| |
| |
|
Web Development Information |
|
Find the Purpose of Your New / Proposed Website
Absolutely everything stems from the purpose of your website - selection of hosting, programming, graphic design, copywriting, internet marketing, autoresponder service, and e-commerce. So it's very important to establish the purpose of your business website first. The most common purposes for a business website are: * A company brochure: explain to customers (or potential customers), suppliers and shareholders more about the business * Product news releases: distribution of pricelists, product specifications & photos * Information releases: downloadable brochures, documents, forms & marketing material * Lead generation: allow customers to contact you directly via phone, fax, email or SMS. * Sale generation: complete a transaction on the website (eg. Purchase a book, magazine subscription, etc.) The above list is ordered from the most simple to the most complex website. Generally, if you want customers to buy your product or service via your website, your website will be more complex - including a shopping cart, secure payment gateway, customer record management, product/stock management and automated customer service. And generally, the more complex a website, the more time it will take to develop, and the more it will cost. However, I recommend that if you're taking the time and effort to build your business website, you may as well build yourself something decent. So I always recommend business owners plan for a website that will generate fresh leads or sales. The purpose of your business website should closely relate to your overall business plan. Too many businesses make the mistake of setting up a website and forgetting about it. A well-planned, well-developed website can be a fundamental part of your business. Not only to present a professional image to your customers, but actually generate new business. And that means more sales! So take a few hours to sit down and work out how your business website fits into the bigger picture. Takeaway Tips * The more effort put into planning, the more successful the website is likely to be. * Your business website will compete with many others for customers' attention. Professional presentation, design and functionality are essential. Money invested in good presentation is money well spent. * A website and its objectives and capabilities must be a part of your overall business strategy. * Always look for new ideas - look at other websites. * Do not try and do it all at once. Develop your website in stages. Each stage should provide useful information and features for your customers. A staged development will also help to encourage repeat visits by customers. * Ensure that your site is designed in a way that you can make changes to content yourself, from your own computer - avoid reliance on the web developer for day-to-day changes. * Update website content regularly, to keep it fresh and interesting. Once you have an overall strategy for your business website in place, the next thing to consider is the budget. How much are you going to spend? After all for most businesses, money does't grow on trees? at least last time I checked ;-) TIP: If you already have a website and just need to find a hosting service, check out my recommendation at: http://www.1st-for-business-web-hosting.com/find.asp?i=6 Josh has been involved in web development since 1996. He now helps business owners get their own websites up and running with a free easy-to-understand guide, and 7-part e-course at http://www.1st-For-Businsess-Web-Hosting.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Goal-Setting - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
7 Killer Ways To Increase Your Online Sales Every online entrepreneur I talk to is asking the same question, "How do I increase my online sales, NOW?"Online selling is essentially a numbers game. The more visitors to a site, the more sales that site will make. How to Maximize the Value of Every Visitor to Your Website While most marketers are beginning to understand the critical importance of maximizing conversion rates, few are tracking or working to maximize another critical measurement of website effectiveness.Visitor value?Visitor value is simply a representation of how much money you make per visitor to your website. Five Essential Questions to Answer Before Creating Your First (or second...or third) Website Right after the thought, "I need a website," people usually say, "I need a web designer!" Actually, before even whispering "web design," you need to answer these five questions in as much detail as possible. Once you're clear on your strategy, you can provide better information to your web designer. The Power Of CPanel cPanel is a control panel for your website and allows you to set up and manage your web account through a graphical interface instead of having to use command line. This means that you can make changes to your website without having to learn to use a command line environment. Trust Us! Sending Credible Messages A company must earn and keep trust or sales don't happen. Imagine that last Sunday, while you were reading the paper, you saw an ad for a great deal on a digital camera. Up The Sandbox! Go to any internet marketing forum you want these days andone of the topics is sure to be whether or not there is a"sandbox" at Google where new sites are forced to come andplay for 3-6 months before joining the ranks of ranked andsearched results. On the surface it would appear that thisis so. 5 Tips To Supercharge Your Website Sales Copy The art of turning website visitors into paying customers depends almost entirely on good sales copy. What is that?Simply put good sales copy is the content of your copy and presentation of your copy put together in such a way that it increases your visitor to sale conversion rate on a consistent basis. I Want To Be A Freelancer So you have decided that you want to do freelance work. You have done your homework and have developed your skills in HTML, PHP, CMS, and a slew of other applications. Build It and They Will Come Build it and they will come is not always true; you have to form a relationship with the company before you will get quality attendees or participants for a free service.The key to a human's heart is through food. New Years Resolutions: Is Improving Your Website One of Them? With the New Year upon us yet again, it's time to prepare for the successes of 2005. Did you watch with envy last year as your competitors dominated your industry? Do you think your site is doing just fine because no one has ever called to complain? Well here's some food for thought: 96% of all prospects will click over to your competitor if they encounter a problem on your website. 10 Tips For A Successful Website Have you ever thought the secret behind the success of most of the famous sites. Do you ask yourself these questions. If You Build It, They Will Come? Building a new website can be a lengthy task. From scratch to the client's specification and then implement additional features and/or changes the client usually has. Server Side Includes (SSI) with ASP Server Side Includes (SSI) with ASP People often have identical sections of code spread throughout many ASP pages, typically code at the top of the page (usually referred to as the header) and the lower part of the page (the footer). Similarly, you may have code that performs a certain set of instructions that you are repeating across multiple pages. How Web Templates Are Helping Online Businesses to MultiplyTheir Income Web templates by nature are created to aid and ease thestrenuous process of a typical web development phase. Ideacollection, analysis, research, design are just a small partof a bigger picture. Creating a Sticky Web Site When used to describe a web site, the term "sticky" refers to a site that is able to get viewers to stay at the site longer and come back frequently. Sticky web sites are more likely to turn viewers into customers. Preventing Repeat Form Submission Using PHP Sessions We've all seen those messages on some websites warning not to click a button more than once or negative consequences, like paying a bill twice, may result. Sometimes we can cause these problems by hitting the back or refresh buttons. Make Your Own Brand! There are millions and millions of websites on the Internet. You NEED to be different in some way from all of them! If you could get a visitor to your website, that means nothing. Duplication vs. Individualism How can we add Word Rich Content to our Websites without overtly duplicating others website content, and as an end product maintain our own Individualism?In theory Article Libraries are the answer to the above question. But, is it true that if you continually add like information to your site, you no longer maintain an individual posture?Not every article that is submitted to your site will fit the needs of your particular agenda. Making the Most of Your Website: Start with the Basics One of my most salient memories from when I sold real estate in Oregon for my Dad's company was listing a property where the owners had initially tried to sell it For-Sale-By-Owner with no success. After the listing contract was signed my Dad told them, "Next time put your phone number on your sign. The Top Ten Benefits of Having a Web Site Do you need a web site? Are you considering getting one but are unsure? Here we take a look at the main reasons why a web site could be beneficial to your organisation.1) It will give you the competitive edgeIf you do not have a web site people cannot visit it - an obvious point you might say.
|
| home | site map | ArticleGecko | A ClashX Production 2006 |
| © 2006 |
