The World Wide Web was released to the public in the early 90’s. It wasn’t until 1996 that the usage of the word “Internet” became a commonplace for most people. The Internet, sometimes called simply “the Net,” is an international system of computer networks that allows users to send and receive information from other computers (Rhie). This concept influenced many corporations to expand their services worldwide by developing an online presence through the implementation of a company website. It was only a matter of time before the Internet became a global marketplace for virtually everything. Investors and business owners began buying web space and hiring web designers to develop their online web presence. Having a professionally designed business website is an important component of success for any company doing business in the 21st century.
Registering a strategic domain is one of the most fundamental steps in the early developing stages of a professional website. A domain is a unique name assigned to an IP Address that identifies an internet website (MacDonald). It can make or break the success of any company trying to establish an online identity. When choosing a domain name it is important to incorporate the company’s brand name or key phrases that correspond to that business. This allows customers to easily access the company website directly or through any major search engines. An efficient domain name is easy to remember and works well with TV and Radio advertising. The most common domains are “.com”, “.net”, and “.org”. Competition for domain space is higher than ever since the average cost has dropped dramatically. The longer consumers wait to purchase their online web space, the more likely the domain name they want will already be taken.
Competition is so high that every single 3-character “.com” domain name has already been registered (Hayward).A professionally designed business website must be both aesthetically pleasing and encompass a strategically designed page layout. If the look and feel does not appeal to a potential customer, they are most likely going to leave, never to be seen again. It is important that the sites navigation structure is featured on every page of the website and is in a location that the user can easily identify.
This allows potential customers to access the information they are looking for without becoming frustrated. Today’s professionals use third party web application software like Adobe Dreamweaver to achieve that professional look along with a structurally sound design. The use of template based layouts allows for complex navigation structures and advanced page features. Professional web designers also use the latest web markup language to produce fully customized websites. Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, are a series of instructions that specify how text should appear on a Web page. You can use CSS to set specific styles for text, borders, and other elements, and apply these styles to your entire Web site (Nigrerio). The importance of using CSS instead of standard HTML Markup language is endless.
Cascading style sheets offer the highest amount of customization, along with faster loading times and cross-browser compatibility. Cross-browser refers to the ability for a website, web application, HTML document or client-side script to support multiple web browsers (Geraci). In lemans terms, a website designed in CSS will be displayed properly on different browsers, operating systems, and mobile devices. This is useful to any business that offers products or services to a wide variety of customers. Fast loading times is another key component for any professional website. Although most users today use cable, DSL, or broadband, it is important that the customer doesn’t wait. Since CSS uses about half the amount of text compared to a regular HTML document, the page is loaded much faster.
This leaves room for higher quality images and other media solutions to be incorporated into the design. However, even the most attractive, fast loading, and cross-browser compatible websites are not successful unless they can be found online.A website is not complete until it is considered to be search engine friendly. After the final build of a website is complete it is important for the website to undergo MTM. Meta Tag Marketing is the process of fine tuning the content of a site along with the html and meta tags so that it can be found in the search engines. (Mark) This allows a website to establish a higher rank under certain keywords and key phrases that pertain to your business. Having a website that is not search engine friendly is like having a billboard advertisement in the middle of the woods, no one is going to see it. MTM allows a business to move higher on the search engines to increase qualified traffic to their website.
The more traffic being driven to a website significantly increases the chances of a potential customer purchasing services and referring more unique visitors.A strategic domain name, cascading style sheet design, and search engine optimization implementation are three key components to a professionally designed business website. Once these elements are combined, it is just a matter of time before the true benefits of having a website are revealed.Everything from the latest news to celebrity gossip can be found on the internet.
When people are looking for information they turn to the computer. The internet allows a business to display what they have to offer through text, images, flash presentations, and user interactive web sites. A company can also setup online shopping carts that allow them to sell products online. Any business today that does not have a company website is looked at as incomplete. There are so many benefits a professional business website has to offer any company that is looking to compete in today’s marketplace.
The web is one of the most effective and cheapest methods of advertising available. For about the same cost of a small one time newspaper ad, a company can have a 4 or 5 page web site, open 24 hours a day with the potential to reach millions of people. Potential customers can obtain product information when they want it, not when a business is open. Many people will turn to a business that supplied them with product information when they needed it, which in many cases is outside normal trading hours.Having a website allows small businesses to compete on the same playing field as the larger corporations. It has a low cost of entry and allows any company to market at a global level. A website works around the clock with little effort to keep it running. A professional developer can analyze any existing promotional materials and integrate these elements into a coherent design for an authentic online web presence.
This allows for a more custom marketing presence that can’t be obtained by just using templates included with off-the-shelf software packages or online services.In conclusion, having a professionally designed business website is an important component of success in today’s competitive market. The internet allows companies across the world to establish them as a credible and professional business. Building a website is like building a house; you must start off with a strong foundation before you can add more bricks. Registering a strategic domain name, developing a CSS design template, and optimizing a website under keywords and key phrases are all key components to establishing a professional website. A business website is the ultimate form of customer service that can be provided to any client.
