Web Design for Business Websites

Key things for a business web site are:

• Keep it simple
• Keep it easy to navigate
• Keep it easy to use
• Keep it informative
• Keep it professional looking
• Keep it as quick-loading as possible

Key things not to do (unless you are greating an entertainment web site):

• Don't use intro pages or flash intros (it just slows visitors down)
• Don't put extra graphics that aren't needed
  
• Don't put music on it unless you are in entertainment
• Don't put on a counter (log analysis tells who visits your site)
• Don't use frames
• Don't use Flash navigation (unless you have a html alternative on each page)
  

SMALL STARTUP BUSINESS WEB SITE BUDGET (No budget to ~ $100)

For a small startup business that needs a web site, but has no or a small (under $100) budget the best thing to do is go with a hosting company that has web design tools for making a semi-professional looking site. These web design programs normally give you some templates to pick from and allow you to modify some things to personalize to your business.

A website is something that practically every business needs and can benefit from if correctly designed and used.

SMALL STARTUP BUSINESS WEB SITE BUDGET  (Budget $700 - $7,000)

Most professionally designed small business websites can be designed on a budget from $700 - $7,000. E-commerce web sites can also fit into this budget if they use existing shopping cart scripts.

Here are some points to budget for in general:

• ~$10/month - Can pay for hosting and there a lot of good hosting companies that provide website creation tools. Sites created with these tools can look good, but are not Search Engine Optimized (SEO) and you do have to work within the limitations of the web site creation software.
• ~$1,000/setup budget - Can pay for a nicely designed website of about 15 pages with contact form, SEO, and first year's hosting.
  
• ~$2,000 - $7,000 - Can pay for a custom designed e-commerce website that has SEO, and includes first year's hosting.