Does Professional Web Site Design Matter?

Most definitely a professional design is important to your business success. Design is part of your image and your brand. If you present someone with a business card that you made yourself, what kind of impression are you creating – certainly not one that is professional. Why would this person want to trust you in business when you don’t present yourself in a professional manner?

Why Choose a Professional Web Design

I’m sure you are very good at what you do but you probably are not a professional web designer, website developer or marketing pro. If you aren’t a mechanic, would you repair you car’s engine? Why use an accountant when you can do your own taxes? Maybe it’s because you want to get better results and pay fewer taxes. The same holds true with your marketing and web design. Your web design and web development project is a specialized part of your marketing. It is a highly creative skill that will determine whether you capture and convert visitors to quality leads, customers and referral partners. An expert in this area can set you apart from your competition, brand you with your market and help you to produce a thriving profitable business. You can be penny wise and pound foolish, struggling to do it yourself to save money and your results will most likely be proportionate. So do yourself a big favor and let the experts create your professional web site design while you spend your time doing what you do best.

The Importance of a Good Web Site Design

Now that I’ve given you some good reasons to hire a professional, it is important that you understand what a good design can do for your business. An effective and professional web site design will perform as a SELLING and LEAD GENERATING machine.

Understanding Web Design and Web Development

Sometimes these terms are used interchangeable but they are two separate aspects of a web design project. Web design refers to the colors, artwork and organization and display of copy and content while web development refers to the type of project that is produced to meet your objectives and deliver your message. Your web development solution is determined by your mission, goals and budget. It may be a single landing page, squeeze page, eCommerce website, membership / directory website, eLearning system, Content Management System, brochure style website or blog. Regardless of the type of project you develop, a design based on your brand is integrated to effectively communicate your message.

Components of an Effective Web Site Design

All of the following are essential to creating a web site design that performs as a selling and lead generating machine:

• There should be a clear and interesting message for a specific market.
• Pages should be easy to navigate with consistent links and navigation on all pages.
• Colors should appropriate for the intended market and industry. Some colors are better for certain markets and industries and some colors may offend certain cultures.
• Artwork should contain emotionally charged metaphors for the message in order to capture and hold the attention of the visitor. People make decisions because of emotions rather than the facts alone.
• The design should draw the visitor’s eye to important content on the page.
• The most important content should appear above the fold.
• Font sizes, bolding, bulleting, tables and other formatting should make the copy easy to read and scan.
• Pages should have a clear call to action with a single objective.
• If the goal is for the visitor to buy a product, there should be a clear and easy path to ordering.
• Copy should be well written, conveying clear benefits and solving a problem for the intended market. Copy should also be free of spelling and grammatical errors. Including testimonials, headlines and sub-headlines that are rich in benefits will entice readers to want to explore further information on the pages.
• Include professional quality mages and multimedia such as video, audio and podcasts to make the site interesting and informative. Syndicated multimedia can greatly enhance traffic, branding, credibility and help to establish a trusting relationship.
• Include a subscription form for your mailing list or ezine with a bonus incentive. This is a very smart strategy for staying connected with your hot market through email marketing.

Designs that incorporate all of these elements can effectively produce websites that perform optimally as selling and lead generating machines.

© 2008 Web PuzzleMaster LLC, www.WebPuzzleMaster.com, Ruth Kuttler, the WebPuzzleMaster, All rights reserved.