Web Design Professional - Dec 2004

Web design Sunshine Coast

Our business is professional web design Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Australia as well as New Zealand, USA, UK, Peru & Chile. What constitutes professional? Demographics, content, web design layout and at least a hundred or more possible aspects to consider. Each factor has its own affect on how customers perceive a website.

Being professional is an attitude portrayed by you, the business owner, your business and your website. You don't have the luxury of smiling real big, wearing your best suit, and shaking hands with the customer. Your site has to do that for you. More on web design basics.

This brief list of what to do when creating a professional website is only the beginning.

1. Look at Your Business from the Outside.

Ask for Input from People Who Know Nothing About Your Product/ Service/ Business.
This is the best way to get true feedback. People who know nothing about what you are doing can find the smallest mistake and ask the best questïons. They can give you a fresh perspective on your site and sometimes your business. They don't know what you know, and they often see what you don't. Read more about web design.

2. Know Your Product.

As strange as that may sound, people know when a site offers products or services that they themselves know little about. If you are letting someone else write the content for your site and that someone doesn't know the product, then your customers won't know it either. Anticipate questïons from customers and answer them before they are asked. Allow the web designer to concentrate on the technical & graphical elements whilst you cover the product or service information.

3. Make Your Website Visually Pleasing.

Just because bright red and bright blue are your favorite colours doesn't mean that they should be the dominant colors on your site. Red and blue are at different ends of the spectrum and will give viewers a headache if viewed too long. You want to make viewers feel welcome, comfortable, and that they are able to trust you. More info on your website homepage.

4. Outline the Concept of the Site Before It is Created.

Know the answers to those golden questïons: who, what, when, where, why and how. While these questïons apply to your demographics they are also helpful in deciding what information is truly important and what isn't. Pinning down your product knowledge is often a challenge, and not all tacit knowledge is valuable.

What do you want the customers to know and what do the customers want to know? Make this information easy to find through your website links.

5. Make Your Prices Readily Available.

Hide your prices and customers will wonder what else you are hiding. Don't wait until after you ask for their credït card information to tell them how much it costs. You don't make salës that way; what you do make is frustrated customers who tell other potential customers to stay away from your site. More info here in our e-commerce fact sheet.

6. Keep Your Site Credible.

Back up what you say with statistics or links to articles that support your claim. If you have experts in your company, highlight them. Show the customer that there are REAL people running the business. Update the content as often as possible - if updating the content isn't possible, add links to news articles and update those links. It is time consuming, but in the end it is worth the time and effort. Small Business Tips

7. Know Your Website Visitors.

Your site should be designed to fit their needs and wants. If you're selling, know the demographics of the people you're selling to. Once your web site is live, 12website.com has a web design statistics package that will give you a wealth of information about your visitors. If you're just providing information, know who you are targeting. Rule of thumb: Know more about your audience than they know about you. More on good web design function.

8. Use Images that Portray Confidence.

You want the customer to trust you right? Then show them that you believe enough in yourself and your product that there is no doubt that you are trustworthy. Dress for success. You wouldn't wear snow boots on a hot summer's day, would you? Then don't let your site wear images that could make you look cheap and untrustworthy.

9. Keep Your Site Translator-Friendly.

This can sometimes be challenging as we tend to use different terminology than other countries. What we would consider 'normal phrasing' may be considered 'odd' or offensive to someone else. Avoid slang and test your site with a translator. See which words are translated and which ones aren't, then try to figure out why.

10. Be Consistent Throughout the Site.

Making each page of your site different can be entertaining to teenagers and new internet users, but most of your potential customers aren't new to the internet. If a viewer feels as though they're on a different site each time they clïck a link on your site, they are likely to go to another site. Consistency counts in site design and professionalism, and your customers will expect it.

Disclaimer

12website.com has prepared the supplied information as a voluntary service to the online community. The information is necessarily web design and small business in nature and is not intended to be relied upon other than as general background material. This should not be used as specific advice, recommendations or guidance, and specialist assistance should be sought by anyone in need of such help. 12website.com accepts no liability under any circumstances for any loss, expense, damages or costs whether direct or indirect (including loss of profits / damage to business) which may be incurred by any person as a result of relying on or using in whole or in part any of the supplied information.