upon mastering HTML, CSS, Javascript and possibly Flash, as well as learning how to use graphics software such as Photoshop or InDesign, you will have learned to appreciate just how much work it really is.
2. Flexibility: If you have acquired all the skills you need to build a website then you can make it exactly the way you want, and change the look of it whenever you want without any additional cost.
3. Save Money: This is usually the number one motivator as this is the only quantifiable benefit that demonstrates you have accomplished (whereas the previously mentioned benefits are purely non-tangible reasons for doing it). If you successfully accomplish the task to your satisfaction, depending on the complexity of the website, you could end up saving yourself thousands of dollars.
4. Sense of Accomplishment: You know the feeling you get when accomplishing something new – that sense of exhilaration, pride and well-being.  Well, creating an effective and attractive website on your own can be a lot like that. If you can enjoy the process as much as the final product, then that makes the sense of accomplishment all that much sweeter.

These are all great reasons for building your own website,  but now let’s look at some of the reasons why you wouldn’t want to build your website yourself:

1. It’s Time Consuming: Gaining the knowledge and learning the skills required to build a proper, standards-compliant website can take a significant amount of time. The question you need to ask yourself is, would that time be better spent focusing my attention on making money through my business instead? In a previous article we estimated that a basic but attractive website with a lifespan of 5 years would cost $89 or less per month. Time spent on your business, rather than the website, will surely yield more than this relatively modest cost.
2. It May Look Unprofessional: This is a common result with many do-it-yourself projects. The task begins with a grand vision and the best of intentions but the finished product looks nothing like what you imagined it would. You may find that your website looks disorganized, there is no consistency among the various pages, photos and text don’t line up, and everything looks completely jumbled on different web browsers. Essentially, it lacks the polish and professionalism that you would like. Appearance does matter, and studies have shown that visitors are more likely to return to a clean and attractive site then they are to an unappealing one.
3. It Looks Like Hundreds of Other Websites: Free templates, such as the ones that are used for weblogs can be very attractive. But you can be sure that countless other individuals and organizations will be using that template as well. If you are marketing a business through your website you will want it to be unique. What if every radio or TV commercial used the same actor, script and staging and all they did was insert a different company name into their dialogue? People would ignore the commercials completely! An effective website reflects the uniqueness of your business and is designed to appeal to your target client.
4. It Doesn’t Work Properly: This is a common problem when creating your own website. Just like any professional, whether they are an electrician, accountant, or auto mechanic there are bits of wisdom that they have acquired through experience. Even the best web designers can become temporarily stumped by a tricky bit of code, but they have the professional network and skills to find a solution for it. This type of knowledge is not readily evident when you attempt something as a novice, but the problems it can cause will definitely manifest itself after the fact. This usually results in a lot of hair-pulling and frustration in an attempt to resolve the problem, with some people ultimately calling in an experienced professional to fix it.

These are but a few of the pros and cons of building your own website. The choice to build your own website is ultimately up to you but do yourself a favour and seriously weigh the pros and cons before you start. Whatever you decide, make sure it is the right decision for you.

Have you built your own website? What were your experiences like? Please leave a comment below.

Brochure Websites

Description: These are one-page static websites that have the same information that a brochure would. It may include some photos, a brief description of the products or service offered, contact and location information and hours of operation.

Objective: The purpose of a brochure website is to provide an succinct description of your business to potential clients or customers. You can think of it as a Yellow Page ad for the Internet but not nearly as boring. Just because it is a single web page, does not mean that it can’t be creative and compelling – you just need to be imaginative.

Selling/Marketing Impact: Low.

Maintenance: No maintenance required unless something fundamental changes like the location or the products/services offered.

Cost: Low – Medium
The cost will largely depend on how fancy you want to make it.

Static Websites

Description: These types of websites present pre-defined, static information to the visitor. Unlike brochure websites, this site contains multiple pages for the visitor to view. Each web page is focused on one particular topic (company background, contact page, services page, etc.) to keep the pages clean and uncluttered. To add structure and logical consistency to the website, the pages are usually grouped into like categories and navigated using a menu system. You will often find multimedia incorporated into this kind of site (videos, music and photo galleries to name a few).

Objective: To provide your potential clients or customers with a detailed description of your business. You can think of it as a marketing pamphlet that provides the type of information to sway clients to purchase your products and services.

Selling/Marketing Impact: Low – Medium.

Maintenance: Relatively little maintenance is required as the information on the website changes infrequently.

Cost: Low- High
Why the wide variation in cost? This is because the cost will depend directly on how many pages you want created (and each page needs to be created by hand). If your site is going to contain a lot of pages, then you should really consider a content management-based site, it will  save you money and make managing the site easier.

Content Management-Based Websites

Description: Websites that use a content management system (or CMS)  in order to store and serve web pages. These are typically referred to as dynamic websites, as the contents of the website changes or customizes itself frequently either through automation or user contribution. In addition to the usual pages containing company information, description of services and hours of operation, it may also have pages listing products for sale, and social networking tools like blogs, discussion forums and wikis.

Objective: The primary purpose of this type of website is to provide your clients with information. Information about your products or service, advice on how to use your product or services better,  or articles to help your clients to become more informed consumers. The social networking tools, such as blogs, discussion forums and wikis, allow your customers to interact with you and amongst themselves. This helps build a sense of community around your business and leads to brand loyalty.

Selling/Marketing Impact: High.

Maintenance: To be truly effective, someone will need to dedicate some time each week to properly maintain the site. This will include writing articles, monitoring discussions, and responding to any questions or concerns. Content needs to be frequently updated to entice your visitors to return. You can’t let a site like this stagnate, or you will never receive the proper return on your investment.  The key message here is:  Stay involved!

Cost: Medium – High.
The cost here mainly involves setting up the content management system and what services you wish to provide. As always, the intricacy of the design will also influence the price.

E-commerce Websites

Description: E-commerce websites are the sites that nearly everyone is the most familiar with. These sites typically utilize a content management system in order make updating their products, services and prices easier. They also typically include a shopping cart so that customers can keep track of the items that they would like to purchase as well as payment options system in order to complete the sale. Product rating systems are usually a feature found on most e-commerce sites as they allow customers to rate their level of satisfaction with the purchased item.

Objective: To sell products and/or services online 24/7 in an easy to use and reliable manner that is convenient for your customers. Access markets that are outside your immediate area, possibly even international.

Selling/Marketing Impact: High.

Maintenance: This type of site will require a significant amount of maintenance in order to keep your product and pricing listings up to date (especially if you have a lot of items to sell). If you have weekly sale promotions, then this will add to the amount of time you will need to devote to the website. However, if successful, the increase in sales will increase profits and easily pay for the additional maintenance required.

Cost: High – Very High.
These sites tend to be very expensive to implement because of all the details that needs to be  addressed. These include, calculating taxes properly for different regions, incorporating delivery costs, linking to inventory systems, updating customer records, while ensuring everything is being done securely.

Summary

When choosing to create a website that is right for your business, you need to consider several factors, including the the type of business you are running, but also what your online goals are.  If money is tight and you are just starting your business, then a brochure website would be a good selection. If your business is already established but you don’t have the time to constantly maintain a website, then a static website would be appropriate. However if you want to expand your business and have resources to dedicate to your website (time and money), then a e-commerce or content management system based website will provide the best return on your investment.

Do you have any insights to share regarding running your own website? Please provide them by leaving a comment.

Search engines use a complex set of criteria to prioritize websites, but here are are four core components that will help your website work toward that top placing.

• Choose common words and phrases: identify keywords and phrases that best describe your subject of interest or line of business that the average person will use intuitively to find your website. One way to do this is to experiment with keywords yourself using different search engines and see what shows up, or getting information from web analytics to see what search terms are most popular.
• Choose special and specific words and phrases: While the most common words and phrases are necessary they also need to be combined with unique content that is specific to you. For example, this can be accomplished by including a brand name or niche product along with your generic keywords, or by including your geographic location (city, region, country). This will help your website to stand out from the thousands or millions of others.
• Use them all, and use them often: Use the keywords and phrases as frequently as possible throughout your website; in blog articles, in static pages, everywhere. There is an art to this, because the content needs to be written in a way that isn’t repetitive. Some will hire specialized web content writers who are good at achieving this.
• Put them in the right place: Placement of keywords and phrases within your website is also important. Search engines recognize titles and headings as high standing content, so search terms that show up in these locations will rank your website closer to the top of the list.

This is the last of three articles describing how to promote your website. With these tools your website visits should attract many more unique and returning visitors. Try them out and let us know how it goes and what you’ve learned!

Referral Sites

Referral sites are other websites that link to yours. Visitors browsing through one of these other sites may encounter the link and decide to follow it to your website. There are several ways to build up a good list of referral sites, and here are a few:

1. Many organizations and companies have a page dedicated to relevant links. Ask your colleagues to link to your website and you can likewise do the same for them.
2. Some businesses have an associates page. If this is the case, ask your clients to link to your page as well. Many are happy to offer this service to their favourite businesses.
3. Participate in blogging. Leave comments on other websites that include links to yours and people who read your comment and are interested in learning more about you can follow the link.
4. Add your information and web address to online databases such as LinkedIn, the local chamber of commerce, professional or trade associations, and so on. If you are already on these lists make sure your site is included with the existing information.
5. Provide the link on your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

It is always a good idea to double check and make sure the links on these sites are working correctly, otherwise you may be missing out on a significant number of visits. Having effective referral sites can also help promote your site through search engines…but we’ll leave that for the next blog!

What are your experiences with using referral sites to promote your website? How do they compare with other strategies?

Direct Traffic

Visits to your website that are from direct traffic means that the visitor either typed in your exact web address, had it in their bookmarks, or clicked on a link sent to them by email. Direct traffic means the person wasn’t casually browsing the web and stumbled upon your site amongst many others; they wanted to seek you out specifically. If it’s easy for someone to find you directly, you will avoid the possibility of visitors trying to “Google” your site and getting completely distracted by other websites  (hey, we’ve all been on the internet and gone off on these tangents, right?).

Here are six ways to increase direct traffic to your site:

1. Let people know about it! If your website is new or you’ve added new content, use it as an excuse to announce it to friends, family, colleagues and associates through email.
2. Include the web address in all your paid promotional material. Business cards, brochures, newspaper ads,  yellow pages ad, you name it.
3. Ensure the website is mentioned in any PR opportunities such as newspaper articles, radio or TV interviews, and charity events.
4. If you have a storefront or office, display your web address in the window, in the waiting room or throughout the store.
5. Include a hyperlink to the website along with your email signature so that people can easily visit after exchanging emails with you.
6. If you have a blog page in your website, add “widgets” such as an RSS feed  or ‘email to a friend’, or both. RSS feeds allow visitors to subscribe for an automatic email that sends a link to your web page  every time you post a new blog article. Email to a friend is a convenient way for visitors to send the link to others who might be interested in the  content. There are many others as well (see some examples below on this blog). These widgets can be acquired for free off the internet and are very simple to add to your site.

Your website is an investment that has to work to your benefit and achieve your objectives, so we strongly encourage you to apply ALL of these strategies to increase direct traffic to your site.

Have you already discovered creative ways to increased direct traffic to your website? Please share your insights with us…we’d love to hear about it!

Content

Content is the information your are providing to visitors, in the form of text, images and media.   For most small businesses, basic content includes telling the visitor what you sell, where you are located, hours of operation and how to contact you.  Other useful information  includes the history of your company (emphasizing experience), the company’s philosophy or mission (communicates values that your visitors can relate to), and your employees (helps your visitors connect with staff). Providing this type of content is not only beneficial to potential clients, but it also serves to help recruit future employees by allowing them to learn about their future workplace.

Allowing two-way communication between you and your audience is also an important aspect as it builds a sense of community around your business and provides direct feedback to how well you are serving your customers. This can be achieved by including educational or promotional blog articles (like this one!) where you can highlight new products or your expertise. Blogs allow your visitors to see what’s new and gives them the opportunity to comment on what you say.

Content should be brief and easily absorbed as people tend to skim rather than actually read a website. So make sure you get to the point and break the content into headings so that the reader can easily get the ‘gist’ of your message. Avoid lots of text with really small fonts.

Design

Design is very important in a website. Good design will complement the text to evoke an emotion and communicate a message without the visitor really noticing. A website for a day spa might communicate serenity; an amusement park website should be fun and whimsical; a tattoo parlour would be edgy and cool.

Design encompasses everything from the colours and patterns used, to how the menus, text and images are presented and arranged.  The layout of the text and images should be nicely aligned, have continuity, and appear organized like a professional newspaper or magazine.

A common tendency for home-made websites is to use many different font colours, sizes, and types to draw attention to the message and to make up for the lack of design. Remember: regardless of the feeling you want your visitors to experience on your website, tacky shouldn’t be one of them.

Function

The function of your website includes everything from navigability of your site (is it easy for you visitors to find the information they want?) to the speed it takes for images to load. You want visitors to be able to browse swiftly and easily and to find what they are looking for without too much trouble.

Consider using the “two click” rule where it takes no more than two clicks for the visitor to reach the information they need from anywhere in the website. Be cautious of  loading up your website with features such as large-size graphic files, moving images and video as they may require additional software that the visitor doesn’t have or want, and might cause them to leave the sight prematurely. The increasing popularity of mobile devices (such as iPhones) means that your website needs to display properly on both these and regular desktop/laptop monitors.

Work closely with your web developer/designer to get the content, design and function that accurately reflects your great business. We’re confident that your current and future clients will respond positively!

Let us know about your experiences by leaving a comment!

Think again.

Here are five common reasons that small business owners give for not having a professional website, and why these reasons will contribute to lost clients:

1) “I don’t use the internet”

That may be so, but the majority of your clients most certainly do. Chances are, they’ve had a peek on the internet to see which local businesses have the products and services that you offer – and that’s before they’ve even showered for their Saturday morning shopping excursion! If you don’t have a website, your business won’t be on their itinerary – your competitors who have a website, will be.

2) “My clients don’t look on the internet for my products/services”

Are you sure? Think about the demographic of your clientele – generation “Y”, the generation that has never known a world without the internet, cell phones and text messaging, are currently entering their 30s and will be the largest income earning consumer group for at least the next 20 years. This generation expects instant gratification, with information at their fingers tips, which is provided by the internet on mobile devices (think iPhones). Even if your target client isn’t from this generation, you can be sure that they will be researching and shopping for products and services for their parents who are.

3) “It’s not in my budget”

Yes, a website does need an initial investment. But it is possible to get a simple, professional website for $5000 or less. If a typical website has a 5 year lifespan (a periodic makeover is recommended) , that’s $1000 per year or $83/month. Far less than your typical radio, newspaper, TV, or yellow pages ad and more effective. Recent statistics have shown that use of print media and TV are decreasing, and use of the internet for news and entertainment is increasing. Plus, your clients can really take the time to connect with your business through the website;  they can come back and visit anytime they want; and they can be anywhere in the world when they do.

4) “I don’t sell over the internet”

You don’t need to sell products or services through your website (although it warrants some consideration), but you do need to let people know you exist and to communicate what you can do for potential clients so that they will want to see you. If the client comes in knowing something about your services/products, what your business mission and client commitments are, your location and your hours, then you have already gotten halfway to closing a sale. If you have items on the website that are currently in the store, even better! This way the client comes in already knowing that you have what they want.

5) “My niece/son/cousin can build a site for me”

Having a home-made website for your business was fairly common in the 1990s, but things have changed. Now, your online presence needs to reflect the same caliber and professionalism that you want people to feel when they walk into your place of business. If your website looks like it was created by an amateur, then that is how your business will be perceived by your potential clients. Studies have shown that a website that makes a good first impression is more likely to influence visitors to visit the site again and become loyal customers.