There are three basic components to any design: the design itself (look and feel of the site), content (text and images that will appear on the site), and functionality (how it works).

As you work with your designer, you need to keep all of these components in mind. Additionally, there will be a learning curve for both of you as your designer studies the nature of your business in order to reflect it appropriately in your design and as you learn about the many options available to you in terms of how your business will be presented to an online audience.

Throughout the planning process, clear communication is key to building a good relationship with your designer and to your designer building a great site for you.

I thought I’d share some basic website design tips that will help you work with a designer to hammer out the details of your design plan. By working as a team with a shared goal and by focusing on communications and smart planning strategies, you and your website designer can build a stellar website together.

Website Design Tips to Help You Get Through the Planning Process

1. You Don’t Need a Vision — Most designers are thrilled when a client gives them complete creative control over a design project. If you’re not sure which direction to take in terms of design, consider giving the designer some leeway. Tip: Ask for samples to make sure you like the designer’s work, and pay special attention to the designer’s own sites since they’ll offer a good example of her style.

2. Use Examples — Nothing is clearer than a visual example. Spend some time surfing the web and find different website designs that appeal to you. Be sure to scroll through the pages and note what you do and don’t like. Collect a few URLs (links) and then send them to the designer with your thoughts about each one. Tip: Start with your competitors, but branch out into other fields too.

3. Don’t Overdo It — If you send your designer 100 examples, there’s going to be a lot of confusion. Shoot for sending your designer three to five examples of designs that you like with notes highlighting what appeals to you and why.

4. State What You Want — Be specific about what you like and what you want. If you send your designer three links to sites you like that are all extremely different from one another, she’s not going to be able to figure out which elements you like best unless you communicate your preferences to her. Offer comments about each site’s design. Do you like the colors? The layout? Does the site boast features that you’d like to see on your site? Is the content similar to yours?

5. Mention Your Dislikes — If there’s a design element you’ve seen but don’t like, make sure you let your designer know about it lest she use it on your site!

Avoiding Feature Creep

Try not to engage in feature creep. What’s that?, you ask (I’m so glad you asked). Feature creep is when you see the final design for the first time and suddenly come up with a bunch of new ideas that were not included in your original project scope and expect the designer to add these features to your design at no additional charge.

Examples of feature creep are as follows: Actually, I think I would like a form on the contact page after all. I know I said I didn’t want a blog on my site, but now I do. Those colors just aren’t working for me. Oh, by the way, while you were working on the site, I had a new logo made. Most feature creep requests are followed by a statement like, That’ll only take a minute or two, right?

It’s that last statement that qualifies a request as feature creep. Most designers do expect a project to expand a little as it unfolds and will build that into the price, but any big, time-consuming add-on (as well as a bunch of little add-ons) will incur additional fees. If you do want to make some serious changes, you should be upfront with your designer, because trust me, your designer wants you to be a very happy and satisfied customer. Just be aware that some post-design adjustments may show up on your final invoice.

Teamwork

Like any true professional, a website designer wants you to be pleased with the final product. But since it’s your website, you have an important role in explaining what you want your site to look like. As long as you communicate clearly and openly with your designer (and encourage her to do the same), the design process will flow smoothly and your website will come out looking exactly the way you want.

Scribizzy offers website design services for small businesses, independent professionals, and bloggers. Visit our website design page to learn more or get a quote online.

If you’ve spent much time surfing around the web, then you’ve probably noticed that some websites have design elements that are distracting, annoying, or just plain ugly. We’ve all bumped into a few websites that make us want to scream. Luckily, escape is just a click away.

But if you’re a small business owner, you definitely don’t want visitors clicking away from your website, especially if they’re seeking escape because the design is unappealing or irritating.

10 Design Elements to Avoid

Here’s a list of design elements that people frequently complain about. Most of these recommendations have been on web designers’ things-to-avoid lists for years, but these frustrating features just keep showing up all over the internet.

1. Automatic-loading Music: This is number one on the list for good reason. Nothing startles a website visitor more than loud audio suddenly protruding from the speakers. Maybe the visitor is already listening to background music. Maybe they’re trying to focus on your content (and if your content is not centered around music, the sound is just a distraction). Maybe there’s a baby sleeping nearby. Be considerate and make audio optional.
2. Flashing, Blinking, or Scrolling Text: If it’s subtle, you might be able to get away with it. But like audio, moving text is nothing more than a distraction. Sure, you might be using it to get the visitor’s attention, but once you do and they start seriously perusing your site, it’s just going to become an annoyance.
3. Animations: Some animations work well with a design. If you’re an illustrator or an animated cartoonist, go for it. But if you’ve got a website that’s centered around some product or service that doesn’t include art or animation, then keep your content static.
4. Pop-up Windows: No. Just no. I don’t care if your windows pop up in front, in back, or right on the page. Don’t do it. Some websites are still using pop-ups or have returned to pop-ups. They will never be sustainable because they’ll ultimately annoy people.
5. Image Backgrounds: This one almost didn’t make the list because there are a lot of image backgrounds that work well, especially textures. So this is not so much a design element you need to avoid as one that you need to use judiciously. As long as the images are small and fast-loading, you should be okay. But if a solid color will work just as well, then get rid of your image backgrounds. And do note that most major (and hugely successful) websites don’t use them (Google, Amazon, etc.).
6. Frames: These days, with CSS and other design technologies so readily available, frames are just an unnecessary and outdated technique for organizing the content on a site. The problem with frames is that they are not compatible with all browsers and may render differently on different computers. So opt for a content management system (like WordPress) instead.
7. Excessively Wide or Long Pages: This should go without saying, but I still run into these types of websites on occasion. I always wonder if the designer is using an enormous monitor and has forgotten that most people use 12 to 15 inch screens. And try to remember that visitors don’t like to scroll endlessly down (or across) the page. Except on archived sections of your site, keep scrolling to the length of two or three pages.
8. Indistinguishable Links: Have you ever hovered your mouse over a web page and it caused a window to open or carried you off to some other page? That’s just plain weird. Links are meant to be clicked so make sure they’re clickable and make sure that visitors can distinguish a link from regular text.
9. Opening a Link in a New Window: There are some instances in which I don’t mind links opening in a new window, but usually I prefer to make the decision myself. All I have to do is command-click (Windows users can right-click and choose “open link in new window”). When web designers use this functionality, website visitors end up with dozens of open windows, and there’s a good chance the window with your site on it will get lost in the fray. Let people use the back button. That’s what it’s there for.

Exceptions to These Website Design Tips

These design elements should be avoided, but not always. Whenever you’re reading a list of tips, it’s important to remember that there are usually plenty of exceptions. In the list above, I’ve pointed out some obvious exceptions, but you should always remember to use your best judgment and keep in mind that sometimes breaking the rules or defying convention is a good thing. If you’re not sure about whether a particular website design idea would have a negative impact on your site, ask your website designer or consult with a web content specialist. Also, ask friends, family, customers, and professionals in your network. Nothing beats user feedback!

Maybe you’re a plumber. Or a piano teacher. Maybe you run a boutique or a roller skating rink. Whatever it is that you do, you know your field of expertise, and website design is not it.

But you have to hire someone to design your site, right? How can you make smart decisions about your website design if you’re not an expert in websites or design?

If you’re a small business owner, it pays to learn a little about the inner workings of the web. If you understand a few basics about website design and online marketing, it will be much easier for you to choose a website designer and work with your designer to build a site that will achieve your business objectives.

Website Design Tips

This guide provides website design tips for small businesses that need to establish a web presence and launch an online marketing campaign but have no background in online marketing or website design. Always remember this: Your website should be designed to further the progress of all these aspects of your business:

1. Define your business

When you started your business, did you write a business plan? If you did, then you have already defined your business. But many people who are self-employed have never bothered to write a business plan because they never required a loan or any type of financing. They just hung up their sign and started selling their wares. Here are a few points you need to clarify before getting a website:

• Company Mission – What is your primary purpose?
• Business Philosophy – What is your business approach?
• History – What are your credentials and how did you get started in this business?
• Products and Services – What are you selling?
• Features and Benefits – How do your offerings improve customers’ lives?
• Customers – Who are your customers?
• Image and Branding – What image do you want to project and what tone do you want to convey?

A website designer can use this information to create a site that accurately reflects your business. Some of this information will be used directly, but mostly it will inform the sensibility that your site conveys. All of it’s helpful — for you, your website designer, and any other web content services provider that you work with.

2. Build Your Brand

A website is really an extension of your brand, especially when we’re talking specifically about website design. Your brand is your image, the tone and flavor of your business. It has a distinct attitude and a message. It’s memorable and catchy. Think about the GE light bulb and the slogan “We bring good things to life” or the Apple brand, which communicates a tone of elegant but functional simplicity and minimalism. You need to define your business personality for a website to be truly effective.

3. Develop an Online Marketing Strategy

Once you finish building your website, what are you going to do with it? You’d be surprised how many abandoned websites are collecting dust all over the Internet. People keep paying their annual domain registration and hosting fees, but their websites have zero visitors on any given day. Why even bother? The goal of your website is to attract traffic and then convert that traffic into paying customers. How are you going to get people to come to your site? That is the question that all good online marketing strategies answer.

4. Create a Content Development Plan

Let’s face it — getting your first website is cool. It’s super cool. Even your second and third websites are exciting. Each redesign is an opportunity to make your business stand out. I myself have been seduced by the awesomeness that is slick website design. The first few websites I designed had absolutely no written content. But I was just trying to learn how to make a website. I didn’t have a business back then.

Every website needs a comprehensive content development plan. On more than one occasion, I’ve been hired to write website copy for a client only to find out that the site design was already commissioned and imposed strict limitations on the copy. “We need a 50-word blurb here, and about 250 words there, a ten-line something or other across the top.” That’s all fine when design is your priority, but as you delve deeper into the project, there are pages where 250 words may not be enough (like on a terms and conditions page).

The written content and the design must work together toward a common purpose: to market your business. All the fancy schmancy designing in the world is meaningless if it can’t hold the message that you want to share.

5. Identify Your Web Content Needs

Speaking of web content development, who’s going to be providing the website copywriting for your site? Have you thought about hiring an online marketing expert to help you draw traffic? Do you have time to manage the site and track its performance or will you be hiring that out as well? Lots of small business owners do nothing more than hire a website designer and then forget about the rest, creating a wide gap between their business’s online performance and potential. If you thought this through while you were writing your business and marketing plans, then great. You’re golden. If not, then now is the time to think beyond the design.

6. Establish Your Budget

You can spend a few dollars on a website or you can spend thousands of dollars. And everything in between. Spend some time researching website designers. Get a few quotes, and then set a realistic budget. Don’t be so cheap that you end up with an amateurish website, but don’t get too extravagant either. If you’re a small business just starting out or trying to grow into your next phase, know that you can find excellent website designers who offer affordable rates and turnkey solutions. You might not be able to get all the bells and whistles, but you should be able to get a solid, functional, and aesthetic design. And remember, you can always rehire your website designer later to make changes.

7. Find the Right Website Designer

If you’re going to hire a website designer, make sure you look at their portfolio before you sign the quote or issue your deposit. Design can be highly stylistic, and if your designer’s style doesn’t align with the style you want for your business, then the project is doomed. This is especially true if your design project will include creating a logo or any kind of illustration. The more complex and involved the design, the more essential it is that you find a designer whose work you like.

8. Understand Your Web Designer’s Services

Website designers often offer services exclusively in design. Website design is a specialty, not an all-inclusive online marketing service. Do you need written content or help with online marketing? Your website designer may offer these complementary services or may be able to refer you to other service providers. You might luck out and find yourself at a one-stop shop that provides the whole kit and caboodle. But do understand that website design is just one of the many services you may need to launch your site.

9. Let The Designer Do The Designing

There’s nothing wrong with injecting a little personality into your site, but overrunning your business site with photos of your pets, your kids, and your car is both unprofessional and distracting. Sure, it’s acceptable to mention a few of your hobbies. Use a family photo in your bio. Customers like knowing there are real people behind a small business. But remember that your website is not the place to hawk your coin collection (unless your business is a coin agency). The same goes for color schemes and other design elements. Florescent pink and lime green may look hip to you, but that doesn’t mean they are ideal colors for your law firm’s website (although there are always exceptions!). When in doubt, consult your designer, and trust their professional opinion since that’s exactly why you hired them in the first place.

10. Promote and Market Your Site

Once your site is done, you’re ready to start promoting it. Make sure you add your website URL to your business cards and other stationary. Add a signature to the bottom of your email with a link to your site. Put links in your social media profiles. Start publishing a newsletter or a blog. Purchase ad space on relevant sites. And launch a full-blown online marketing campaign to start driving targeted traffic to your website.

11. Track Your Website Performance

Once your site is live and your marketing campaign is underway, you should start actively monitoring your website performance. This can be done weekly, monthly, or even quarterly. Website performance reports will tell you whether your site is doing its job well. How many visitors are coming to your site? Where are they coming from? How long are they staying? Are they taking the desired actions? These are just a few of the questions that a website performance report will answer.

12. Perform Regular Website Maintenance

A website is like a car. It needs regular maintenance. Some websites run on a content management system, and when the software updates, so must your website. Browsers also get updated, providing new functionality and sometimes rendering old designs obsolete. Try to keep your site fresh and all software current. This is especially true for sites with a lot of written content. Check regularly to make sure the text on your site is still valid and current.

Summary

These days, a website is essential for any small business that wants to make its products and services accessible and available to more customers. So take your time and take these website design tips to heart. With proper planning, your website will be a smart investment that promotes and grows your business.

Find out how Scribizzy can help you build a more effective website by visiting our services page, or if you know exactly what you need, go ahead and get a quote online.

When visitors come to your website, they’ll sum it up in a flash based on what they see. Content is important, but aesthetics are a close second.

Whether you’re designing your own website or hiring someone to design one for you, you should have a solid idea of how you want to portray your business. If you have already started establishing your identity with a logo and marketing plan, then you’ve got the foundation you need for your website design.

However, there are still many considerations to keep in mind, and throughout the process of designing a new website (or redesigning an existing one), you will need to make choices about how your site will look and feel so that it represents your business appropriately.

Here are seven website design tips that cover the core components every website needs in order to succeed. These tips will help you make smart design choices so that your site captures visitors’ attention while maintaining the integrity of your company’s identity.

Website Design Tips

1. Build Your Brand with a Logo

Design is an excellent tool for brand building. If you have a logo, it should be prominently displayed on your home page and all subsequent pages as well. If you don’t have a logo, you should get one immediately. If you’re an independent entrepreneur using your name to do business, consider developing a signature-style logo, using a particular font and possibly your photo, or some other simple visual emblem. Logos help to build familiarity, association, and reputation, and they are the essential in developing your brand.

2. Color Choices

Often the color choices you’ve made for your logo will drive the design of your website. However, simple logos, or brand designs that are flexible enough to adapt to a broader color scheme may lend themselves to a wider variety of designs. You should already know the objective of your site, so choose colors accordingly. There are an unlimited number of color combinations that can work; a good way to determine what direction you want to take is to spend some time surfing around the web looking at sites that target the same audience you are going after, and make note of designs that strike your fancy. Keep in mind that selecting two or three different colors in varying shades will generate a better design.

3. Font and Text

There are so many exciting fonts out there, but don’t be tempted! You can use fancy fonts for your title, logo, and headings, but use a very simple, easy-to-read font for the bulk of your content, and remember that fonts are stored on visitors’ computers locally, so if you’re using a font that’s not web-friendly, turn it into an image. For your content, make sure that you use dark text on a light background for better readability. Too many people get overly excited about all the font and color choices, and go to great lengths to make their site look extraordinary, but if you make the text difficult to read, visitors will click off to some other site that puts less stress on their eyesight. Lastly, make sure your font size is not too small… or too big.

4. Header

The header is located at the top of a web page, and it’s usually the area where you’ll find the title or site name. This should be prominent, clear, and easy to read. The title can be text or an image but it should provide the name of your site, and give some clue as to what your site is all about. You can always use a tagline in the header to broadcast your site’s purpose. Also, if you do have a logo (and you should), it should be in the header. Bonus tip: Your header should be clickable and should always take visitors back to the home page.

5. Images

The more images you have on any web page, the longer it takes to load. Generally, web surfers will wait just a few short seconds for a page to load before they go off in search of speedier delivery. Ensure that your images are optimized for the web, and that you don’t clutter your page with them. Keep in mind that videos and slideshows take even longer to load than regular images. However, you should have at least a few images on each page. Images break up long strings of text, and create spatial interest, which is attractive to the eye. Of course sites geared toward art, photography, film, etc. are exceptions to this rule!

6. Layout & Content Planning

Before you design a site, you should have a good idea of what its content will be. This is achieved through thoughtful web content development. Determine the content for your site, and then you, or your designer, can start to establish a formidable layout and website design. Always develop a plan for content before you start working on design. There’s nothing worse than putting a site together only to discover there’s not enough room in your navigation menu for all the content you want to include.

7. Navigation

Your main menu or navigation bar will act as your site’s table of contents. It is here that you want to display simple links to key pages within your site. There are a few pillar pages that almost every website should have, which include Home, About, and Contact. Most business sites will also include Products or Services pages as well. Take a look at other sites within your niche to establish other key pages that warrant a link on the navigation menu.

Moving Forward

Website design projects can be stressful but can also be a lot of fun. It’s exciting to see the whole thing come together, especially for the first time. Even redesigns will help breathe new life into a business, and will often help to ramp up sales, even in a down economy.

A few final website design tips:

• Keep your design flexible enough so that you can add and change content later on.
• Include a plan for website maintenance and regular updates.
• Make sure the site is thoroughly tested on various operating systems and browsers to ensure full functionality.

Scribizzy offers website design services for small businesses. All projects are tailored to your business needs and specifications. Start your website project today by getting a quote online!

Scribizzy builds sites that have style, substance, and purpose. We specialize in small business website design, and our goal is to create a site that resonates with your target customers, a design that reflects your brand while showcasing your products and services.

All of our sites are built using a robust content management system, which allows you to log in and manage the content on your site. You’ll be able to add pages, alter the text, work with images. It’s as easy as using web-based email! So you don’t have to rehire us every time you want to make a small change to your site (although if you want to hire us to update your site, we’d be more than happy to oblige).

Because we’re dedicated to serving small business owners, we developed our website design services to be flexible and affordable. We’re also focused on delivering designs that resonate:

• Brand Consistency – a look that aligns with your business logo, image, and philosophy
• Customer-focused and user friendly – we create your website with your customers in mind
• Flexible – if you want to tweak or upgrade your design later, we won’t have to rebuild it from the ground up
• Manageable – you’ll be able to change the text and images on your site in minutes
• Affordable – we can work within your budget and deliver a professional site that’s also affordable

If you have a tight budget today, we can create a simple, cost-effective design for you. Since we use a flexible design system, you can start with the basics and upgrade your design later. In other words, we can build a site that will grow with your business, not a site that has to be rebuilt from the ground up every time you’re ready to expand.

Want to learn more? Visit our Website Design page. Ready to get your small business website design underway? Get a quote online.

If you ask someone what WordPress is, there’s a good chance they’ll tell you that it’s a blog platform, but it’s so much more than that.

Since it first hit the web in 2003 as a blog application, WordPress has evolved into a fully functioning content management system. It stores your content, keeps it organized, and makes your website easy to manage and navigate. Best of all, it’s free.

For those of us who once coded websites by typing HTML by hand, WordPress is a monumental blessing. It doesn’t have the same restrictions and complications that programs like FrontPage or Dreamweaver present because it’s highly customizable and flexible enough that a website designer can take full control of the design and layout while simultaneously giving consideration to the actual content.

About WordPress

Most website hosting providers offer one-click installation for WordPress. That means once you’ve signed up for hosting, getting WordPress installed on your website is just a click away. Only a few, outdated hosting providers still require manual installation, which involves uploading the WordPress files and database to the server on which the site is hosted.

The code and files include instructions that tell a browser how to display the WordPress website on the screen. This is done through WordPress themes, which are templates that drive the design and layout of each site.

The content of a WordPress site is managed online, from the WordPress control panel, which is as easy to use as web-based email. From the control panel, you can compose pages for your site as well as blog posts, and add media including text, images, audio, and video.

WordPress Themes

Often, people are turned off when they hear words like “themes” and “templates.” But WordPress themes can be customized to the point that they don’t even resemble the original look and feel, and there are an enormous variety of themes available.

Most people want a completely original and unique website, especially if they want their business to stand out from the crowd, so it’s understandable that themes or templates don’t sound too appealing. However, there are a number of benefits to using these themes on a website.

For example, many themes have certain standardized components. A navigation menu across the top of a website, a clickable header, and sidebars are familiar to website visitors and make them feel at home. This makes any website easy to navigate and therefore more attractive to visitors.

Also, since the themes are so customizable, it’s entirely possible to strip down a theme and make it look completely different. You can even start with your own design, find a theme that loosely resembles it, and then tweak the theme to match what you had in mind. Or, you can choose a theme you like and tweak it until it has a look and feel that satisfies you.

Some of the available themes are premium, and these you must pay for. However, most themes are free. Many premium themes are available via license through designers who have purchased the right to customize and resell the themes. If you have considerable HTML and CSS skills, you can learn how to customize a WordPress theme quickly and easily on your own. And if you don’t have those skills, you can simply hire someone to do it for you. Chances are, it will be a lot cheaper than hiring a website designer to code your site from scratch.

Problems with Traditional Websites

Traditional websites, which are coded with HTML, present a host of problems and frustrations for business owners:

• If you don’t know how to code your own site, you have to hire someone to do it for you, which means every time you need to make a change or update (no matter how small), you’re reliant on someone else. And you have to pay for it.
• Large amounts of content can be difficult to manage, add to a site, and keep track of without some kind of content management system.
• Small changes to a site’s structure could be costly and time-consuming. For example, you may need to change your URL structure to optimize the site for better search engine performance. That could be tedious and expensive for a larger site that’s not running on any kind of database.
• Designing a site from scratch without a theme or template costs more than customizing a theme because it takes a lot longer.
• It’s difficult to switch designers once your site is up and running. Because a WordPress site runs on a theme, if your designer is unavailable or unsatisfactory, you can easily find another who can update your site for you.

WordPress Benefits

WordPress solves many of the problems presented by traditionally coded websites:

• Once your WordPress theme customization is complete and your site is launched, you (or any of your employees) can quickly and easily add content or make changes. It’s literally as easy as composing email.
• WordPress uses a database to manage all of your content, and through the WordPress control panel, you can view and manage that content with great ease.
• With WordPress, changing the URL structure, for example, is just a matter of renaming pages or categories, and that can all be done in a matter of minutes.
• Because the site’s design starts from a theme and most coding is done by amending the style sheet, a WordPress website will probably be a lot less expensive than sites rendered the old-fashioned way. The code is already there and it just has to be customized.
• Once your site is up and running, anyone with knowledge of WordPress and themes can make changes to your design or content. This can be done from within the control panel.

In addition to solving problems that traditional website design presents, WordPress offers a host of perks:

• Plugins like All in One SEO make keyword optimization a breeze, and are easy to learn.
• Other plugins make website management much easier. Google Analytics plugin automatically installs on every single page of the site.
• Still more plugins make the site attractive to visitors, especially when your site includes a blog.
• WordPress tells you which other websites are linking to yours.
• Using categories and the blog feature, you can generate categorized blog posts or articles, which is a great way to communicate with your customers, connect with other professionals, demonstrate your expertise, establish credibility, build transparency, and generate content that will help your site perform well on search engines.

Website Design Solutions and WordPress

Of course, there are plenty of other content management systems out there and WordPress is not appropriate for all situations. Mammoth sites might need a more powerful (and costly) system. WordPress is ideal for small to medium sized websites and may even be appropriate for some large, content-oriented sites.

One of my favorite things about WordPress is that it allows you to grow your site so easily. I can continually add content, and WordPress handles it seamlessly. I don’t have to keep track of all my files, file naming conventions, folders, and directories. WordPress handles all that for me.

I also appreciate being able to update my site from any computer with an Internet connection as well as from my mobile phone. That definitely comes in handy.

But what is a domain name? What’s a host? How do you get these things and do you really need them?

In today’s market, the Internet is a force to be reckoned with. That’s why every business needs a website. It’s also why every business owner needs to understand what a website is, what it needs to succeed, and how ownership works. A domain name has everything to do with ownership.

What is a domain name?

A domain name is the address of a web site: www.yourdomain.com. When you own your domain, you can add subdomains and web pages to it.

A subdomain looks like this: www.subdomain.yourdomain.com

A page on your site might look like this: www.yourdomain.com/pages/information.html

Each of these is an address. The general address of a site is usually its domain. Another term often used for a web address is URL (Uniform Resource Locator).

Why does this matter?

Owning a domain is like owning a piece of real estate. It’s digital real estate, but it’s real estate, and it has a value, especially if you’re going to use it as your online business headquarters.

The reason this is important is that some web developers and website designers will offer to set up your domain for you. This is a reasonable service for them to provide, but you need to make sure that the ownership of your domain is in your name.

If the person you hire to manage or create your site owns the domain, they have complete control over it. Should your business relationship go sour or if anything happens to that person or the company they represent, they can take your site down with them (or just run off with it).

What about all those free sites?

Free sites are great for kids, amateurs, and folks who are testing the waters of the web. Having your own domain tells people that you take what you’re doing seriously.

You can register a domain for under $10 and get a pretty decent hosting package for under $120 a year. If you’re not willing to invest that much in your business and online presence, then people will take that as a sign that you’re not serious about what you’re doing – or they might assume you don’t know what you’re doing.

What’s a hosting service?

A website is basically a bunch of electronic files that are stored on a special computer called a server. The server is configured so that the files are accessible to people with internet access. A hosting service owns the servers where your website files sit and makes those files available to web users.

You own the files, you own the domain, the host owns the computers the files are stored on and all the technology that makes your site accessible to the web-viewing public.

So, how do I buy a domain and pick a hosting service?

One popular place to buy domains on the cheap is godaddy.com but I’ve never used them personally and can’t make an official recommendation. If you choose your hosting service first, you can purchase your domains through them. It’s a standard service that every hosting provider offers.

Also, some hosting companies have pretty good technical support – people you can call or email who will help walk you through the process. They may even have designers on their staff who can help you build your site. Another option would be to hire a professional designer to create your site and whoever you hire will be able take care of the technical details for you. As previously mentioned, just make sure you own the domain.

If you decide to seek out a host, take some time and do a little research first. There are plenty of reviews online but read them with caution and discretion because you never know – the hosting company themselves may have written the review or paid someone to write it for them. As with most products and services, nothing beats a good recommendation, so start asking around.

How to Choose a Domain Name

Unfortunately, there’s a good chance that your number one choice for a domain name won’t be available. Here are some things you can do if that’s the case:

• Check the site and see if it’s active and relevant. If it’s not, you may be able to contact the owner and make an offer to buy it.
• Consider using dashes (your-domain.com).
• Add another word to the title (professionalyourdomain.com or yourdomaininc.com).
• Use one of the alternate extensions such as .org or.net.
• Pick a different title and domain name.
• Make up a name or word (like I did).
• Purchase a domain name close to the title of your site or name of your business. For example if your site will be called “Your Site” but yoursite.com is taken, you might be able to purchase “yoursite360.com” and just call it “Your Site” anyway. The title of your site doesn’t have to be the same as the domain name. But you’ll still need to use the accurate URL or domain for links, business cards, etc.

Got Questions?

Learning how all this stuff works is confusing at first – especially for people who are new to doing business online. If you still have any questions after reading this, feel free to post them in the comments.

And good luck with your domain!

Some consider design to be a component of content, but it’s actually a separate consideration having to do more with aesthetics and branding than actual content, which is the information, images, and products or services that a site presents to its audience.

When you’re getting ready to launch or redesign your site, take your time, develop the content first, and seek out comprehensive, proven website design solutions to ensure that your site’s design is a success.

Let’s look at some basic considerations to keep in mind when you’re getting ready to design your website.

Content Development

Most web professionals agree that a site’s content should drive the design and not the other way around. Before you get started with design, develop a comprehensive content plan. Here are some questions to consider during the content development phase:

• Do you already have a logo? If not, you might want to get one before you start on your website design.
• What will be on your home page? Will it be image-driven or text-driven? The most effective home pages serve as an introduction to a site’s content.
• How many pages will the site have? Try to include the basics: home, about, contact, FAQ, and at least one page that describes your products or services.
• Will the site include a blog? Articles? Videos?
• How often will the site be updated or changed? Keep in mind that if you don’t make your own updates, you’ll have to pay someone every time a small change is made. Also, remember that the more frequently you update your site, the better your search engine rank will be.

Image and Branding

Your site should reflect your company image. Are you sleek and professional? Warm and friendly? Cutting edge? Your image is an essential part of your brand, and it should be reflected in everything that relates to your website and your company – from press releases to advertisements.

One of the most essential branding components is your logo. If you don’t have one, your website designer may be able to create one for you as part of your design package. Your logo should appear on your business card, website, in ads, and all other materials that you share, publish, or distribute.

If you start with a logo and company image, you’ll already have the foundations in place for your website. Design solutions come quickly and easily when a well-planned brand is already in place.

Traffic Generation

Before you design and launch your site, you should spend some time thinking about how you’ll draw traffic. Some websites draw all their traffic from search engines. If you plan on harnessing search engine traffic, you’ll want to optimize your site and that would be mean hiring a search engine optimization (SEO) expert. Website copywriting professionals (like me) often offer a variety of SEO services, including SEO copywriting.

You may also use directory listings, referrals, and advertisements. Your website copywriter can help with writing text ads and your website designer should be able to create image ads for you. Remember that any text or image ads that you use to promote your site should tie in with your brand and your design scheme.

If you have a handle on how you’ll draw traffic before you start working on the design, you can incorporate your ads or SEO into the content development and design plan. For example, if your online marketing plan includes a press release, article marketing, or newsletter, your website copywriter can work on these while writing your website copy. Everything will be coherent, written in the same tone, and it will all reflect your image and brand.

Finally, Bring in the Designer

First and foremost you need to figure out who is going to be generating your web site. Here are a few options:

• Design it yourself – If you already know web design, this is an obvious choice.
• Use WYSIWYG web design software – For the record, WYSIWYG stands for What You See is What You Get. This would include software such as FrontPage, which is relatively easy to use, especially for anyone familiar with the Microsoft Office suite of products.
• Use an automated site generator – Hosts such as Yahoo! provide automated tools, which are user friendly and walk you through the process of putting together a web page.
• Hire someone – You can hire a business or an independent professional (freelance web designer) to put your site together.
• Trade – If you can find a web designer who is in need of the products or services you offer, you can inquire about doing a trade.
• Get someone to do it for free – If you know someone who’s willing and able, ask away!

No matter who designs your site, you should take a look at some of their previous work to make sure that their style and skill level matches your design needs. You also need to understand that there’s more to design than the way a site looks. If your site will include e-commerce, for example, you may need a design team that includes a designer and a web programmer.

Before the site is built, you need to consider what you want it to look like. If you hire someone, they will ask you to outline your preferences in terms of color and layout, and they’ll need to know whether you have any images or links you want to display on the site. Be prepared to have a preliminary design plan.

In these times, a well-built website is critical to business success. Whether you’re starting a brand new site or revamping an existing one, don’t rush. Take the time to plan carefully so you save time and money later and get it done right the first time.