The final critical areas of website design are security, encryption and your merchant gateway. Again, many web-hosting companies offer merchant gateways as part of their web-hosting packages, but not all do. There are any number of companies operate independently of the web-hosting sites, offering different rate structures and packages - check carefully their references and termination fees so you aren’t surprised with excessive fees somewhere down the road.
The creative portion can encompass such things as designing that custom logo for your business, or creating a conceptual design that takes your original ideas or goals and refines them into a stunning site to showcase your products or services.
The cost to have your website professionally designed grows exponentially with each feature you want to have added, but the time and money are probably a wise investment, particularly when your entire business depends on effective marketing and sales tools. A few thousand dollars spent now designing a proper website can show a return on investment many times over if your customers can reach you, buy what they need, and have a pleasant experience on your site.
If you do use a professional web designer, make sure you both understand the scope of the work to be done. A professional typically will have expertise in two areas: technical and creative.
Not every website needs a custom logo, or flash components or video presentations - it’s much more important to have a professional appearance and functionality. If your customers can’t find your order page, are unable to tell what inventory or products you have for sale - you have a serious problem, and your e-commerce dreams are likely to be unfulfilled.
The most widely used and effective form of encryption is SSL - or Secure Socket Layer - which simply means that the data transfer between your website, as well as any data entered by your customers, such as credit card information, is encrypted or encoded when transferred between the customer’s browser and your server. This technology isn’t foolproof in terms of invincibility, but it does assure your customers that their information cannot be seen or decoded by a hacker while the data is in transit.
Who you’re trying to target as an audience or customers can frequently determine the look and feel of your website design. For example, if you’re attempting to sell Barbie® dolls, you may consider that your audience is girls ranging in age from 8 to 12, so your website should include graphics and colors that appeal to that specific age group - some cool music and bright neon colors might be appropriate in this case..
Before you think about the options of designing your own web page, or hiring a professional web designer to assist you, there are some basic questions you need to ask yourself, and come up with the answers that fit your specific situation. If you don’t have a clue as to what you want, just a general idea, head straight for a professional designer who can turn your ideas into a solid reality.
Once you’ve established the purpose and functionality of your website, it’s time to ask yourself more questions. Who is your target audience? Are you setting up a website to sell Barbie® dolls? Or trying to develop online sales for an investment business?