Designing Your Home Business Website

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Home Business Web Design

If you would like to do business on the Internet, having your own home business web site is an absolute must. However, deciding on the type of web site you'd like to create can be difficult.

Mini Website Or Content Site?

You will basically have two choices - develop a mini site or a content site. Mini sites are very popular and highly effective, as they tightly focus on just one product. Content sites also work well, but they are typically used to sell several different products in the same niche. Content sites sell by educating your visitors, while mini sites are direct sales sites.

Once you have decided on the type of site you'd like to develop, and the products you will be offering, you can then design your site around the products. The important thing to remember is that every part of your web site should have one specific purpose - to get your potential customers to take action and purchase your product.

Let's look at some of the key components of a professional web site.

Navigation

A very important part of designing a great web site is the navigation. If your customers can't easily navigate your site, and they can't find your products, you won't be making many sales. Place your navigational links at the top, side and bottom of your web pages.

Your Store Front

Although the main page of a personal web site is known as a home page, the main page of a business web site is known as the store front. It is vitally important that your store front page load as quickly as possible when a potential customer arrives at your web site. It should also give the visitor a good idea as to exactly what you're offering.

Your Internet Store

When designing your store front, less is more. Instead of trying to place all of your information within your main page, create sections for each type of information and include a small sample of the information within each section. You can then link to additional information on separate pages.

Graphics and Business Wen Design

To keep your web page load time down, avoid using large graphics, a large number of graphics, animations, special effects, and large page sizes. If your web page takes too long to load, your visitors certainly won't waste much time waiting, which will result in lost sales.

Web Site Enhancement

There are many ways you can enhance your web site without using a lot graphics. For example, you can use special ASCII Character Codes to add colored bullets to your links and many other characters. In addition, you can use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and/or HTML tables to add color to your pages in many ways, such as highlighting, background colors, and section dividers. A good rule of thumb in regard to graphics is if they don't somehow enhance your page, it's best to not include them.

Using Tables

Although there are many people now using CSS to design their web pages, most still use HTML tables. When using tables, try placing your heading text above your table, and your most important keyword phrase in the top, left portion of your page for higher Search Engine ranking.

Screen Resolutions

When designing your web pages, it is very important that you test the pages to see how they look in different screen resolutions (visit AnyBrowser). The resolution is determined by the number of pixels the monitor is capable of displaying. Not all monitors are created equally, and your page needs to look good when viewed with different monitors and browsers.

Test Your New Web Designs

To ensure your page will display properly when viewed through different browsers, instead of using fixed widths in your tables, use percentages. This will enable the tables to display based on a percentage of the screen size.

Background and Text Colors

When selecting your web page colors, it is very important that you select your colors very carefully, as colors can affect your mood and will also have an effect on your visitors.

Selecting Colors For A Website

A great way to select your colors is to do so based upon the type of effect you'd like to achieve.

For example, if you're looking for a cheerful or happy effect, use bright colors, such as orange or yellow. If you'd like a calming effect, use purple or blue. However, dark colors, such as black and brown may have a depressing effect and should probably be avoided.

Keep It Simple

Although you may be tempted to use fancy backgrounds and colored text, this makes the text very difficult to read and should be avoided. It is always best to use a white background with black text. However, there are a few exceptions for using text colors, such as headings, sub-headings and emphasizing certain words.

Learn Web Design First

Take some time to educate yourself about web design, Search Engine optimization, and Internet marketing prior to developing your web site, as each will play an important part in your success.

The most important thing to remember when building your web site is that your site's main focus must be your product. Every part of your web site should have one specific purchase - to lead your visitors to your sales page.

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Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed beginner web design series, Web Design Mastery -- an in-depth guide to professional web design that is rapidly becoming known as the "Bible" for professional web design.