TODAY INDIA

Importance of Website for Smoothly Running a Business

Head to head contact in commercial world is getting replaced fast with online transactions and thus internet has become the platform for lions share in global business today. Since internet is not constrained by geographical and political boundaries, it becomes much more convenient carrying out business online. Having a website for running and promoting business is quickly turning out to be an indispensable process and web designer designs commercial websites accordingly.

Economic Process

Moreover, online business is economic in terms of saving money, time, and energy. No widespread establishment and space is required to run even a global business smoothly. One can easily run them sitting at the cool comforts of his own home with a couple of desktop and laptop computer with internet connections; the desktop taking care of static and laptop taking care of works on the move. However, achieving such objective needs effective web design and the task related to web development is mostly aimed at designing the web in such manner that it can perform all tasks related to running a business smoothly.

Website Matching with Business

One of the major tasks before any web designer is to see that the web design they form should match the type of business for which they are doing so perfectly. Website will play very important role for

1. Advertising and publicity of the products and services promoted by the company.
2. Contacting the associates and clients over the web for promoting business and communicating with them.
3. Associating with customers and providing them with customer care service and answering their queries creating goodwill and a database of the consumers.

Naturally the requirements for small, medium, and large enterprises would vary from each other and in result the website for business would also vary in their internal designs.

Website for Home Based Business

A website for business is even more important for a home based business. Buying and selling can be conducted on the web. For instance; there are global sites like the E-bay that is the largest online buying and selling platform of all articles on the globe. But for making profit potential customers should be aware of the existence of the enterprise and products and/or services promoted by such enterprise. That is why web design is very important, and since the home based entrepreneur is dependent totally on the online business, even more for him or her.

Importance of Updating and Developing

It is very important that the entrepreneur desiring to make it good online in business should take adequate care of web development and updating of the website for business. Customers will never like outdated or stale information on the site. For example; writing relevant and informative articles and blogs and publishing them on the website is one of the best ways of attracting potential customers to the site. Unless this information is periodically updated, not one is going to like them and traffic movement to the website would decline.

Enhancement of traffic movement to the website can result in converting potential customers into real and loyal ones. Unless the web designer puts in place a simple yet effective web design for the website, neither of the objectives will be accomplished.

A well designed and effective website is the key to promote business online.

Common Small Business Web Design Mistakes to Avoid

As a small business owner, you probably already know that your website is a very important tool for marketing your brand and reaching your target audience. Ensuring your website design is attractive and functional to your audience is also necessary for success. Unfortunately, there are quite a few small business web design mistakes that are all too common. Sometimes this occurs when small business owners hire a cheap designer and believe they’re getting a value, although sometimes it’s mistakes the website operator makes by excluding certain important information.

To make sure you maximise the potential of your business website, keep these pitfalls in mind and avoid them.

Mistake 1: Not Building Trust

Building trust with your audience is arguably the most important thing any small business web design should do. There are actually some really easy and quick ways to build trust, as well as improve your conversion rate. Start my making sure your full address, company name and phone number is included on every page, preferably the footer. If you have an e-commerce storefront, make sure you are displaying badges like your SSL certificates and sitelock. After all, most people are not going to want to place an order if they doubt the professionalism and security of your website.

If you are a very small business or a freelancer, it also helps to add a picture of yourself to your “About Us” page along with a personal quote. Be prepared to be very transparent about your services and offer as much detail as possible, including any return policy or guarantees you provide. You should also have a privacy policy on your website, which tells your visitors what you will and will not do with their personal information that’s collected.

Finally, consider adding the rel=”publisher” link to your homepage, which points to your business’s Google+ page. This way, the image used on your Google+ profile will be displayed alongside your website on Google search results.

Mistake 2: Website is Too Flashy

It’s not uncommon for business owners to get a little carried away with the content and design of their website, requesting flashy graphics and bold colours that detract, not add value. To effectively market your brand and improve visibility, you want a clean and minimalist interface that impresses customers but makes it easy for them to find what they are looking for.

Content should be straight-forward and relevant, not a long rambling monologue or an excuse to stuff in keywords unnaturally. Users should come away with a good experience and feel like they found exactly what they were looking for.

Mistake 3: No Call to Action Buttons

Call to action buttons are important because they funnel your visitors further into your site. By keeping website users on your website for a longer amount of time, you’ll lower your bounce rate and increase the chance of a conversion. It also improves user experience by directing users exactly where they want to go, assuming it isn’t overdone. If you sell insurance, for example, you would have a call to action button encouraging users to request a quote. If you sell products online, you would have a call to action button for users to “Buy Now” or “Add to Cart.”

Mistake 4: Not Using the Rel=”Nofollow” Tag on Outbound Links

Finally, a really common small business web design mistake is not using the rel=”nofollow” tag on outbound links away from the website. While it may not seem like a big issue, it actually allows you to control the “link juice” of your website, which gets leeched out to all of your “dofollow” outbound links. Only links going to your internal pages should be “dofollow,” which means they pass along this link juice.

It’s also important to avoid linking to a lot of low authority or low quality websites, especially if you do not have a great deal of inbound links to your website.

Unfortunately, these mistakes are all too common, but very easy to fix, for the most part. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so the best option is avoiding these mistakes in the first place by working with an experienced individual who can create a custom web design for your business.

Hire Leading eCommerce Website Design Companies for Creating Your Online Store

eCommerce is the new movement of taking part in business online. As there are many people now shopping online, it has turned into a primary financial action in different aspects of the world. Concerning this pattern, eCommerce sites have taken the lead in the online world presently. The designing of this type of website deals with unique designing needs.

These sites are uniquely intended to encourage guests to buy products and stay longer on the site so they can spend more. It incorporates a business pertinent look and feel, mirroring the vision and reasoning of the business, a sorted out format and expert configuration, including proper navigation, conveying a clear and responsive client interface, having a market friendly content, and involving a basic checkout and uncomplicated shopping cart. You can integrate many professional gateway while developing these sites to guarantee smooth and bother free online payment.

Designing an eCommerce site is an expert assignment. The creation and designing of websites is not the work of novice designers. It requires exceptionally proficient and capable website designers to design an eCommerce website that can bring huge success.

Therefore, if you want to start a new venture or want to re-design your existing eCommerce site, then you have to hire a capable website designer. In this way, you can make sure that your project is in the safe hands of an expert.

An expert eCommerce website designer will have few effectively finished ventures to his or her credit. The designer should have enough introductions to all components of eCommerce website designing. The website designer may work freely or even as a member of a company that is particularly into designing proficient stores. The outcome that you have to expect either ways is an effective website that can draw prospective clients and convey your message across.

An eCommerce website designer is able and have the professional skills to consider his or her employment seriously. Most customers usually expect that designers will take up the complete responsibility of designing the website all the way. Their sole aim should on designing a website that conveys the imperative ROI and turns into a productive try.

The designer or eCommerce website design company should capable to guide the website from the development to the last integration of the website with the payment gateway. Additionally, the buying experience for the clients should portrayed a smooth way right from arriving on the site and picking the items to continuing to the checkout for payment. Clients should have their preferred capacity to pick a product easily.

Being an owner of a business, you should pick an eCommerce designer that can understand the tasks of designing an eCommerce store. What is important for the designer is a complete set of well-developed abilities that joins an intensive aptitude for design. Besides this, you have to hire an experience designer who is aware of the new trends so that he or she can use those trends to design the store, including the preferences and the expert principles that the target audience anticipates.

To summarize the article, with the eCommerce Website Designers in hand, you will be able to develop or get better business to acquire the rich rewards on the Internet.

What Exactly Is a Good Web Design?

A good web design has a potential to engage the visitors & convert them to potential buyers. A website is said to be serving its purpose if it has the potential to generate online leads. Nowadays, it has become mandatory for the business houses to have an online portfolio in the form of websites. The webs provide them the flexibility to reach the targeted audience. But converting targeted audience into potential buyers & customers is certainly a challenging task. Your website plays a crucial role in this. If your web has a good design, then it can easily serve that purpose. The most pertinent question is how to design a good web. Presented below are some of the points that will help you in this.

Attractive Theme: The theme or the webpage design of any website is very important. It is recommended to use the theme which perfectly manifests your business. For example, if you are selling natural products, then you can select any of the themes which match with your products. If you are into the fashion industry, then colorful themes would be considered as appropriate for your business.

Infographics: The statistics suggest that the websites that lack in the infographics attract less traffic as compared to the websites that have the rich infographic. It is recommended to provide rich infographics in the websites as visitors get easily attracted to those. A banner containing useful text has a positive impact on the mind of the visitor. This eventually increases the chances of conversion. The designers should keep one thing in mind that the banners should reflect the business motive of the company. This also offers a better impact on the mind of the people.

Interactive Interface: It is recommended to have an interactive interface on the website. What exactly does this mean? It means that you should design your website in such a manner that it offers flexibility to the visitors. Your visitor has come to your website after spending time on several other portals. If (s)he faces any issue or gets confused, he/she will waste no time in navigating to some other website. So, you must provide easy to use interface on your website. The call to action button should be provided in a clear manner so that visitor can easily make purchases.

User-friendly Navigation: The user-friendly navigation is very important to enhance your conversion rates. Too many links in the menu bar and side bar create confusion. Avoid providing too many links there. It is recommended to put only important links in the menu or sidebar. These will help in the easy navigation of the website.

Go Mobile Friendly: It is mandatory to have the mobile friendly responsive website. The reason being most of the internet users are using mobile phones to access information. If you have the mobile compatible website, then it ensures s better browsing experience which eventually results in conversion.

Choosing The Best Web Development Company for Your Business

The website is the business’ basic presence online, that’s why it’s extremely crucial to choose the best web development company to help you represent your brand out there. This is especially true for small and mid-sized businesses as they will need more effort to establish themselves to their customers. Here are some points to keep in mind to choose the best web development company for your business:

Portfolio

A company can’t ever dream to develop your website if they’re not doing a job on their own. Check their website. Does it look professional? Is it easily navigable? Ask if they have a portfolio. This is the best way to examine the types of website they can create. It’s a good sign if they are capable of making diverse websites which entails they have worked with a variety of your clients. When you see this for yourself, you will know if they are good for your business or not.

Communication

This is a very important factor that will determine the flow of your collaboration. An agency who can’t respond well won’t be able to communicate with their clients during projects. How quickly do they respond to inquiries? Do they return your calls? If they can’t do this, then it’s a major red flag and you shouldn’t choose this agency

It’s very important that the website development company you choose maintains constant communication with you. During your collaboration in your projects, they will have to deliver reports. If they can’t perform well even before winning your company, it’s very likely that they won’t be able to communicate with you when you’re already working with them.

The people

Assign a time to visit their office if it’s not an overseas company. This will allow you to make a better judgment as you will be able to see them in person. How does their staff treat visitors? How does their work environment look like? Do they have a close-knit relationship with each other? Do you think these people can provide you the service that you want?

Testimonials

What their client says about their services will say a lot about their company. Research about them and their past clients. Did they like the service they provided? Are there more negative reviews than positive reviews? Knowing this will save you from a potentially bad company. It’s always best to be wise.

You can also talk with other people who have worked with the company before and ask their experience.

Price

All of the other factors may be good to go for you, but don’t forget that web development isn’t given for free. You need to choose a company that is within your budget. Be wise enough to know that your money is worth the services you are getting. Create a budget plan so you can save yourself from overspending and maximize your budget.

Being able to make the right decision in choosing the best web development company for your business may just be the key to its success. Never take this for granted and give it ample time and deliberation.

An Online Business Directory Is an Entrepreneur’s Best Friend

For many Australian entrepreneurs, an online business directory is becoming an effective tool to grow one’s business or company. If you are own a small or medium business with a target audience at the regional level, you have the most to gain from advertising in an online web directory that also features a range of products and services.

Having your company included in online business directory listings is a form of advertisement, one that is highly recommended by search engine optimization (SEO) practitioners to help drive traffic to your business website and increase the popularity of your website in online searches on Google, MSN, Yahoo and the like.

Kinds of Directories

As late as 20 years ago, your choices for home business directory listings are very limited. The most popular ones are:

* Yellow Pages

* General Business Directories or Regional Directories

* Industry-Specific Directories

The Yellow Pages used to be a very popular advertising medium, similar to an online business directory nowadays. The main requirement was to have a business phone number. Nowadays, the Yellow Pages has been eclipsed by other advertising media, notably the Internet. Fewer people are now using Yellow Pages and the already expensive rates are increasing every year. Nowadays, the online store directory is one of the popular searches made. The readership for general business directories or regional directories is mostly people looking for new suppliers. A common example of this kind of directory is the business list provided by the local Chamber of Commerce. To be listed in industry-specific directories, you need to be a member of the industry association publishing it. Currently, all of these three types of directories have web or Internet versions, like an online business listings. There are literally millions of each kind of directory out there, such as home based business directory listings-a far cry from the days when only paper versions are available.

The cost for being listed in an online business directory ranges from a several hundreds of dollars for a year to a few dollars to virtually nothing. Some directories, such as an online store directory, allow business to be listed totally free of charge while others require a reciprocal link. For small business owners, it is advisable to look for home based business listings.

Follow these tips to make the most of your submissions:

* Make sure that your website is working before you submit the necessary information to an online business guide. People do not want to see pages that are still under construction.

* Make sure the links on your website are working.

* For best results, present your website content in English to an online business list.

Do not expect instant results when you submit a link to a home business listings online. Your submission will be reviewed before the listing goes live on the Internet. Expect a few weeks to several months. Free online business listing guide may take longer because the review is manually done. Submitting links without using a service takes time and effort, but considering the benefits of being listed in a business directory, it is worth it.

Introducing The Affordable Website

I believe web-as-a-platform services have matured to the point of offering exceptional value, and in my opinion, have moved the needle on affordable website design. I also believe this is good news because just creating a website and not marketing it in some fashion is like building a beautiful building in a field without any roads or even a footpath. To say the least, such a location is not going to do much good finding customers or vice versa! Yes, your website may be “beautiful”, but what good is it if no one can find it?

I have seen countless websites go bust-that is-not provide any kind of return on investment. This is why I broke away from the old paradigm of “if you build it they will come” and created Buzz Marketing. I believe in straightforward and modern web design that is easy to access on any kind of device, but the big question that people don’t ask is, what comes after that? My answer: Every website needs buzz factors to drive the best possible traffic. These buzz factors are different for every business and there are no silver bullets. Here are some common website buzz factors that can move the needle on a small business website.

As with any web project, it takes some research and experience before considering which marketing approach may yield the best results for finding desirable web traffic. Even though most business owners don’t like to hear this, it’s important to note that most marketing, despite all of the digital drumbeats promising this and that, is still an exercise in trial and error. Don’t believe that? You are likely 30 years younger than me-just a guess.

Of course, a website does not market itself. It has to be tied into your business model in a way that makes sense for your business. This takes effort and costs money, and it is as important as the website itself. If you’ve been in business for a while this insight is likely redundant, but I’m primarily writing this for new business owners who are at the mercy of many suspect services all clamoring they have “the best” marketing solution.

I’m here to tell you there is no best marketing solution. Every factor that makes marketing work for a company is a variable, and learning to understand those variables for your particular business will be a likely indicator of your future success.

Anyway, to make an affordable website happen for a reasonable design fee, the basic website may lack some goodies like professional copywriting, logo design, virtual tours, e-commerce, a blog, a booking system, a food menu, an event calendar, SEO, and the list goes on! No worries, as I often tell clients, it’s OK to build your website as time and money allows.

If you’re a new business, I don’t recommend going in debt for a website unless you are planning an online business–which in this case–is your virtual storefront and you need what you need to be in business.

What’s important for most non-eCommerce businesses is that you purchase only what you need when you need it. The DIY website is a possibility for business owners that have the time to figure out how to make a website. It’s not for everyone, however.

Consider finding a reasonably priced website starter package from a website design expert that gives you time to focus on growing your business income-not your expenses. If you don’t have the patience and skills to do this yourself, consider a freelance partner who has a pedigree to make it happen for you.

Your Online Profits Will Explode Thanks to Free Website Promotion

Many people wonder if it is really possible to promote a business website at no cost. Is there such a thing as “free” website promotion?

I think there is, and with current economic conditions, it is also a perfect solution to the need to control costs. For unemployed people starting a home business on a shoestring, it could also be a life saver.

If a new business owner learns some basic techniques he or she can promote a website through nothing but their own hard work. If you can afford a little help, the results will be even more dramatic.

In fact, there are many well-documented cases of websites experiencing large flows of visitor traffic through the application of the ideas and methods discussed in this article.

So here are the top ways to publicize and promote a website in order to get new visitors and new customers for your online business, or any small business. Note: More detail on these methods will be found in some of my later articles.

List Your website in over 1400 free internet directories
Find the right forums to join and lead
Make the news with weekly free press releases
Make New Internet Friends Who Will Help You Get Traffic
Write articles every day and distribute them to a wide audience who will look upon you as an expert.
Put your website address on your business cards and stationary
Swap ads with other website owners to get free advertising
Start a blog and get people to follow it who are current or future customers
Open a free Twitter account and coordinate it with your blog postings
Open Facebook and MySpace accounts and invite to join your current and future customers
Whenever you make a blog post, write an article or issue a press release, post a free notice on social networking sites like Digg, Delicious, or StumbleUpon.
Make some free videos about your business with your camcorder and post them on YouTube as well as your blog and Facebook account. Let people know they can watch the videos to learn about your business. Make a video about each article and press release you write.

There are probably a few things I’ve forgotten in writing this article, but I hope you get the picture. With the advent of social media, blogs, and a 24/7 news cycle there is no end to the opportunities you have to promote your business online — for free!

Graphic Design, Web Hosting And Search Engine Services Can Take Your Online Business To New Heights

In today’s state of the art epochs of advanced technologies, every business is either on the internet orb or is trying to strengthen its footprint on the World Wide Web arena. In such a milieu, the services which can help online business entities are: – Graphic Design Services, Web Hosting Services and Search Engine Services. Let us look into these services in details. Graphic design services can be augmented with web designing to produce astounding results for online business owners.

The very fact that graphics has the instant effect on customer’s mind put it to use in a multitude of arenas. From designing web pages to brochures and even employee IDs comes under Graphic Design services and a good graphic design service provider can escalate your business to new fangled heights. The latest in Graphic Design Services is Green Sustainable Design which does not affect environment.

Apart from Graphic Design Services, one faced which is deemed as a prerequisite for venturing into the online scenario is the Web Hosting Services which proffers a myriad of resourceful services and features. There are various factors to consider before you chip in for the services of a web hosting service provider. One should aptly back check the dexterity of technical support and guaranteed up time provided by web hosting service provider. Round the hour technical support accessibility automatically implies that you can reach out to technicians in case your web portal is down. Back checking the service provider’s contact information will also remove any predicaments pertaining to instant address to technical issues.

Although there are a host of free websites accessible like Blogspot or WordPress; it is highly advisable you chip in for your own domain name as it will induce a trustworthy and reliable effect on your clients. Also make certain to enquire if the service provider entitles you to support multiple addresses when it comes to electronic mail and if it allows Enewsletters. It is also imperative to investigate about Room for the Server and Bandwidth. This will make sure that your web portal loads faster and people do not sway away from your website due to slow load time.

Yet another crucial service you will need to make your presence felt in this online sphere is Search Engine Services. What these service providers essentially do is promote your web portal through an assortment of on page and off page optimization techniques thereby extending your online presence.

The Almost Automatic Way to Earn More Money From Your Online Writing Business

I find that working online can have its financial ups and downs. Sometimes my income seems steady, yet other times it can drop dramatically. And it can be hard to understand what’s gone wrong, especially when I haven’t been doing anything differently.

Or maybe that’s the problem.

Any business, online or otherwise, is either growing or dying. So it needs to grow.

So what should you do?

Naturally, the key to your online writing business being a success is making more sales. Whatever it is your selling, whether it’s your own products or someone else’s, you need to make sales.

Working online doesn’t have a regular weekly/monthly income like a 9-5 job.

Instead your income depends on many factors including:

Your niche
The products your selling
How well your website is laid out
Type of marketing
Quality of writing

And this list is only a small part of what will drive your sales.

So what does it take to sell more?

To make more sales you need to sell more.

This means selling more, as in having more things to sell, and selling more, as in doing more selling.

What it really comes down to is doing more selling. And that means marketing your products AND your website.

You see it’s no good trying to sell the same things to the same people over and over again. What you need is to create a bigger audience and this means getting more people to visit your website.

Likewise, it’s no good having just one product and trying to sell it to the same 100 people over and over again. Instead you need to increase how many things you sell as well as increase the number of people you’re selling to. That way you’ll be selling 50 products to 1,000 people, then 100 products to 10,000 people. You can never have too many things to sell or too many customers. This is why it’s imperative to get as many website visitors as you can – every day, every week, every year. Marketing your website should never stop.

It always surprises me how many people spend nearly all their time working on their website and writing content, yet very little time on marketing.

But the truth is that if no one knows your business is there, no one will come.

You need to go online and market your business as much as you can.

Make it your goal to do some sort of marketing every week.

Then when you have more time you can do adventurous types of marketing like creating a free product (eBook) to give away, writing guest blog posts or participating on a forum.

Just remember that sales are what keep your online writing business going. And because the income is irregular and you’ll go through times of financial feast and famine, you need to ensure that you keep your marketing machine running. Always.

Because the more people know about your online business and what you have to offer, the more money you’ll make.