Why should I use a Professional Web Site Design company?

Dispite the lure of less expenses, selecting a cheap web designer may give you a cheap website. Don't do it!

By M. W. Carr

A professionally designed Web Site gives your web site visitors the confidence to use your services and to buy from you. It is affordable, easy and will make a great impression for your business if done with the proper web design company!

First Impressions Count

Potential customers make a snap decision about whether to work with you based on what they see on your web site. Can you afford not to have it done professionally? NO!

Would you dare consider to hire a high school student or college dropout to do your taxes and keep your business records? No!

Would you use them to market your business to your local community? No Again?

Then why would you even think you would do so for something as important as your web site? You should not...

What are the main types of options for websites?

There are plain, no fills types that have nothing much but words, no graphics. These are very straight to the point and can provide the information your customers want, but are not really eye appealing in any way.

There are simple websites, with some graphics, which provide both an eye appealing view as well as providing to your customers the information in which you are wishing to convey to them.

Many times, there are sites which have loads of graphics. They may or may not look as nice as one with less graphics, and can also have the desired information the business owner wishes conveyed. However, with the greater amount of graphics, the pages will load slower. You may ask yourself so what, you have a fast Internet connection, what's the problem. Well, yes your connection may be fast, but there are still millions of Internet users that do not have high speed connections, many are still using dialup service. They may have quite a wait if your site has loads of graphics, and definitely so if your website uses larger graphics files. If these are your potential customers, you are then turning many of them away ever day. In my book, this is a bad idea.

The final type we will discuss in this section, are websites using the modern nice graphics through the use of "Flash". These are usually very well done sites. However, you again must remember that your customers may not have a fast Internet connection, and these files may load slowly. Again, you risk losing customers.

So, what is the big deal about slow connections?

Typically, it is common that if your website page will not load fully for your customer in less than 20 seconds, you lost that customer. Think of it like having an automatic door opener on the front door of your business. However, the door opens so very slowly, and your customers must wait to get into your physical store. Your customers time is like yours, it is very important to them, and time is said to be money. So, if your not letting them in, they will go on down the street to your competitor. The same goes for your website.

What should I do then?

Ideally, the use of a simpler website with minimal use of graphics, enough to make it look nice and pleasing to the eye, coupled with high quality information about your business and or product/service and a good page layout is the best way to go for most businesses.

If you can afford to spend more on the "Flash" type website, you may wish to provide a dual option for the customer. After they get to your main Home page, give them the option to use either a "Flash page" or a "Standard page".

How much should I expect to pay?

This can be as complex as the type of website you setup. You can attempt to do it yourself or hire some high school kid for little of nothing. However, if you plan on utilizing the use of a professional web site designer, you should figure realistically anywhere from $500 to $5,000 and on up to $20,000 depending on your needs and what they offer in whatever package and the amount of work you expect to have done.

Personally, I would say having someone local to do it would be best, as they would then be able to personally visit with you, visit your storefront if you have one, and allow them a better opportunity to understand your business needs. This does not mean someone that is not local cannot do one for you and do it well, it may just take a bit more work to get it done as desired. Also, remember that you have to think of your budget as well. For "most" SOHO and small to mid sized businesses, they would not have the need or funding to create a high dollar web site of several thousands of dollars.

We here at North Texas Web Designs do business anywhere in the USA, but we love to specialize with businesses like us, in North Texas.

How many pages do I need?

Again, this will very from business to business. However, there are a few basic pages you should plan on always including in almost any website.

These pages should include the following as a starting point:

Home page; the first page your customer will usually see
About Us; a brief yet informative page about the history of your business
Contact Us; a brief page to let your customer know what different methods they can contact and do business with you
Terms of Service; what should the customer expect from using your site. What information do you gather about them, and what do you do with that information
Product or Services page; this would include information on the product(s) you offer, or the services, and can be very many pages if you have and wish to advertise many products or multiple services on-line.

I personally have had sites that were as small as about 4 pages, and one with over 850 pages. You as the business owner will need to talk with your web designer, and determine your needs based on your budget and your business needs.

If you would like a free initial consultation to discuss your web site needs, please feel free to give me a call . . .

Michael W. Carr has been designing websites for over 12 years. He daily reasearches Search Engine Optimazation practices and market. Contact him at: voice mail number 469-449-9994 or email him at or visit his website NorthTexasWebDesigns
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