Web Design As A Marketing Tool

by Rick Carbone

Many people starting out on the Internet decide to build their own site so that they can be a little different from everyone else and of course save some money in the initial stages of the new business. Yet their are many others who won't even try because they have no web design experience. If you fall into the first group you will appreciate this artidle and if you fall into the latter group you may feel very different after you read this piece.

I started out in the late nineties when I put up my first website. I knew there were a lot of guys already on the web with some pretty neat sites however I was a complete novice. I had no skills whatsoever and I was working on a shoestring budget. I didn't have the slightest idea what HTML was and how to program in it. I found a web design software package from a highly reputable software developer and began to design. I really had no idea what I was doing.

I decided on what my niche was and started to look at some of the competition. It took me a long time to learn the software and I spen hours working on the smallest of details. After a months worth of work I ready to upload my site. At the time broadband was really only in the major cities so I had a 14 baud modem. It took about an hour to load my six page website, that was if the connection didn't break and you would have to start all over again. It was a painful processand I was happy just to have a website on the Internet.

Today, of course it's just not enough to have a website on the Internet. It must be professional looking and functional. Many people just don't realize how important web design is to your overall marketing effort. Your site must not only be eye catching but be functional for your niche.

A good example is your layout. Do you want a two column or a three column or no side columns at all? To answer this you need to know how you want to lay your site out to maximize your monetization. Simply creating a two column site with the navigation on the left side may not work for you if you are trying to sell advertising space as well. In that case you may want to consider a three column layout to include affiliate or adsense ads on either side of your content.

If you are not a graphic designer or a seasoned webmaster then this may be a bit of a challenge for you. Especially when you need to also concentrate on the actual mechanics of your site. In this case you may want to consider a well seasoned web design software like XSite Pro, which is very simple to use and has a ton of marketing features built into it.

You also have the option of creating a blog which is an online management system to put up a site. For this you would use Wordpress or Blogger as your platform. Blog Themes have come a long way in the past few years so there is a lot out there that can work for you and your niche. The learning curve for blog software has started to flatten out over the past several years and it's not as painful to put up a blog as it once was.

The choice is yours however you should get as much information as possible before you set out. You can find a lot of information about both Xsite Pro and Blogs right here on Home Business Research. So take advantage of our free information here and our Home Business Blog.

Additional Resources on this site:

• How to Design A Website
• Website Design
• Home Business Blog
• Beginner's Guide To Home Business