Websites that could be considered strictly informational could be a news outlet whose purpose is to inform the public, or a scientific or weather channel site. The objective here is to disseminate information without consideration of selling a specific item.
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.
A merchant gateway acts as an interface between your website and your bank - it allows customers to place orders using a credit card, or sometimes an e-check, or Paypal, or some similar method of transferring money electronically - the customer gets the product or service ordered, you get the money transferred into your bank account. A gateway essentially functions in the same manner as a credit card processing machine in a brick-and-mortar store.
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.
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.
The coolest product or the most interesting topic can be torpedoed by a bad website - if your site is difficult to navigate for example, your customers can’t get to where they need to go to place an order, and will get frustrated and go elsewhere for that product or service. If the message on your personal website is boring or uninteresting, no one will read it - so what good is the time and effort you’ve spent designing it? Websites are about communication - either business or personal.
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.
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.
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.
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.