Web Design Barnstaple: Choosing a Web Address - Updated for July 2016

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A web address refers to the title your customers will type into the toolbar at the top of the screen. The web address of the media giant Amazon is amazon.com. You can check out what Disney is up to at Disney.com, and so forth. When you have your own online business, people will be able to type in your web address in order to see what you’re up to, as well!

This may seem like a somewhat obvious concern, but you will have to think up a web address that is catchy, evocative, and easy to remember, which is no small feat. By this point in the history of the Internet, a great deal of the short, snappy names have been taken. For instance, if your business is called Good Times, well, it’s highly unlikely you’ll be able to land goodtimes.com for the purposes of your site.

It’s gotten to the point where many people choose to name their businesses based off of what web addresses they can land rather than basing the web address of the name of the business. In fact, it’s probably a smart idea to check out what web addresses are available before building your site if you have the luxury to do so: those who are building websites to bolster a previously existing business won’t have this luxury, obviously.

There is a lot of fuss on the Internet regarding using hyphens in web addresses. In an overarching sense, whether or not to use hyphens in your web address comes down to personal preference, but it is true that most people don’t stop to note hyphens in the names of addresses unless giving specific directions to a site. Thus, if you have a great name that is available only when you use hyphens (“blue-money.com”) but goes to a different site when the hyphen is removed (“bluemoney.com”), it’s probably best to think of another name, lest you end up accidentally sending customers to an unrelated site or, worse, a competitor.

Also of contention are the extensions for web addresses, which can include .com, .edu, .net, .org, .us, .info, .biz, and many others. There are also country specific web addresses such as .co.uk. Of course, the most popular one of these is the .com, and in general, if you can land the web address of your dreams that also happens to be a .com, then the stars are smiling on you and it’s your lucky day.

However, if there’s no chance of that happening, .org and .net are well-known as well and most customers find them perfectly acceptable alternatives. Just make sure to publicize your website with the full web address should you not have a .com extension. The country-specific domain names are great for local businesses – after all, if you’re working out of Australia and are only serving the Australian community, having a .co.au site helps identify you as a local resource and will heighten the chances of your website popping up when a consumer does a search for local businesses.

Web Design Barnstaple: The Distinctions Of Online Businesses - Updated for July 2016

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Starting an online business has become a very popular venture in recent years as more and more people become acclimated to using the Internet in their everyday lives. As little as twenty years ago, the Internet was new to the average consumer and not much more than a novelty; today, it’s rare to encounter a home in the Western world that’s not stocked with at least one computer. Most middle class houses in America have multiple computers at this point.

What this means is that starting an online business can be profitable if done correctly, given the predominance of the Internet in the average household. People who are naturally entrepreneurial or those who have already started a non-internet based business will definitely have a leg up on the rest of the game, but for the right person who’s willing to take appropriate steps to ensure success, starting an online business can be easy, fun, and even profitable.

In general, the differences between online business and traditional businesses are slight but distinct. Here are a few things that potential online business owners should take into consideration before jumping on the Information Superhighway:

Lower start up costs/high effort. One of the greatest things about online businesses is that they typically don’t cost much to get started. There’s no need to rent out a space or pay utilities, and there are lots of free avenues to advertise with over the digital waves. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that “less money invested means less work,” because nothing could be further from the truth. Online business owners often feel like their computers are grafted onto their hands!

Be a jack of all trades. It’s not good enough just to have a stellar idea or a fantastic service. In order to be successful, you need to be able to do graphic design, understand web server technology, programming, and knowledge of the Internet as a marketing medium. For those that can’t do all of this single handedly, outsourcing is an option, but this raises overall cost.

Think globally. This isn’t opening up a small Mom and Pop store in your neighborhood. The business will be able to reach all corners of the globe, thanks to the Internet. The good part is that this potentially means more business – the bad part is that owners will have to make provisions for costs such as international shipping, and maybe even pay for translated versions of their websites.

Marketers make the market. There are thousands of ways to market on the Internet, including pay-per-click, viral, drip, social networking, AdWords, and many others. Don’t know what these things mean? Owners of successful online businesses take the time to learn!

Some of these attributes make working online easier, some may prove to be more of a challenge – but they all make online businesses unique!

Web Design Barnstaple: The Importance Of Web Design - Updated for July 2016

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Many online businesses, in their haste to get up a website as soon as possible in order to start raking in the customers and the revenue, completely forget about the importance of web design when it comes to selling online.

It helps to think of your website as a physical store. Before you invited the customers in, you’d take care to make sure that everything was organized, the place was easy to navigate for as many people as possible, and that the store was clean. If your store is cluttered, hard to navigate, and dirty, many customers will turn around and walk right out upon seeing the place, without giving a second thought to the products inside.

Web design is important in the same way. When you present your site it needs to be presented in a clean, clear-cut fashion that draws the customer in and invites them to explore the website more, rather than sending them running due to an onslaught of blinking graphics and clashing colors.

The best web designs, thankfully, tend to be the more simplistic ones. Make your links obvious and your text a reasonable size with appropriate colors. Note that “appropriate colors” doesn’t necessarily mean that the website has to be in shades of white – in fact, pops of color add interest and make your website memorable – but having a yellow background with pink text is going to shock your customers in a way that you’ll likely find less than desirable.

Also fortunately, while most of us might not be web design gurus, there are a number of people who have dedicated their lives to the art of website design and maintenance. If you are a person who struggles to put italics into your HTML documents, there’s no shame in admitting that you’re not the grandfather of code. This is one place where outsourcing can be a great idea. Yes, a look at many website design sites might make you reel with the prices they quote, but there are ways to keep the costs low when it comes to outsourcing web design.

Consider purchasing a ready-made site and then buying customized graphics on top of that as opposed to getting a site made from scratch. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Also consider talking with students from design schools – yes, you’ll have to pay them, but they often charge much lower rates, and many students will jump at a chance to build their portfolios.

Also remember that outsourcing your web design can be claimed on your taxes for an online business. Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish – a good web design will serve you well and pay for itself in no time when it comes to the business of successful business.

Web Design Barnstaple: The Idea Behind The Business - Updated for July 2016

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Obviously, the first place to start with any business is to come up with an idea. What, exactly, is up for sale and what is the best way to attract the customer to the product? This has been the main focus of all businesses, whether online or brick and mortar, for centuries.

For those who already have a traditional business, this is the obvious place to start. Even businesses that primarily work in the “real world” can benefit from having an online outlet, if for nothing else than to reap the benefits of the worldwide marketing aspect.

However, one of the most common mistakes that a “real world” business makes when transitioning to an online outlet is that they become what is known as a “brochure website,” where the website itself offers little information other than scanned brochures and directions to the store itself. While there is some merit to be had in this sort of website – and it is, indeed, better than no website at all – this doesn’t maximize the potential that the Internet has in furthering the cause of businesses.

For businesses who are looking to transfer from the “real world” to the digital one, it’s recommended to consider looking at the website as if it was the main focus of the business, rather than a peripheral concern. If a business owner was starting from scratch with a website and trying to sell the product, how important would the website itself be? It would be vital, because the website is the medium that sells the product. Websites who have “real world” businesses should view their site in the same way.

For those who are looking to start an online business from scratch, the most important thing to do is research. What are competitors offering in the field? How much are they charging, and what do their websites look like? Try Google searching for others who are offering the same things that you would like to sell, and check out their quality and pricing.

Next, sit down and consider how you can improve upon what your future competitors have already brought to the table. Do most of the sites you see have uninspiring websites or difficult navigation? Take note and make sure not to make the same mistakes when it’s time for you to launch your own site.

Remember that your online business doesn’t have to necessarily be unique in order to be successful. It just has to be a more appealing option to the consumer than the others already on the market. Take note on what your competition is doing and envision making it better. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel to find success – but if you can package it better or get it out faster, that’s a major step in the right direction!

Web Design Barnstaple: Sell It With Copy - Updated for July 2016

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What’s just as important as the quality of your product and the organization of the site it’s located on? The copy that sells it, of course!

Consider your copy the same way you’d consider yourself before going on an interview for a job. You’d be clean, you’d look professional, and you might even rehearse a little bit about what you were going to say. Your copy should present itself like it’s going in for an interview as well – this is your business speaking for itself, after all!

What are the cornerstones of good copy? Well, let’s start off with the obvious – good copy is first and foremost well organized and free of grammatical errors. If your copy is hard to read and misspelled, it looks unprofessional which sets off red flags in the mind of your customers. Don’t let the incorrect usage of semicolons drive away potential revenue. Also, if nothing else, be sure to run everything through spellchecker before putting it up.

But if you want your copy to truly pop, you’ll need to do more than make sure that you cross your Ts and dot your Is. Good copy can accurately describe the product or services that you sell, as well as inform the customer why your product and services are better than what’s offered by the competition. It paints you, the seller, as credible and honest, and it adds a touch of urgency to the transaction, convincing the customer that it’s in his/her best interest to make a purchase as soon as possible. Good copy is convincing, but not overbearing.

There are two obvious ways to go about getting good copy for your online business. The first is writing it yourself. The second is outsourcing. The first is definitely the cheaper way to go, and even if you are utterly incapable of designing a website, it’s likely that you know how to work a word processor and use spellchecker. You could write your own copy very persuasively and well.

But this is another area in which potential online business owners should not scrimp. Be honest with yourself. Will you be able to represent your services and products to the extent they deserve – and need to be represented in order to be profitable – with your writing abilities?

Many people opt to outsource their copy just as they outsource their web design. Just as there are people who have dedicated themselves to the art of making web pages, there are those who make a living out of writing the copy that fills these pages. Many of these places are also versed in writing copy that will make your website appear higher in search engine rankings, which is a worthy consideration as well.

Either way, be sure not to forget about spellchecker.

Web Design Barnstaple: PayPal Versus Online Shopping Carts - Updated for July 2016

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One of the most often discussed debates when it comes to the world of online business is the method with which owners offer their customers to pay for the services rendered. Everybody has heard the tale about the witless consumer who gave his or her credit card number to some nameless company on the Internet and ended up with thousands of dollars charged to his or her card. There are about a thousand variations on the same horror story, which means that customers have high standards when it comes to giving out access to their financial resources online.

Namely, your site is going to have to offer your customers a way to conduct transactions with you in a method that is both secure and user-friendly. Not having a payment method listed on your site that is well-respected and trusted will seem unprofessional and send the vast majority of potential customers elsewhere. With the competitiveness of the online market, there’s no reason to lose a customer base due to perceived overtures of unreliability.

Most online businesses these days conduct their transactions through PayPal or through some form of online shopping cart. The pros and cons of both can be debated for days on end, but here is a quick overview of both.

PayPal is well known and proven, and has high levels of customer satisfaction. Even more intriguingly, it’s free of monthly fees for the user. The payment for services through PayPal is docked through a service charge, which is taken out of every transaction. There is much debate about at what point PayPal starts to become less cost-effective than a shopping cart, but the overall rule of thumb seems to be that if your business does less than £1000 a month of money exchange, PayPal seems to be the best option. If your revenue level is higher than that, it’s best to have both a PayPal option as well as a shopping cart.

A shopping cart system requires a monthly maintenance fee, which can seem prohibitive to smaller businesses. However, once your business sees serious growth, it’s a good idea to invest in shopping cart services, if nothing else than for the peace of mind they can bring. Paying the fee means that somebody else deals with the hassle of embedding the software into your site, takes care of all the bugs that pop up, and generally ensures that things are running smoothly. With a PayPal account, the owner has to add this to the list of responsibilities.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that as a respectable online business owner, you must offer your customers some form of reliable payment method. Otherwise, you can kiss a great deal of potential revenue goodbye when customers seek out your competition for a more secure method of payment.