Websites Don't Come in a Gift Box

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Written by Johan Ramakers Ph.D.

Tuesday, 18 November 2008 08:53

Professional Web sites don’t come in a gift box — they need to be created, not unwrapped.
Ten years ago a website was a "nice-to-have" new marketing tool. Today "nice-to-have" has given way to necessity and presence has turned into purpose.
Nowadays, it’s no longer about whether you have a Web site but rather how your Web site represents your business, and whether you’re using the medium to its fullest potential. A Web site is a business’s face and interaction with the world; and as such, it must reflect the tone and style of the business in a professional and polished manner.
So why, after 10 years, are there still so many poorly designed business Web sites? Simple: Because they’re relatively easy to build, at least the static brochure version. Add anything dynamic such as a data collection software or a payment gateway and it's back to the pros.
For many business owners and executives however websites have developed into "a challenge with a feel good outcome". I run into execs all the time asking me with that typical proudlike, quasi apologetic attitude what I think about their website, guaranteed to find out that they built it themselves and now claim "proud father rights" if I compliment them. Since I'm a ball buster, very few get away without bruised egos.

With all the commercial and freeware do-it-yourself Web tools and thousands of free templates on the market — and the relative ease with which they can be used — everyone who knows how to turn on a computer considers themselves a Web designer. But Web sites are much more than the sum of the bits and bytes that makes up its design. There are a lot of pre-development planning and strategy issues to deal with before you can successfully repre- sent a 3-D business on a 2-D medium.

A truly effective Web site reflects not only the image of the business, but also its objectives.
Settling for a cheap and amateurish site will devalue your business and can do more harm to your professional image and reputation than not having a Web site at all. Remember: Building a Web site might be easy, but building a good Web site is not.
Case in point: The style of your design elements and the tone of your Web copy will define the overall mood of your Web site. Style and tone can be formal, casual, humorous, or offbeat. Miss the right tone and you were better off not having a website at all.

A successful website in terms of ranking, corporate identity and business performance is per definition a balancing act between attraction and content functionality and relevancy to please both the visitor and the search engine spider (robot).
Content, functionality and design need to be balanced for maximum result.

After 35 years in global advertising and marketing, I have learned that most owners and top executives in companies consider themselves better in marketing and advertising than the professionals they hire, claiming lack of time as their reason for outsourcing. So.... since we also don't believe that the habit of "claiming design ownership" of a website will go away anytime soon, we decided to build a 9 lecture course that will actually enable anyone the skill to conceptualize, design, develop and host a professional dynamic business website and rightfully claim ownership and result.

Here are many of the Points that will be addressed in the Course that will teach you how your website can and will make money:

Required Web Site Components Details
Design elements
   Layout
   Typography
   Color scheme
   Template flexibility

Site navigation
   Tiered menus
   Sequential menus
   Site maps

Site navigation mechanisms
   Static
   Drop-down
   Pop-up

Site and content architecture
Content
Content types
Style and tone of content

Domain Name Registration
Hosting Capabilities and required flexibilities

Optional Web Site Components Details
   Payment Gateway options
   Payment Security
   Data Collection
   Auto responder
   Blog
   Streaming media
   Online chatting
   Search engine
   Search engine optimization plan
   Interactive applications
   Electronic shopping cart

The course will be available by December 1 (just in time to make sure you're not going to be bored on those dark winter nights) and can be obtained in 2 ways
   For non-members at a one time cost
   For Gold Members Free in their monthly benefit package.

Stay tuned.

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Market Notes

January 6, 2009

Stocks fell on Monday as investors booked profits after last week's run-up, while concerns about slowing cell phone sales hit shares of the biggest telecommunications companies. Financial stocks also slumped after Deutsche Bank cut its earnings forecast on 16 large commercial banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co another Dow component. JPMorgan fell nearly 7 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 81.80 points, or 0.91 percent, to 8,952.89. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX shed 4.35 points, or 0.47 percent, to 927.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index . slid 4.18 points, or 0.26 percent, to 1,628.03. We spent the day polling stock analysts; they all think we are in for a minor Obama rally but our technical charts don’t show it. It’s a mixed bag folks. Think about it this way Tech company Logitech is laying off people, while the FBI initiates its largest hiring spree in its history. We're living in interesting times. Be careful, very careful.