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(Article first published in January '08. It has been modified slightly to suit its publication on our site)
Any company's website should have one prime objective: to bring potential customers to your door. But most business websites are "passive", providing no help in securing new business. An "active" website on the other hand brings in many new customers allowing a business to reduce its overall marketing spend and maximising profits. To create an active website there is a need to focus on the many key design and content aspects of the site. Everything from the navigation of the website to how the content is written and how well the relevant search terms are researched will dictate how "active" your website will be. Successful websites also try to provide useful information rather than just selling. This information is not only good for your customers, but also helps you increase your ranking in the search engines! Finally good web design is the most inexpensive way to advertise your company if it's done properly!
Seek Professional Help!
It is often tempting for small and start-up companies to "save" money and use the cheapest web designer possible. Professional web design takes time and therefore costs more than a few hundred Euros. I am not going to attempt to put a figure on web design, because every project is different, but there are tell-tale signs that will tell you whether to use a particular company or not:
Is the company purely a web design company or do they provide broader services?
- A professional web company should be able to provide as broad an offering of web-based services as possible. Additionally if they provide broader marketing services they may be able to bring their expertise into your project to ensure that all your business marketing elements tie-up.
Are they the cheapest or nearly the cheapest quote you have received?
- Cost-Effective is good, but alarm bells should ring if you have quotes from a number of companies quoting you €2,500 and the company you want to use is quoting you €500!
Look at their portfolio of web projects.
- Check their portfolio carefully. Do the sites look professional? How easy is the site to navigate? Are there spelling mistakes and poor grammar in the content?
Phone them and talk to them yourself, rather than communicating through email.
- Do they sound confident? Can they explain what they think you need in layman's terms or are they just trying to baffle you?
A good web design company should be asking you lots of questions and not just about what you want. They should be the determining what the right thing to do is rather than only worrying about whether the customer will like it or not!
Franco De Bonis has worked in the field of sales and marketing promotion since 1990 and was most recently the global marketing manager for a major international technology company before setting up DG Group in January 2007.
DG Group is dedicated to delivering all the marketing solutions any company may require. Whether it's a website or leaflets and brochures, or even some product packaging; DG Group will manage the whole project and even provide guidance along the way.
The content in this section is the original creation of DG Group and is protected by copyright. You may use this content on your site or in other materials providing you acknowledge DG Group as the author and include a link our site.
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