Many times website owners approach a professional designer and ask: what would it cost to set up a simple, 10-page website? This question usually brings back a flood of questions from the designer - what exactly are you looking for? Do you need a custom logo designed for your company? How about a merchant gateway? Inventory options? Are you planning on using videos on your site? What about integrating flash components into your overall presentation?
One of the first questions you need to ask yourself is: what is the purpose of this website? Is it to generate sales for your business? To communicate your view of the world? Act as a forum for expressing new ideas? Distribute information? What is the objective you’re trying to accomplish?
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.
So the cost of designing your website becomes an issue - if you’re setting up an e-commerce site that you expect to bring in hundreds of thousands in sales dollars each month, you’re best advised to turn to a professional. The basic question you need to ask yourself in this situation is this: what is it worth to you to have a professional, smoothly functioning website that will increase sales and add to your bottom line?
A website that provides entertainment typically isn’t sales driven, meaning it is meant to amuse and entertain without being directly linked to a product or service. An example of such a website would include a movie review website, or a joke-of-the-day site. Personal websites, such as one you put up yourself with your life story or family history on it could be categorized as either entertainment or informational in nature.
Generally, websites serve four main functions. In no particular order, those functions include entertainment, information, advertisement and direct sales. The best websites incorporate more than one function or category into their web design, thus making the website of greater interest to a wider audience.
Your website will also need a shopping cart - not a real one, of course, but a virtual cart. When your customers wish to order a product or service, they click on the order button and that product or service goes into their shopping cart, which can then take them through the checkout process in order to register the sale and transfer your money to you.
Encryption and security are significant considerations for your website - with identity theft and credit card fraud on the rise, it’s increasingly important to ensure that your customers are as safe as possible from internet hackers and thieves. E-commerce is possible because commercial websites can process credit card and other forms of electronics safely and securely, thus ensuring customer financial information is kept confidential.
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..
In today’s world, businesses in particular are viewed as being behind the times if they don’t have a website - but having a poor website is almost as bad as having no website at all. Interesting graphics, flash features, videos, easy navigation - all these items are usually components of a well-designed web site. Unfortunately, most business owners lack the technical and graphic skills to properly design a functional and effective website that will promote their business and produce sales.
Whether you are in the process of setting up a simple personal website that outlines your family history, or a more complex website that offers hundreds or even thousands of products, web design is a critical component of style, presentation and effective marketing.
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?
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.
How fast technology changes! Twenty years ago the Internet was an infant struggling for recognition and acceptance - in today’s world it’s difficult to imagine how we survived without it. The Internet has forever changed the way businesses operate, made personal communication instantaneous, and truly opened up world markets.
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.