Today I’m going to talk with you about creating a good website and how this affects your business.
When you go into a job interview to speak with your potential employers you iron your clothes, you comb your hair, you polish your shoes, you even brush your teeth for a minute longer then you normally would. What you are trying to do is give off the best appearance possible since it raises your changes of being hired. Then once you meet with the employer it is very quick to tell if they like you or not by your first few impressions.
Taking a step back a moment, let’s begin to relate this to online businesses. When a customer purchases something online, they feel much like the employers in our example. They search around looking for what they want, compare the benefits of one business over the other, and eventually settle on something that satisfies them. In their searching, if they come across with a site that gives off a bad impression they are happy to just disregard it and continue on. You may be surprised to see how long this take to happen, in a study done by the Carleton University website viewers may take only one tenth of a second to judge the appearance of a website. That is why you the business owner must take the role of the employee and present yourself in the best way possible.
Developing a good website means several things to your and your business. A professional look is key to expanding your business since it creates a better foothold for you in the online community. New customers will feel better on your site since they feel in control as well as safer about purchasing from you. Customers will also remember you more because of the good experience they had, meaning that you will have greater customer loyalty and your site may even be referred to others. Then at the end of the day, all of this positive influence because of your website will be more money for you. So you can see just how important your website design is for your business. In a study done by Stanford University, “nearly half of all consumers (or 46.1%) in the study assessed the credibility of sites based in part on the appeal of the overall visual design of a site, including layout, typography, font size and color schemes.”
Although developing a good website is not always easy, you will need to learn a few basic skills and make sure you have the right tools available to you. An understanding of HTML as well as knowing how to edit graphics that you will be using on your site are the key components. Luckily, there are many tools and learning resources available to you, some of which are completely free. If you are comfortable with learning on your own, there are plenty of textbooks at bookstores that can show you what you need to know. There are also many valuable websites online, which have more information than you would ever need to know. Or, if you are a little more shy about learning this stuff on your own you may want to look into classes at a local community college. Below I have detailed out some of the best beginning resources you can find out on the internet.
One of the best websites available for learning how to code HTML or any other web technology is W3 Schools. It is certainly a valuable reference material if you already know what you are doing, but even if you have no clue where to start it will guide you along.
Photoshop is currently the major graphics application used today, although GIMP is the best free alternative which you can us for editing graphics. Below are a couple links that can help you get started using this tool.
After you are able to build a website, you then need to known what goes into making a website professional and comfortable for your customers. I urge any online business to take their first step of website design to search the internet for their competitors and learn what features customers are going to expect as well as what your site will be compared with. After knowing what you’re up against, you can then play around and develop your site as you wish. As you develop your site, you will want to keep a few of these key concepts in mind.
- Give the viewer enough information on your site so that they know the whole picture. Who you are, what you are selling, how you are going to be interacting with them, as well as what they might be expected to see later on your site. A good example of this is when the customer goes from your site to 2Checkout.com. If you let the customer early on know that you are a vendor of 2Checkout.com they will trust that they are in the right place when buying from you and not think twice about the purchase.
- Design a clean and nice looking layout for your site. Think about the content positioning, colors, fonts, and pictures which make your website seems like a whole piece. Anyone coming to your site will be extremely happy to see a simple yet beautiful design, although will be quick to turn away if they see any extreme colors or silly navigation.
- Provide adequate information about the products that you are selling. Include a picture, a description; maybe even have a section on your site that compares your products.
- Convey expertise, such as including credentials, citations, and references. This makes customers trust you more and see that you have put the time into your business.
- Create elements that acknowledge the customer and create a more personal experience. Customers certainly don’t like staring at screens all day, so the more you strike home with their ideas and emotions the more comfortable they will feel.
Here are a couple resources that go further into detail about this topic.
As you can see, there is a lot to take into consideration when developing your website. You need to know the how to write HTML and create graphics, you also need to know how the customers will react to certain design choices. It can all seem a little overwhelming, but with a little but of time and effort, you can learn what you need to know and make a killer website that will properly display your business. I wish you the best of luck with all of your web design.
