Do's and Don'ts of Launching a Small Business Website

Launching a small business website can seem like an enormous task ,although it does require some research, if done right it might be just the marketing tool your business needs. The road to a website is filled with website designers, website developers and graphic designers. This in itself is very confusing. A website designer is someone who produces the design. A website developer is someone who creates more of the program side to your websites rather than the actual design. Nowadays most website designers are also developers. A graphic designer is the person who makes the images at the top of web pages, the buttons, and menus on a website. The whole process should not be so difficult and full of surprises. Therefore the 6 Do's and Don’ts should be a great start to help you launch your small business website.

Don't concentrate on images and how pretty your site will be. Remember that your sites' purpose is to answer your customers questions and inform your customers of what you have to offer, such as services and products. Don't use too many images because if your site is so "new age" a lot of people will not be able to navigate and find their way around it therefore they will get frustrated and not stay on your site and that would defeat the sites purpose.

Don't compare web designers by their price. Not all web designers are created equal. You must not only compare the price but the type of service you will require such as internet marketing and updates, will they continue to create the site until you are satisfied, and can they write the content. Some designers will create you a site and mail you a CD with the files and you will then have to figure it out on your own how to get it on the web. Others will help you choose a domain and a hosting company, upload your files to your site, and will write your content. Writing on the web is different from writing in print. A good content writer will know what to say to keep your visitors on your site. Keep these things in mind when choosing a web designer.


Don't hire a web designer until you are ready. Once you are finished shopping around for a web designer, do make sure you have purchased a domain name, hosting, have a general idea of what you would like your site to look like and written your content, if you will be doing this yourself. This is important! Web designers work virtually, that is directly on-line (through the Internet). You might not actually ever meet them. This style of work is very different from working face to face and have times set up as to when you will meet. It actually benefits you, the designer can get your website on-line faster. Therefore it is important for the web designer to have all your information. If they have to wait a week or so for you website content then you will be pushed to the back burner.



Do request a quote from a few web designers before you decide on one. Once you have looked at some websites find a few who you like and request a quote from them. Explain that you are interested in a website, explain a little bit about your business, how many pages would your site need and what are other services you would need from them. Ask them to send you a price detailing what would be included. Understand that this is a quote and if you are requesting any other additional services there will be an additional cost although designers will usually let you know beforehand.


Do plan on keeping your site up-to-date. Keeping your site updated keeps your customers coming back to either find out what's going on with your company or about new promotions or sales. It also gives your customers the impression that you care about keeping them informed and that you value their business. The benefit of having a website is it's easy to update and don't cost much. Usually a web design firm will have special packages for updates. Find a designer who also can provide updates and when your site is finished discuss an update schedule and what they can suggest to keep your site looking fresh.

Do find a designer who specializes in small business. Small design firms understand the needs of another small business and are more likely to be more personal with your questions. A big design firm might have 5 people working on your website and they might not all have gotten the e-mail that stated what you want. Whereas a small design firm would have one person working on your site with whom you communicate directly.

This guide to launching a small business website is just the tip of the iceberg. The best thing is always know what you are going to receive in return for your hard earned cash. Make sure that your website is like an investment and that you are actually going to receive a return on your investment. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions! Most designers will answer most of your questions, no problem.

Web Don’ts – Don’t Frustrate Your Visitors

Web Development – a Complex Task

We are living in a real eBusiness era with more and more companies realizing the importance of having an online presence. Yet, these companies still don’t understand that the Internet is more than just a global network connecting billions of computers. Internet has succeeded in doing what power and territory-hunger rulers were only dreaming about. Internet defines and unites the global village.

It is this village opening new ways for commerce, and with the milliard inhabitants out there, the competition is harsh and the struggle for first positions in major search engines makes it even harder for many low-budget eBusinesses to deliver what the Internet users are really looking for: quality content in an adequate package.

As content is “food” for the search engines too, it is vital for the web designers to find a balance between substance and design, in order to keep both the robots and the users happy. So far this seems to be a distant ideal, since web designers seem not to be able to focus on both of the issues. This is where the idea of SEO expert comes in handy. Yet, because paying a small fortune on SEO and another on web design doesn’t sound very appealing to low budget eBusinesses, there are companies offering an “all in one” solution: graphic design, coding, programming, content management, marketing and SEO – and they call this web development.

The question is: can big results be achieved with little money? Not really, but it is not impossible to keep it up with some of the most experienced developers if the basic rules are respected. Many new Internet entrepreneurs believe that all they need to do is to put up a web site. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A web site can mean the difference between success and failure. While time, money and experience are needed to achieve astonishing results, basic principles are the ones keeping a website away from failure.

Major Don’ts

First rule when you create a web site is: do not frustrate your visitors.

Difficult navigation is what drives away more than 87 % of the Internet users. So if you have to be innovative, try it another way, not by creating impossible menus and confusing layouts. Brand your web site. Respect your visual standards used in your offline activities. Don’t use different colours and styles for each web page. Consistency is what you need to be easily remembered later.

The design is one of the most powerful tools a web site has. It tells the surfer how professional your business is. Don’t use annoying flashing banners, blinking texts or arrows. Keep it simple, easy to read. Decent.

As an Internet user yourself you’ve probably experienced the frustration of waiting for a web page to load. This happens with most of the flash sites but also with other graphic-based web sites. Slow downloading is what drives away more than 84 % of the Internet users, according to NetSmart.

Unless you have a world-known web site everyone dies to visit, forget the flash idea. Don’t get this wrong, flash is a great technology, perfect for astonishing online presentations, but when it comes to the first page of your web site, you’d better find another way to amaze your visitors. With more than 85 percents of users out there having flash plug-ins, there are still the 15 percents that don’t. So try not to ignore a minority.

Be sure your visitors are able to find enough information about your company, your services and products and make sure they are able to contact you if they need. The information should be actual and up to date, unless you run a history web site. Try to offer interesting content, as more than 50 % of the visitors tend to walk away if the text is boring. Write and design with your visitors in mind.

Don’t use “under construction” or “coming soon” pages. Your visitors will hate you if you do. If you are not ready with the content, just don’t publish that page.

Don’t use pop-ups – they are as annoying as blinking images, or maybe worse. Google, Yahoo, and Earthlink… they all provide toolbars with pop-up blockers. Have you ever wondered why? That’s right: because people hate them. If you really want to point out a new great service or product you provide, than try to attract your visitor’s attention another way. Create a “What’s New” category for instance – and keep it actual if you do.

Make sure your web site is compatible with all the browsers. Forget the “best viewed with” idea. People will walk away instead of changing their browser to view your site.

There are many other don’ts when it comes to web development. Point is if you stick to the basics you stay away from failure. And success will come along, in little steps.