Web Design for Small Business

If are you a small business owner trying to reach the global market in a cost effective way then internet promotion is the best way to go and this article will help in knowing some formal guidelines for internet promotion activities and good web design.

Good web design Helps Effective Advertising


dreamstime_xs_21603007Advertising with your own website is a cost effective way of marketing. Putting a banner advertisement and then giving a hyperlink to your website when someone clicks on it is one of the best ways of web advertising. Another advantage of using web advertising is that unlike other means like paper or a television ad, you can provide the complete details of the service or product and can even include videos, images and animations with detailed text. And also, the entire cycle can be managed from your own website. The cycle starts from market research to the customer service including selling and promoting. And with good web design, advertising will be more effective.

Finding Target Customers

Internet has become a house hold necessity from being a luxury a few years ago. So, advertising on the web is an easy way to find the target customers.  Millions of potential customers use the web to search for their desired products and it is very important for you to attract them or your competitors will. One way would be to focus on the customers desire also, providing extra information on the product line or the industry will help a lot. Also, having a cool web design makes your target customers leave with a positive impression.

What Makes A Good Web Design

The basic language to make a website is HTML which is the acronym for ( Hyper Text Markup Language). It is the language of tags that defines the display of paragraphs, graphics and video etc on the web page. The group of web pages will make up a website and often hyper links are provided on each page for easy navigation from one web page to the other.

There are other languages to build interaction between the users and the website and they are extremely important for the present ability of the website and it’s web design in general. Some of them include JavaScript, PHP,ASP,and so on.

What Should Be  On the Website?

The content of the webpage plays a big role in the success of the website which is directly related to the success of the product or the service offered. Focus on the product or service is extremely important as that would make the reader more interested. Also, the aesthetic value of the web pages should be high to make it interesting. Having features like interactive discussions, feedback forms, customer support chats, offers etc would help you to popularize the website. If needed, hiring a technical writer  is important as content is the heart of the website and should not be compromised. Having an appealing web design makes the content more marketable.

The Decision — Build or Get it Built:

The decision to build or outsourcing it to an expert depends on two factors:

a)     Your web design skills

b)     Complexity of the website

You can come up with a professional design if you are creative and have knowledge of flash, Photoshop, Fireworks etc . But if you want interactive design and adding complex features, it is better to get it done by a professional unless you are well versed with languages like PHP, ASP, Javascript and CGI etc.

The price should not be the major criteria if you want to get a global presence and exploit a global market. Every penny you spent will be worth it if you get a good website.

Before Starting the Website

Before starting the website, you should be clear of the objectives  and what you want and expect from the it. You can get a fair idea from seeing the competitor’s websites and also try to find out the gaps in their websites so that you can fill those gaps in your website. Exploit them to your advantage.

Also decide on what features you want to enable on the website. Some of them could be

a) Providing complete information and user guide about the product or service. You can also include videos and pictures and explain why it is better than the others.

b) Selling the product directly from the website. For this, a secure gateway should be configured in the website so that the customers can pay online directly.

c) Providing online support by either chat or interactive mails or blogs.

d) Taking the feedback from the customers or visitors and using that info in the future market research.

You can include any of the above or all of them or also can include some other details which you feel might help with the marketing of the website.

Website Maintenance

Making the website is one part of the story. Effective maintenance of it is another part. It is equally important if not more. The website has to be updated constantly and also the themes, back ground and pictures should be changed to remove monotonousness.

Constant improvement of the website along with the product will assure you the success of the product or service more often than not. So, what are you waiting for? Get started with a great web design now!