Never underestimate the power of the internet. An increasing
number of people use the internet to search for a business or
service so having a web presence is an important media for
promoting your company. Web design is a real skill and if your
website is to not only look good but work well, it should be
constructed by a professional web designer.
Have you noticed these days that so many websites all look the
same - square box in the middle of the screen? That's because
it's fairly easy and cheap to use the many templates available
to build a simple website. There are many web designers or
friends of a friend out there that will offer to do you a
website for a few hundred pounds but there are many technical
issues to consider to ensure really professional results.
A good website should have the following attributes: Strong
corporate identity User friendly navigation Quick to download A
useful resource Expandable - needs to incorporate technology
that allows scalability Visually attractive to encourage usage
Must work in all browsers on all computers PC and MAC Good
investment / value for money Search engine friendly
Remember that first impressions count and a badly designed
website is worse than having no website at all. You wouldn't get
a friend of a friend to do your company brochures or service
your nice new car you would go to a specialist, so why take the
risk and compromise on quality with your website.
A well designed website with good graphics and strong corporate
branding will last for years and should be a good investment for
your company. Updating the content is simple and inexpensive.
You can start with a small but well designed website that fits
within your budget. The key is to ensure that your website is
expandable so that as your business grows it can be added to -
you may even wish to add a database or e commerce functionality
at a later stage.
We believe that Flash is really designed for use in the
entertainments industry and we do not recommend using it on a
business website. Even with the increasing availability of
broadband Flash can be very irritating for users, it serves no
purpose, it can detract attention away from the important
messages on your website and it will adversely affect your
search engine rankings. Strong visual affects can be achieved
using other methods.
Using HTML is the most popular and cost effective way to design
a website. These can include original graphic designs and are
text driven to incorporate relevant search terms, which is good
for getting your site recognised by search engines.
DYNAMIC websites incorporate a database and offers more user
functionality. A dynamic website can be classed as a web
application and is a powerful tool for gathering and providing
data for your customers who will be able to log in and search
the site quickly for information. If you require a dynamic
database driven web design you will have to budget for the back
end coding required to build the database. This will be more
expensive than a HTML site and will need specialist hosting. As
a less expensive alternative it is possible to build a HTML site
which links to a third party database which you can access
through your existing ISP.
An E-COMMERCE WEBSITE is an online secure shopping facility so
that customers can purchase your goods by credit card over the
web.
graphic design
Edinburgh and
web
design Scotland
About the author:
John Lewis is a multimedia designer who specialises in producing
interactive CD Rom, original
graphic design
Edinburgh and
web
design Scotland
