How To Put An Everyday Business Online

Written by Doug Seidl


In this edition, we'll be having a look at two websites. These two sites are what I like to call "Traditional Business" websites. These businesses are not based onrepparttar internet alone like many e-business sites we do, but are traditional everyday businesses that have store-fronts and showrooms. With that in mind, a slightly different approach had to be taken; we weren't creatingrepparttar 134595 "image" or "identity" ofrepparttar 134596 companies from scratch, but had to work withrepparttar 134597 existing and established image that they have previously laboured to create inrepparttar 134598 material world.

When creating any website, a designer must look atrepparttar 134599 drive ofrepparttar 134600 site. What doesrepparttar 134601 client want to accomplish with their website? Do they want to emulate their storefront and be able to accommodate online sales, or do they simply want to create an online presence that effectively acts like a brochure... informing and enticingrepparttar 134602 viewer, withrepparttar 134603 goal of bringingrepparttar 134604 customer into their stores?

The two sites that we'll cover were created withrepparttar 134605 aim of creating an online presence. The two companies are local businesses that are quite comfortable with doing business in a traditional fashion. They simply wanted to have an informative website that could tell potential customers what they had to offer, as well as make their pitch as to why they wererepparttar 134606 best company to deal with... and hopefully as a result, gain that customers business.

The two companies are: 1) Gray Office Furnishings - http://www.grayofficefurnishings.com 2) Place-Crete Systems Ltd. - http://www.place-crete.com

RESEARCH Before making any design decisions, a bit of research was needed. We had to find out as much as we could aboutrepparttar 134607 business - whatrepparttar 134608 clients needs were, their audience, their competition, their budget, and everything in-between. Once we had this information, it had to be edited down to some key points. Here are some ofrepparttar 134609 key points about Gray Office Furnishings and Place-Crete Systems:

a) They were both localized businesses operating in a traditional fashion, including offices, showrooms, customer interaction, etc. This was important to consider because it was something that they knew could not be replaced with a website... they needed to continue offeringrepparttar 134610 face-to-face customer service that they were use to providing. As a result, their websites are used as a tool or aid to assist with their customer service rather than replace it.

b) They both had physical items to showcase; Gray Office had different styles of furniture, and Place-Crete had on-location images of their quality workmanship. Once again, this is important to consider because it meant that we had more than text to work with. In other words, we hadrepparttar 134611 framework to create a captivating, visually pleasing site that is more "image heavy" than most pure e-business sites. This is something that most designers really enjoy, and it gives us a chance to flex more of our creative muscles. It is not appropriate to have an "image heavy" site whenrepparttar 134612 content is primarily information based - when speedy download times and maximum efficiency are required. We felt that with these two sites, however, it would be more appropriate. These companies should show what they have to offer, and text alone could not do this. Of course, as always, we still had to keeprepparttar 134613 download times within reason.

These two sites, are essentially online brochures. If you have ever gone into a car dealership for example, and picked up a brochure for one of their cars, you will find a lot of things in common. In a car brochure you will find allrepparttar 134614 vital statistics, features, and benefits ofrepparttar 134615 car, butrepparttar 134616 text will not be long-winded and boring;repparttar 134617 information won't go on for pages and pages and borerepparttar 134618 reader to death. It will be clean, sleek, efficiently organized, and kept to a minimum. In addition, you will also find that car brochures usually have beautiful design and imagery that letsrepparttar 134619 product speak for itself. Gray Office Furnishings is a good example of this comparison. Like cars, furniture is very visual... and like cars, furniture can have "sex appeal." Withrepparttar 134620 sleek curves, and hard lines, it only made sense to treat furniture inrepparttar 134621 same manor. When a prospect see's this site,repparttar 134622 idea is to get them intorepparttar 134623 showroom to see how greatrepparttar 134624 furniture is in person.

"Presentation is everything." Yes, I'm sure most of you have heard this cliche, but think about how true it really is. One should never present ones product in an ugly manner, this will detract from what is really important...repparttar 134625 product,repparttar 134626 customer, and in turn,repparttar 134627 sale. The "form" ofrepparttar 134628 site, must followrepparttar 134629 "function" ofrepparttar 134630 site.

c) We've establishedrepparttar 134631 visual basis for these sites, but what aboutrepparttar 134632 information? Of course we need to have text and information, but what kind and how much? Well, with these sites (or any for that matter) it is not necessary to bombardrepparttar 134633 prospect with information that is not important to them. The only thing that is important is gettingrepparttar 134634 customer to purchase your products/services. The customer will come torepparttar 134635 site to see what you have to offer, so give them what they want... but only give them enough to satisfy them torepparttar 134636 point that they will contact you. Therefore, bothrepparttar 134637 information they seek, andrepparttar 134638 means of contact should be prominently placed and easy to find. Notice how easy it is to find that information on both of these sites. Makes sense right?

Having minimal text with these sites also allowed us to utilize layouts/formats that were nice and clean, and that didn't require much scrolling. This brings us to some ofrepparttar 134639 design decisions that were made with these 2 case study sites.

VISUAL DESIGN DECISIONS With every decision made so far, there has been a reason. It's time to discuss some ofrepparttar 134640 reasons behindrepparttar 134641 visual design choices that were made. If this stage goes wrong it can ruin everything. There should be a reason for everything, ie: layout, color, shape, size, and font choice. Lets go through some ofrepparttar 134642 design choices that were made with these two sites.

4 Huge Web Design Errors That Are Costing You Business Online

Written by Dr. Jeffrey Lant


Business people:repparttar point of your website is to get business, make money.

Is your faulty web design sabotaging these crucial objectives?

Let's take a quick look at what a profitable website MUST contain. Then compare this to what you've actually got.

#1: Your website must focus on capturing email addresses

Most people don't buyrepparttar 134594 first time they learn about something, even something they like. That's whyrepparttar 134595 #1 objective of your website MUST be to capturerepparttar 134596 all-important prospect email address.

When you've got this information, you've got what you need to follow-up, stay in touch, and keep building your relationship with this prospect, so you getrepparttar 134597 sale.

Because this objective is soooo important you should make it important with flash design. For an example, click here http://www.internetmarketbiz.com This smart owner is building his all-important email list by makingrepparttar 134598 acquisition of prospect email his #1 priority using eye-popping flash! Or visit this incredible illustration of how to capture e-mail details using flash: http://www.dreamcruises4u.com/

#2 Stuffing your home page with way too much information

The objective of your home page should be to channel people to where you want them to go. Unfortunately,repparttar 134599 amateur web designer who thinks "more is better" overloadsrepparttar 134600 home page, reasoning thatrepparttar 134601 prospect will take her time to read through everything until she finds what she wants. Unfortunately, this is a fundamental misunderstanding of how people userepparttar 134602 net.

What people want is a site that immediately directs them to what they're looking for. They don't want to wade through an extra word -- not even one. They want quickly to know what you've got and what they have to do to get it. Your home page, therefore, should provide a series of easy directional signals. For an example, visit http://www.worldprofit.com This is a multi-million dollar company, but look how few words they use to capturerepparttar 134603 visitor's attention and direct him. A prospect visiting this site wastes no time!

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