Content is king.

That was mantra of all web masters for a long time. Just show your visitors some interesting stuff, give them a better deal – and your success is guaranteed. The truth is – it doesn’t work that way. The content alone cannot win you hearts and minds of your potential customers. It’s just a part - thought a very important one- of building your image on Internet. You can say whatever you want about yourself on your web site: that your company provides best services, best expertise, best…. whatever. But people won’t buy it until you LOOK right to them. That is you look trustworthy and professional enough to believe you. And that’s point where we come to importance of keeping your web site up to your customers’ expectations.

Numbers don’t lie

Your web site might not have changed for several years. But Internet has been changing. The latest surveys show that people's online expectations have skyrocketed over last few years and they're quick to reject any web site that doesn't keep up. Besides easy navigation and use, people want and expect a site to load quickly and to be visually appealing. If a web site doesn't meet their expectations, two-thirds of respondents say they don't return — now or ever. They'll visit you and leave and you'll never know. What it means? Having a bad web site means loosing customers- plain and simple. When people see your web site in bad shape they assume that you ever don’t care about your image or don’t have money and resources to maintain it.

What is an effective web site?

A good web site should provide your visitors and potential clients with a unique experience and leave them with a lasting impression. In many ways people react to that same way as meeting a person. Sometimes first impression makes all difference. Ask yourself- would you place an order via a web site that looks like its owners went out of business years ago? I guess you’ll think twice before doing that…

It takes a lot of things to make a web site effective but here are some basics:

First a good design. Nice clean layout, good graphics work, color coordination. Everything is supposed to be in place and, no less important, in balance. Your visitors should be able to see theme of your site, quickly identify its purpose and be enticed to stick around to find more about your company.

I’ve learned a lot by trial and error in my years as a Web design business owner. I want to share 3 most important musts for running a Web design business so you can avoid some of headaches I had to go through. The key to enjoying your business is to provide your clients with wonderful Web sites while keeping your aspirin purchases down. In other words, you need to focus on these 3 key elements to running a Web design business in order to alleviate unnecessary headaches and potential legal problems.

Must Number One: Contracts

You must sign a contract with every single client you do a project for. It doesn’t matter how nice someone seems to be when you meet them and it doesn’t matter how small their Web design needs are; you need to sign a contract with everyone you do business with or you are setting yourself up for some potentially painful nightmares.

A contract shouldn’t be looked at as a negative thing; something that gives impression you shouldn’t be trusted. In fact, most of your clients will have opposite feeling when you present them with a contract. Telling your clients you sign contracts for every project you do will show that you are a step above those that don’t. Most businesses are used to using contracts and will only respect you more if you use one in your own business.

Mentioning that you use contracts will actually make a client feel more secure about your business, rather than scare them away. Any client that is not willing to be bound by a contract usually has a reason, and it isn’t because they don’t trust you. People that refuse to sign contracts usually have a pattern of not holding up their end of a deal. These people should be avoided at all cost; no matter how much money they offer to pay you.

The whole point of using a contract is to outline what each party’s responsibilities will be in project and what each can expect at outcome. Your contract needs to specify what is to be delivered by you and what is expected of client during entire project. Everything from how to deliver materials to you and providing timelines needs to be outlined in your contracts.

Must Number Two: Timely delivery of your client’s materials.

In order to make most of your time as a Web design business owner you need to keep all your client projects on a timeline. The last thing you want to have happen is to cross two or more different projects on top of each other. If you have several people working for you, and you can do more than one project at a time, you may be able to handle things. However, if you are only able to do one project at a time, you need to make sure each project is done in its own time frame and not crossing over into timeline of another project.