Make your website stand out
These days anybody can put together a basic website in about five minutes. There are companies on the internet that allow you to create your own site using a choice of templates and you can have a business site that is available to your customers straight away. There are also a lot of people who claim to be good web designers and a lot of firms offering web design as an add on service at a low cost. So why not go with these?
Well to make your web design stand out you need to pick a company that has experience of designing web sites for a large range of companies and using those sites to attract people to buy the advertised product. It is not a case of just getting your name on the Internet, you need to make sure that your web site is the best in its field and will attract the kind of customers that you want. If you have a simple website put together in a few minutes based on a standard template, you are very unlikely to attract many customers.
If you go to an experienced web designer they will be able to create you a web site that is tailored especially to your needs. They will have graphic design experience and will be able to design you an original site which not only works effectively but whose style suits your company and attracts your ideal customers.
Web sites also vary in how interactive they are. Some sites just contain text and a few pictures on a plain background; this is hardly going to make customers feel that you think they are important. If you spend time making your website look attractive and pay for a few interesting features then customers will be more impressed. And if it looks like you have spend more money and time on their website they will be more easily convinced that you will be able to spend more time with them and have a higher quality work. If you look like you have money to invest then it makes it look like the company is making big profits and that will convince them that you have plenty of customers and therefore it is a good decision to work with you.
A simple design that reflects your company ethos is a good place to start. You don't want anything too fancy as if the site takes too long to load the customer will just start looking elsewhere. If you have a few special elements on it to enhance the design this will help too. Maybe something as simple as a photo gallery of rotating pictures showing examples of your work, or a latest news feed (as long as this is kept up to date). Perhaps an interactive image where different parts take you to other areas of the site. None of these features should cost you a lot of money, but will make the site more attractive and should help you stand out against the competition.