web design 131 white paper

The Web Design White Paper How to create an engaging, effective website for your business

More Downloads: http://www.cyberoptik.net/downloads.html November 13 2013 | Version 1.0 1

Web Design 131 White Paper

How to create an engaging &

effective website for your business

More Downloads: http://www.cyberoptik.net/downloads.html November 13 2013 | Version 1.0

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Congratulations! You’ve made a smart decision in downloading our Web Design Whitepaper.

Whether you’re looking to redesign your website or get your first one online, this whitepaper will educate you

on what to look for in a web design firm, what WordPress is, and much more.

We want to help your business expand and grow, so if you have any questions as you read through this

document, make a note and feel free to give me a call directly.

We would love to be your resource for anything website-related. Best Regards,

Ron Johnson and the CyberOptik Team Main: (630) 296-6932 Direct: (630) 533-3752

Email: [email protected] Website: www.cyberoptik.net

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ronjohnson



Table of Contents

4. Why Your Website Is Your Most Important Marketing Tool

7. 8 Benefits of having a Wordpress Site

9. A Poorly Designed Website WILL Lose You Customers

12. How To Design an Effective Website

14. What You Should Know Before You Hire a Website Designer

16. What Now?



Why Your Website Is Your Most

Important Marketing Tool If your business is concerned with marketing in the modern age (and what business

isn’t?), then having a website is the most important step you can take to establish a

presence in today’s technology-centric consumer market.



40% of smartphone

owners compare businesses online.

Do you have a mobile website? If not, you could be losing out on valuable opportunities.

78% of Internet users

conduct product research online.

Whether users are searching for a specific service, checking up on your business, or looking for a phone number, they're going online before anything else. This is why your website is so important in today's marketplace. 57% of businesses have

acquired a customer through their company blog.

If this isn’t a good enough reason to have a website with a blog, then what is?

Companies with a blog increase web traffic by more than 55%

Each time you launch a new blog post Google sees it as new content on your website, and comes to check it out. Because of this, having a blog is great for brining relevant traffic to you.



41% of B2B companies and 67% of B2C companies have

acquired a customer via Facebook.

Facebook isn’t just for socializing with your friends. It is also a valuable resource for businesses, and these statistics show what you can achieve with it. The number of marketers who say Facebook is “critical” or “important” to their business has increased 83% in just 2 years.

Inbound marketing costs 62% less per lead than

traditional outbound marketing.

Yes, 62% less on average per lead. You can still use traditional marketing to get more leads, but converting people into customers once they have found your website is much more affordable.

Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/11414/12-Mind-Blowing-Statistics-Every-Marketer-Should-Know.aspx



8 Benefits of Having a Wordpress Website for your Small Business



A poorly Designed Website WILL lose you customers

No matter how professional your company is or how strong your services are, a poorly designed website could

cost you more than you think. Nowadays, your website may be the first thing that consumers see before

making a purchasing decision. People are turning to the Internet to find products and services now more than

ever. If you’re unsure if your website is up to the standards of consumers, there are several telltale signs…

Subpar Functionality: It’s important to ensure that all your links, videos, and graphics are running smoothly at all times. In some cases these issues may be unbeknownst to you, but make sure you’re

proactive and get a problem repaired as soon as possible.

User Experience: Consumers want websites that are easy to use yet still provide eye-catching options.

For example, a simple link that directs them to a product isn’t as pleasing a link highlighted in blue, with a

beautiful picture and a product description beside it.



In addition, service information and products should always be easy to find. Obscure, hard-to-find

information is a disappointment to consumers as they want to find things as quickly and as effortlessly as

possible.

Categories: Your website should be designed with categories for each product and/or service you offer.

This not only helps your site look cleaner, but it also ties into the user experience, making it simpler to find

information.

If your products and service information is scattered sporadically throughout your website with no order, then

your site probably needs an overhaul.

Font Size, Text, and Search Boxes: Outdated text, hard-to-read fonts, and websites without a

prominently placed search box all plays a part in a poorly designed website.

If your website isn’t designed in a user-friendly way, you run the risk of not only losing potential paying

customers, but also current customers as well.



Consumers do research before they make purchasing decisions, whether in-store or online. If your website

isn’t designed with the customer in mind, these consumers can easily move on to a similar business with a

better website.

Word gets around easily online, especially via reviews. If someone has a difficult time on your website, there

is a good chance that this information will be shared with others.

Most people don’t return to a difficult website, including, in some instances, current customers.



How to Design an Effective Website You must remember that your business’s website is competing against literally thousands of other websites

that are designed to attract your customers and keep them. In order to gain the competitive edge, your

website has to be good. A good website is effective at getting high search engine rankings, attracting visitors

and converting visitors into customers. The following are some tips for how to design an effective website.

Fill your site with high-quality content. It's a time-tested fact that the websites with the most

traffic have one thing in common: they provide users with

well-written, relevant content. The value of quality content

is so high that users will even put up with pesky

advertisements and a poor design aesthetic in order to

access it. If you want to get and keep visitors, provide

them with something great to read.

Organize your site’s content in a format

that users can quickly navigate. Internet users

tend to scan web pages before committing to read them.

That means they're looking for some key information on your

page right off the bat, and if they don’t find it, they'll leave

your site in favor of another. Organize the content on your

site with clear headers that identify the main topics and

sections of your content.



Your website needs to be user-friendly. That means you need to keep your web design simple

and intuitive. Don’t make users guess about anything, or

else they will leave your site. Keep the layout clean, the

content concise, and the headers and links conspicuous.

Employ search engine optimization techniques. It's safe to say that a well-designed website absolutely

must be optimized. Why spend the time, money and effort to create a quality website, only to have it go unnoticed by Internet

users? If you don’t utilize SEO, then your site won’t be favorably ranked on search engines and people won’t see it. It’s that

simple.

Require as little from the user as possible. Web surfers are used to getting what they want right away.

It’s all about instant gratification. Don’t make them complete

an interrogation in order to navigate through your site. If you

do want your guests to subscribe to your site for complete

access, at least provide something upfront to prove your

worth.



What You Should Know Before You Hire

a Website Designer

These days, it’s not enough to have a business website. Your website must be designed so that it attracts

attention, holds attention, converts visitors into customers, and inspires them to visit again. Web design is

much more than aesthetics. It's a complex undertaking that requires a good deal of specialized knowledge. If

your website is not professionally designed, chances are it's not working for you to its fullest capacity. So who

will you entrust your website design to, and how do you know you’re making the right decision? Here is a

guide to what you need to know before you hire a website designer…

You should be the owner of your domain name. Some web designers take advantage of customers who

know little about how websites work by purchasing the domain names themselves and then charging a fee for their use. They

may even hold the site hostage by increasing their rates and forcing you to pay (or else you lose your domain name). Purchase

your domain name BEFORE you hire a designer, and then have the designer create a site for that domain name.



Get an outlined and firm price. Depending on your needs, the cost of web design can vary greatly. Before you hire

any web design firm, make sure you know exactly what you're getting into. You don't want any surprise fees or pricing.

Know what you want. Your web designer can help

bring your vision to fruition, but you must be the one with a

vision. What do you need out of your site? For example, will

you be maintaining a blog, creating an online catalog, using

a virtual shopping cart, or hosting a forum? These are things

you need to know about your site before you commission

someone to create it.

Experience equals reliability. There are many

fly-by-night web designers who do their work as a hobby or

side job. While they may be able to create great-looking

and functional websites, you can’t necessarily count on

them to stay in the business. That means you could end up

with a website and no back-end support for when you

decide you need to make some changes. Hire a designer

who has a proven reputation, and who is likely to stick with

your website for the long haul.



So, what now? Act!

Hopefully you now understand why a website is vitally important to your business. If you have any questions

please feel free to give us a call at (630) 296-6932. We'd love to get a website online for you. We'll always

put your needs first.

Here’s to your success!

Best Regards,

Ron Johnson and the CyberOptik Team

Main: (630) 296-6932

Direct: (630) 533-3752

Email: [email protected]

www.cyberoptik.net | LinkedIn



About CyberOptik CyberOptik is a full-service web design firm based in Elmhurst. We can help you with

your website, social media, web hosting, branding, mobile websites, SEO and much

more.

If you’d like professional help with your website needs, don’t be shy! Contact us today.

To download more free info about marketing your business online, visit

www.cyberoptik.net/whitepapers

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