1. You want your home page design to reflect your type of business instantly and obviously, since users are quick to move on without looking if they don't see what they want. I always find that keeping your web design simple and to the point is always best.
2. You can use flash but this should be limited to where necessary, for example to bring your logo to life or to bring the user's attention to a particular point you want to make, like 'sale items' or new product' etc. Do not use flash as a gimmick (ie to follow the curser about) as this is annoying for serious users and they will soon leave your site for a more professional alternative. Overuse of Flash is the worst web design mistake I see used.
3. Include information about your product on the home page so that the search engines will pick up your site. Don't make this information too involved but include as much as you can, set out within sensible text.
For example a design company may say -'We offer dynamic web design to suit all pockets that include: Shopping carts with online payments; Back office options so that you can update daily; Login facilities; Flash to make your website come alive.'
This should include keywords related to your business that are likely to be searched, for example for a web design company you should include the phrase ‘web design’ as frequently as possible, while still using sensible sentences.
4. You should have a clear idea of what you need. Do you want to take payments online? Do you have products that change often like say an estate agents who need to update daily or are you offering a service like a web designer where talking to your client is important or are you selling widgets where orders online are better for you as they save you time. This should be done before you contact your web designer, as it will help you to be more accurate so the web designer can provide you with the exact design you were hoping for.
5. Many shopping carts are off the shelf packages that do many things. But be aware that often they are complicated and contain lots of things that most small businesses do not need. They are difficult to change and so will probably not be suitable if you are fairly new.
6. Having an admin area is always advisable since this means that you can update your site when you want, not when your web designer can fit you in. Also it means that as your business expands you can easily get an employee to input the data for you without interfering with your website design. It may start out as more expensive but will save you lots of money in the long run since you are not having to pay out web designer fees to update your website continually.
7. Use a professional web design company. Not all web designers offer dynamic websites and others use off the shelf shopping carts and templates so that if you want to change anything they will not be able to. Also some web designers will ask for the whole fee up front. This is unfair, although to pay your web designer some money up front is to be expected.
8. It is best to get the web design company to help with your marketing. They should know the best ways to get your website seen. But be warned, there are no short cuts to getting to the top of search engines. It takes hard work, so the more you want, the more it will cost and it still will not happen overnight. Some companies claim that they can get your site to the top of search engines using special methods but this is rarely true. Good web design is the key to getting to the top of search engines, so you must work with your web designer to achieve the best search engine results.
9. Pay per click advertising is a good way to get your site seen quickly but it can be expensive so you need to do your figures. Ask your web designer or visit the major search engines for more details.
10 Make money from your site by putting sponsored ads on your site. This will help you to recoup some of the outlay you have made, although you should make sure your website design is not ruined by too many adverts, or distracting banner ads.
