STAY FOCUSED ON YOUR BUSINESS GOALS WHEN GOING ONLINE

OK, hands up who knows what on earth that web developer was talking about when you had a quote for your web site?

Accessibility options, standards based design, CSS layouts and my favourite . . . RSS feed to your desktop. Well if your hand is in the air, feel comfort in knowing that you’re not alone.

Many small business owners can feel overwhelmed by the terminology surrounding the Internet, but they shouldn’t, and here’s why.

As a business owner do you really care about all of this? You just want to generate more sales right? You don’t care about usability testing or information design, or any of that fancy technical terminology.

Business owners want their web sites to:

• Increase revenue
• Bring in more customers
• Reduce expenses
• Generate more business from existing clients
• Increase the value of the business

Notice that the words ‘design’, ‘usability’, or ‘navigation’ do not appear anywhere in this list, but that’s not to say that they’re unimportant. Of course they are, but they should only be a means of reaching those points listed above.

When you look to put your business online always make sure that it is your business goals that are the driving factor of the project and not the web developer’s need to play with the latest technologies.

Business is all about making a profit, and at the end of the day, why have a web site at all if it doesn’t either make you money, or save you money?

About the Author:
Gary is the Technical Director at Red E Creations a Gold Coast Web Design company based in Queensland, Australia.