Monday, September 22, 2008

Avoid Glitches with Professional Website Design

E-commerce is dependent on high quality websites. Presentation and functionality are top priorities for Internet businesses. Poor website design can certainly lead to a loss in revenue. Even minor glitches can cause major problems with a website. The worse kind of error you can get is when your web page won't load at all. Internet users want fast results and are unlikely to return to your site later if their first and second attempts of viewing your site fail.

The best products and services won't sell if customers can't reach the website, if they have technical difficulties, or if they experience glitches during the checkout process. Furthermore, marketing efforts are wasted on a site that doesn't function properly.

Poorly Designed Websites Experience Glitches
Glitchy website design includes unintended consequences. Things that are supposed to happen don't and vice versa. Website glitches have a direct effect on the number of visitors to your site and the amount of revenue you can earn from it. Technical glitches include (but are not limited to):

* Issues with pictures not loading properly
* Delays in loading website pages and images
* Problems with sizing
* Display issues
* The website temporarily going offline/being unavailable
* Delays in processing orders
* Shopping cart items disappearing
* Text that overlaps or appears jumbled
* Images and lines appearing fuzzy and unclear
* Line detailing not matching up properly
* Colors not fading correctly
* Blocks of unmatching color appearing on the site for no reason
* Broken or incorrect hyperlinks
* Meta tag issues
* Malicious code
* The site changing computer settings

A solid web design company is knowledgeable enough to check for glitches in website design and work out the bugs before delivering the final product. The ability to locate glitches in web design and solve e-commerce problems comes with experience and is dependent on professionalism.

Top Notch Website Design

Using a professional web design company makes all the difference in having a glitch-free site for your online business. Experience speaks volumes when it comes to website design. An ideal e-commerce site is simple, creative and effective.

Simplicity. Customers shop online for convenience. If they can't find what they are looking for easily on your site or have a difficult time figuring out the checkout process, they are not likely to shop there anymore. There is far too much competition to leave this to chance. Keep the content, images and functions of your website simple and user-friendly. A clean, crisp appearance is preferable as well.

Creativity. Creativity is vital for websites to stay competitive on the Internet. This doesn't mean to make your site look busy, but to use white space appropriately, make images stand out. Use headings and subheadings to make the information on your site easy to find and easy to read.

Effectiveness. The effectiveness of your e-commerce site is in the numbers. Look at your page visits and sales. The right website design makes it easy for customers to navigate your site and make their purchases without a glitch. Non-working pages and checkout problems are not effective ways to get sales or returning customers.

Glitch-Free Website Design

Mistakes happen and even the best web designers experience glitches from time to time. The difference is the support you get with a reputable design company. Your website designer is your online partner in success. They should be able to create a usable, tested website with working extras like shopping carts, being able to accept payments online with credit cards, and customizing pages specific to your business needs.

The bottom line is a margin of human error that can be expected when it comes to programming and software. The difference between the average website design company and a top notch one is the ability to assess website glitches, admit to them and solve them quickly with minimal interruption of services. A 24-hour store front is essential for Internet businesses. Down time of any amount leads to lost visitors and revenue.

Check out design companies before you hire them to design your website. Be sure they respect your business needs and are willing to work with you to create a knockout website that is free of glitches.

About the Author

Chris Coleman is a Business Analyst at Capita Technologies. Capita Technologies provides web design services for a wide variety of clients.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

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