Guest author: Mark Andrew Harris
Web Design Can Make Or Break a Business
Web Design Can Make Or Break a Business By Mark Andrew Harris
Regardless of the industry or the size of a business, there is little doubt that failure to have an internet presence can be devastating to any business. Even those that conduct no business over the internet need to realize that most consumers are now heading online to find information about everything under the sun and if they can find information not necessarily about your business, then about the service or products you provide, they may be more inclined to stop by your shop.
Many of the larger retailers that have most of their sales through their traditional stores, have an online site. In addition to sales, many customers use these sites to get information about products, comparing different makes and models before they head out to the store to make their final purchase. For these customers, it is more convenient to make these comparisons from the comfort of their own home than while standing in a crowded department. The design of the website needs to serve two main purposes, first to be easily found and second to be easily navigated. The landing page, or the main page of the website needs to be clean, neat and orderly just as a customer would find a friendly brick and mortar store. While many designers are coming up with interactive sites with all types of graphics and animations that are really impressive to look at, if they take too long for a potential customer to load at home, they are going to waste a lot of time. Businesses need to realize that not every consumer has broadband access and with some websites, it can take too long to download through a dialup connection, leaving the business inaccessible to a large segment of the internet society. Most web users are looking for things to be available almost instantly and if a page goes into the fourth or fifth second to open, chances are the user is going to close it down and move to the next company on the internet search results page.
Consistency is another major part of web design and the internet site should be consistent with the business profile that is seen offline. If the brand has an established color scheme, the same colors need to be used in its web design to remain consistent with its brand. The same logo in the same size ratios to the rest of their online building will leave little doubt among web a user as to what company the site belongs.
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