How to Build a Website for Your Small Business

How to Build a Website for Your Small Business

It is easy to build a website for your small business .

Most consumers look on the internet before going to a store. Sometimes it is their only stop: they research, compare and buy online. It goes without saying then that for a small business to reach its potential market, it should have an internet presence.

Small business operators do not often have a dedicated IT person on staff – in the past this is the person who would be given the job of building a website. It’s great news then that there are now beginner-friendly website building packages on the market which are perfect for the small businessperson’s use.

If you can use a word processor you will be able to use most modern web site builders. You simply type on the page as you normally would when writing an email.

The tutorials provided with almost all software suppliers take the novice through the process of building a website in a non-technical, easy to understand way. Having completed the tutorial, one is equipped with more than enough knowledge to launch straight into a website build.

Not all website software programs are easy to use. Small business operators do not need fully blown web design industry solutions due to the steep learning curve. One feature to look for is a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editor. This simply means you type on the page as you see it.

There are expenses involved in publishing your own website – you get nothing for nothing. Apart from the cost of the software (there are free web builders however they are more difficult to use or too basic in features), a small business (or an individual or a large company) will need to register a domain name (less than ) and find a web hosting service (around per month).

Setting up a merchant account with someone like Paypal (free)is something businesses should consider. Having a third party handle financial transactions is always reassuring for consumers and takes away an administration burden. As soon as an order is placed you will receive an alert from the merchant. You can then arrange shipping – or in the case of digital products – automate the delivery.

In any small business time is money, and the time spent learning a new skill like website building with easy to use software must be seen as a good investment. It is possible to build multiple websites so that you can have a website network feeding a central business. This is ideal for multi-brand retailers and multi-branch operators. Having the ability to be flexible with your online presence will be an advantage to the savvy business owner.

Because you have built and are managing your website yourself, you are able to instantly react to changing trends and new opportunities. Avoid delays by not having to wait for your webmaster to make changes. Fresh content on your website is highly desirable.

Some website programs are specifically designed to assist the business person become an internet business marketer, and as your knowledge of web design grows, the more you will value search engine optimization and site map generation tools. Having a correctly designed site map helps search engines easily match your site to search requests.

If you decide to look at other ways to earn money through your website without doing a thing, you will no doubt look at including on your site some affiliate marketing and advertisements from non compete companies.

Features to look for:

An active help desk to support you is important. Also you will need instructional videos to shorten the learning curve. Look for testimonials from other business owners to see how they have applied the software.

Getting started is the next step once you arrive at the conclusion that a website is no longer a luxury – it is essential!

Building a website for your business is a major priority. Try this business web site builder software



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Question by Stacie!: Where is a website to build free websites?
My friends and I are wanting to do a little book review website for a project of ours. We just want a free website building page. Thanks!

Best answer:

Answer by jackson schellhorn
websightcreator

or buy microsoft web creator

What do you think? Answer below!

This video is part 2 of 2 in which I start from the very beginning on how quick and easy it is to put up a website or blog with WordPress. It can’t get any easier than this. For part 2, check my YouTube channel at www.youtube.com For more cool websites and tips, check out www.internetriot.com

Building a Web Site For Dummies® Reviews

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Web Design Vs Functionality

Web Design Vs Functionality

The debate of design vs functionality is highly important in the web design community, and open to much discussion. Ultimately it seems a balancing act between creating a visually impressive website without jeopardising the usability is essential.

If the website seems to be tricky to navigate then customers are likely to leave the site altogether, which defeats the object of having a web presence to promote your company and increase sales in the first place.

After some research we have discovered that functionality goes hand in hand with knowing your target audience. This is key to the design of the entire site, as designers will need to make the website accessible and appealing to this market.

For example, a website built for information or to promote services to the older generation of online user’s needs clarity, bold navigation which easily guides the viewer through the website and doesn’t alter from page to page – both of which will reassure the user. Coupled with this a predictable and logical layout, with a design that compliments the content, are also required.

Evidently this particular generation of web users will utilise websites such as the BBC, NHS or an ecommerce site like John Lewis, which all ensure functionality takes precedence over groundbreaking website designs.

For the younger target audience or the design community, an opportunity to be creative and experiment with the parameters of web design is present. They can either be for an individual bespoke client or a portfolio site.

Some of the most innovative designs are evident in portfolio sites especially for creative industries, obviously website design as well as graphic design, fashion, illustration, film and photography.

Design takes priority over the functionality here, as the designer will presume that the target audience is web savvy and capable of exploring the site with a keen eye, quickly familiarising themselves with the style and order in which the site is to be viewed in.

The user is prompted and stimulated with clever uses of flash galleries and the use of jQuery in the navigation, content and layout – all contributing to the interactivity of the site. Because of these elements it could potentially alienate the older web community from viewing a site like this, but because the designer knows the target audience this allows a free rein to showcase their skills and create a unique and exceptional website unlike anybody else’s.

There is an expectation within the design community that when you design your own portfolio website that it will be brimming with design, with functionality almost a secondary concern as the aesthetics are key. Tools such as nifty drop downs allow the site to be minimalistic yet pleasing on the eye.

So discussions of design vs functionality remain open to debate, but discovering and understanding your target audience seems a constant theme throughout. This allows the designer to gauge the balance between web design and functionality, and which should take priority.

Web Design KC specialises in designing functional and attractive websites – with the latest search engine optimisation tactics incorporated as standard – in Birmingham, Solihull and the rest of the West Midlands.

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Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems

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It’s been known for years that usability testing can dramatically improve products. But with a typical price tag of ,000 to ,000 for a usability consultant to conduct each round of tests, it rarely happens.

In this how-to companion to Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, Steve Krug spells out an approach to usability testing that anyone can easily apply to their own web site, application, or other product. (As he said in Don’t Make Me Think, “It’s not rocke

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HTML for the World Wide Web with XHTML and CSS, Fifth Edition

As both the Web and the browsers used to navigate it mature, work-arounds that compensate for the myriad factors that affect Web page appearance no longer cut it. Users expect Web pages to look beautiful regardless–and with the Fifth Edition of this popular Visual QuickStart Guide, you can make your Web pages comply. By following the generously illustrated, step-by-step instructions that are the hallmark of the Visual QuickStart series, you’ll create beautiful code that works consistently acros

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Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click?

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“While you’re reading Neuro Web Design, you’ll probably find yourself thinking ‘I already knew that…’ a lot. But when you’re finished, you’ll discover that your ability to create effective web sites has mysteriously improved. A brilliant idea for a book, and very nicely done.”
— Steve Krug, author of Don’t Make Me Think!
A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Why do people decide to buy a product online? Register at your Web site? Trust the information you pr

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Question by Selvakumar V: How to collect web design requirements from customer?
I planned to do web design projects at my own. I need to interact with the customer & need to collect requirements from them and I will design web pages for them. Please help me to make it well.

Best answer:

Answer by Akira Matsushima
The most effective way to obtain the requirements is through interviews. Make an appointment with you customer and ask them what they want on their website. Prepare the questions well in advance.
Type of questions:

1. Functional Requirements
– This basically tells you what the website should do and how does it functions.
– Example: What the website do? What is it for? What function should be there?

2. Non-Functional Requirements
– This is not about the functionality of the website rather than it relates to how should the website looks and anything that is not in the functional side.
– This requirements if it is not done the website will still function perfectly as it was intended to.
– Example: Whats the website layout? Whats the color theme? What is the tolerable amount of time for the website to response to a request.

These are some basic yet the most important requirements you need to know.
You can always search at Yahoo! and Google for a more detailed design/software/ website requirement document sample and template.

Give your answer to this question below!

How to Build Free Websites

How to Build Free Websites

If you have few web design skills or none whatsoever and want create an online presence, website templates are perhaps the best option for you. There are many services offering professional-quality website templates for free, enabling you to build your own, fully-functional site in just a few minutes.

In most cases, these free templates have been designed by highly experienced professionals who appreciate the fact that users may want a design that is so easy to use, that all they would need to do is to drag and drop the elements to build their own free website. Essential tasks, such as the coding, design and layout are all taken care of, allowing users to concentrate on putting together an easy-to- edit, professional-looking website with no need to learn any complicated computer programming language.

With free website templates, all you have to do is to select a theme, choose a name for your site, add your logo,  input your images and text and make your new website live. Yes, it’s that simple! A beautifully designed, professional-quality and easily navigable website, using free templates can take as little as five minutes. It doesn’t matter whether you’re hoping to build a website as an individual, a small business or a commercial enterprise, as long as you can customize a free website template, you’ll be able to get online and start receiving visitors or customers within a short time.

As web templates are fully tested by experienced web designers before they’re offered to the general public, the chances of ending up with software bugs or errors in the computer code are very small. This would be a great benefit to anyone with no experience of HTML, PHP, CSS or any other programming language.

The alternative to creating a website using a template is to get a professional designer to build one for you or to do it yourself. However, there will be cost or time considerations with either option. Some professionals may charge you hundreds or even thousands for a bespoke design, depending on the complexity of the website. A do-it-yourself approach by an inexperienced web designer could lead to a range of problems, including having the menu appear on the  wrong side of the page or the site not appearing online at all after supposedly publishing it to the internet!

With web templates, you can see from the very beginning what your page will look like, plus there are thousands of varied layouts to choose from. Furthermore, if you want to modify a template design, it is easy to do, without the need to ask for someone else’s help. Web templates also help you to appreciate some of the design and layout techniques in a professional website, with the potential for you to perhaps consider going on a  training course in the future.

Despite the instant appeal of free website templates, one thing to bear in mind is that they will not be personal to you. The basic design and layout of a template is highly likely to be accessible by other people, so there’s a real possibility that someone else may choose the same website template design as you. That said, a good website template, whether free or paid-for, will be flexible enough for you to easily rearrange or add features to make the site unique. With some website template packages, you have the potential to create literally tens of thousands of design combinations!

Website templates are the perfect solution for people who have no web design experience or who can’t afford to pay a professional designer to build a site for them. Even if you do have a little experience in web design, choosing a website template could be a great opportunity to showcase your creative skills by customizing it to create a content-rich and user-friendly website with the potential to attract many thousands of visitors…/

About the Author:


The author writes articles on free website. For more information about web design, create websites, hosting, templates and sitemaker, new launch, web pages made easy can be found on the net.

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The Photographer’s Website Manual: How to Build and Run a Photographic Website

The worldwide web is an important promotional and presentation tool available to contemporary photographers, and this manual aims to show, step by step, how photographers can make the most of it. It covers building or improving websites, ensuring traffic is driven to your site, ensuring your images are well-presented on-line and income generation from the website. It also shows how to find the information you need to gain web success on the web. Using tried and tested techniques throughout, and

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Question by Sinner: How can I build a very easy-to-use website? I need a template to edit?
I will voluntarily create a website for a cultural organisation and then I will leave this country. I need to build a website for them so that these people can add new text or pictures after me because they dont know anything about website building. I need to show them easily.

I need something like sites.google. It will be my last option.

Best answer:

Answer by Fun G
Definitely, Google Site is pretty good choice for newbie and it’s free.
http://sites.google.com/
However, if you wanted to make a professional site look, you can consider this 3-In-1 program, it’s easy to use and the functions more than Google, you can upload image gallery & video, set up the membership form, calender event …etc. your site have own Meta Tag to enhance SEO .
You don’t have to download the software, the program builder doing online. So you or they can create the site with member password login.
There has technician support team work in 24/7 if after they need help with it.http://www.securepaynet.net/hosting/website-builder.aspx?ci=1806&prog_id=LovelyApple

What do you think? Answer below!

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Charlotte Web Design Link Tips

Web Design
by ocjess

Charlotte Web Design Link Tips

It is no secret that links play a valuable part in assisting the boost of a web sites ranking in search engines, such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Whether incoming, external/outgoing or internal, all links help you in some type of way. Read over the list below to understand links.

A link strategy that places a web site as an authority in a web community or neighborhood can be a powerful way to catch the attention of the search engines.
Links from web pages with a low PageRank can harm your own web site. Be cautious of these sites or you will be punished as well.
Typically all incoming links to a web site hold some kind of significance.
Links that your web site content has more in common work best for your ranking.
The best kinds of links are the ones that include appropriate keywords. These words tell search engines what the referenced web site is about.
Links from sites related to yours are often more valuable than links from unrelated sites. (Because the relevancy software is almost certainly imprecise, this isn’t always the case.)
Try to monitor your links for proficient linking.
When your content changes, be sure to modify links on your web site.
It is recommended to create a link strategy and a link structure to better increase traffic flow to your web site.
Hire a professional search engine optimization company if you are unsure about links.

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Designing Web Navigation: Optimizing the User Experience

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Thoroughly rewritten for today’s web environment, this bestselling book offers a fresh look at a fundamental topic of web site development: navigation design. Amid all the changes to the Web in the past decade, and all the hype about Web 2.0 and various “rich” interactive technologies, the basic problems of creating a good web navigation system remain. Designing Web Navigation demonstrates that good navigation is not about technology-it’s about the ways people find information, and how you guide

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Fresher Styles for Web Designers: More Eye Candy from the Underground

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Fresher Styles for Web Designers surveys eight innovative, contemporary visual design styles that break the mold and offer creative solutions to a variety of interactive design challenges.  Readers will learn practical ways to incorporate these design approaches into their commercial work, using specific online examples as illustration.  

In 2001, Cloninger wrote Fresh Styles for Web Designers, arguing that beauty actually enhances usability.  Since then, styles and technologies have e

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Web Design Index 7 (Pattern & Design Collection)

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Dreamweaver CS4: The Missing Manual

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When it comes to building professional websites, Dreamweaver CS4 is capable of doing more than any other web design program — including previous versions of Dreamweaver. But the software’s sophisticated features aren’t simple. Dreamweaver CS4: The Missing Manual will help you master this program quickly, so you can bring stunning, interactive websites to life.

Under the expert guidance of bestselling author and teacher David McFarland, you’ll learn how to build professional-looking webs

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Question by Inquisit: What’s the best web-design program that I can use to design a website?
I need to learn how to design a web-site. I am planning to start this as a hobby and if all goes well, maybe even start a side job as a web-designer. What type of program should I learn? Is Microsoft FrontPage still good to use or is it no longer up-to-speed with other leading web-designing programs.

What other types of programs are out there that will help me with website design. Do you think Macromedia is a good choice? I know it’s a bit steep in price but I figure if I am to invest the time to learn the ‘difficult’ program, time is money, why be shy on one and not the other.

What about Adobe? Do they have a web-designing software?

Please share your thoughts. I really need the help.

Best answer:

Answer by Rodiak
If you know completely nothing about web design or know only a little then Microsoft FrontPage is a fine start. However for more advanced options you’ll need Adobe Macromedia Dreamweaver and it better be combined with Adobe Macromedia Flash and Adobe Photoshop.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

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