Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Your Customers Is Whom Custom Web Design Is For

By Stephen Grisham, Sr.

Who cares if your website impresses yourself? You won't make much money selling products to yourself you're looking for new customers. They, not you, have to come first when it comes to designing your site. There are six important rules to follow.

Rule #1: Make your site fast. People have broadband for a reason, so if your site takes forever to load, they're going to seek their business elsewhere. Make sure your page is simple enough to load in an instant. This way, they won't leave out of boredom.

Rule #2: Don't make users download anything. Sure, ActiveX and other technologies can do amazing things but they're a pain to install, and open up users to viruses or other bad things. HTML is powerful enough to do whatever you need it to.

Rule #3: Don't be tacky. Customers trust a salesman who exemplifies class, so make sure your web site does this, too. Cut out the blinking text, animated GIFs, and music that plays uncontrollably when a page loads. They make the page load slowly, too.

Rule #4: Hire a custom web designer. Let's face it, HTML can be fun to learn, but there are people out there who do it for a LIVING. If you want a website that really impressive customers, you need to hire a professional to get the job done. Custom web design for your website can convince customers you're trustworthy and that means they'll give you their money.

Rule #5: Know what you are selling. If you are selling craft supplies, then your home page doesn't need to have a puppy on it. You will get better results if you stick to the theme instead of trying to be cute.

Rule #6: Hire the most talented webmaster you can. Talented does not mean the person knows the most, but it does mean the person is a good fit. Make sure that your webmaster can fix everything on your page, because whether you want to think about it or not, your website will go down at some point.

Custom web design comes down to, once and for all, good design principles. Play by the rules, and you'll have an inexpensive but customizable site within your budget and appealing to your core audience. Plan ahead, and you'll have great results. - 15478

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