Search for “online business marketing” and you’ll be overwhelmed with millions of pages offering “the best ways to promote your business online.” Inevitably, some of those lists will conflict or present slightly different takes on the same technique. There’s a simple reason for this: there’s no science to marketing your business online, but there are techniques, and they start down at the design phase.Before spending money on attracting people to your site, you want to make sure that your site will be able to hold them once they get there. If you don’t have experience creating professional web sites, we recommend looking into a design company who will create and maintain your site for you. They should have plenty of experience in what works online, but your priority should be a site that’s simple and fun to navigate. That doesn’t mean overwhelming users with pop-ups or animationsin fact, most users prefer simpler templates that allow them to easily find what they want. If your site can do this, they’ll probably tell their friends. Read the rest of this entry »

Obviously, there’s no accounting for personal taste when it comes to anything with a system of aesthetics. However, just as you can judge a band’s talent regardless of the genre, you can also tell when a site has some thought behind it, whether you’re interested in the product or not. Unfortunately, the reverse is also trueif your site is poorly designed, it will show. These are some of the most common pitfalls to avoid.

1. Bland colors: While a hideously loud color scheme is also a bad idea, it can be just as harmful to have dull colors that fade into the background. These sites look unprofessional, since they’re similar to what anyone could create after just a few hours of tinkering. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve ever used a blogging site like WordPress, you may be familiar with the idea of “themes”different “skins” you can put on the basic blog appearance that add images, links, and more. However, if you’re designing a website for your business, you don’t have to go through a blogging site. There are plenty of website “templates” to choose from that will drastically decrease the time and money you spend on creating your website.Simply enter “website templates” into your search engine of choice and you’ll find sites with plenty of user-submitted templates in their archives. FreeWebsiteTemplates.com, FreeSiteTemplates.com, and OSWD.org (Open Source Web Design) are some examples. Some templates will be free, while others (single-use copyrighted templates, for example) will be for sale. How do you know which ones to use? It can depend on both your level of skill with web design, as well as what you want to get out of your site. Make sure before any money changes hands that you’ll be able to work with what you’re ordering. Read the rest of this entry »

The world of web design and search engine optimization can be a cruel and unforgiving place, but there are also times when it extends a helping hand to you. A/B split testing is one of those times. This handy technique lets you examine the effects that a certain change to your site would make on your profits, traffic, or more. While it can be overused, it’s definitely a beneficial avenue to examine when unsure about a particular change.The way A/B split testing works is by sending viewers randomly to one of two (or more) versions of your site. Usually, there is only one major difference between these versions, but you can test more if desired. This can be a color, an image, layout, or more. Tracking software then records what actions users take on both versions, allowing you to compare which is more efficient at getting the results you desire. Read the rest of this entry »