Congratulations! You've made the decision to launch an Internet business: now you need a website design, so where to begin? First time Internet business operators focus should be on a super basic design that will function properly and build on the design as their business grows instead of starting with a complicated design that costs a fortune. If you were introducing a new product line in your store would you start with a 1,000 products or 100 to see if customers will buy them?
It's the same with website design. The most important component in website design for selling is that you must provide a way for people to use their checks and credit cards securely. The amount of products you are selling will determine what type of payment processor system your website needs. If you are selling 1-100 products you do not need a merchant credit card system; it's better to start with PayPal or Money Bookers.
The most common technique people use to introduce their products or services for sale is by offering a gift to their visitors. This requires your website to be built with the components that will allow a person can download the report or have it sent to them by e-mail.
In the first case your website design for your Internet business must be structured with a section dedicated to secure download; This is usually done via a password system. In the second case an auto responder can be used in conjunction with an HTML form where the person enters their name and e-mail address when they click the submit button for auto-responder automatically send them the report.
So let's look at the components that would be included in this basic site:
1. a homepage with buyer information content, a report download link or auto-responder form
2. a company information page tells your visitors who you are, where you company is located and how to contact you – by phone and by e-mail
3. a product page that fully describes your offering
4. a product order page that includes information about customer support, how the buyer can request a refund or return the product if they are not satisfied
5. a page that describes how the visitor's personal information will be used and the terms and conditions of using your website
Your website should be designed to load within 5 seconds. The background should be easy on the eyes and the size of the text should be large enough so that it can be easily read. The amount of images you use on your website should be limited to those that are related to the product you are offering.
The navigation bar and report request form should be in the same page location. The title, keyword and description meta tags of each of your pages should be related to the content of the specific page for the search engines. There should be at least 500 words of content on each page and a link back to your homepage on each page.
Your product page should have an image of your product, a list of the benefits to the buyer, a full description of the product and its use, and any additional information such as delivery time and shipping costs. Make sure that the order page is encrypted to protect your visitor's financial information from malicious hackers and they receive a receipt confirmation via e-mail with the details of their order.
What's the most important part of your Internet business website design? Build it for your visitors, not for you. Update the information regularly and learn as much about website maintenance as possible.