As World Cup fever takes hold we’ll all be glued to our TV screens as England play their hearts out and try and get through to the next round. But alas, if you’re not one of the lucky fans jetting off to South Africa or in the fortunate position to take the next four weeks off, then how do you keep up to date with the latest happenings in the world of football – the internet of course!

The internet has become our friend, our information source, and a shoulder to cry on. No matter what you need, or what you don’t, the internet will find it for you, and you don’t even have to have a pc anymore to do it – a phone will do!

We humans have evolved into information hungry beings that require instant knowledge about the latest news, heck, even a four year old can find their way to the CBeebies site to fulfil their need for the latest goings-on with Postman Pat!

No matter what industry you are in the one marketing tool that’s going to get your business noticed by your target market is a website. Any business that has a website instantly increases their audience two-fold, because a great web programmer won’t only get your site noticed by the market you were hoping for but those that you hadn’t even thought of.

Yes, the internet is here to stay, and thank goodness for that!

Having a website is all well and good, and let’s face it, if a business hasn’t got one these days then they will be missing out on a large proportion of their target market, but how do you get a website that goes beyond ‘just doing the job’ and one that is fantastic, unique, drives people to your business, and wanting them coming back for more? – here’s how:

• Get a domain name

Yes, very obvious, but a domain name is one of the most important aspects to a website, and in many respects determines the look and feel of the site – a funky name warrants a funky website. Choose a domain name that hasn’t been banned by Google, and decide whether you want a .com, .co.uk etc.

• Hire a professional website designer

….and listen to your designer, it’s their job, so they know what they are doing!

• Web hosting company

Your website designer will sort this out for you as they deal with these companies every day and will know what is right for your needs, and where to find the best deals.

• Get the right look and feel

A website should reflect the business and the people that run it. Don’t go for something lavish and outrageous if the business doesn’t warrant it.

• Navigation

There’s nothing worse than a website that doesn’t guide the user where to go and what to do, visitors will get bored and go somewhere else. A lovely, well designed website is great, just as long as the user experience isn’t forgotten.

• Customer/search engine balance

It is understood that to be ranked number one in Google is a must and if you’re not then your website is failing – not true. Yes, you want your website to be as high up in Google as possible, and website designers and programmers from all over the world struggle each day with the mine field that is Google, but what use is a site that is ranked number one but is completely unusable by visitors. The lesson here – don’t design exclusively for the search engines, people use websites too!

• Information or artwork?

The content of a website is just as important as the look. A nice looking site has the instant wow factor, but what next? People have come to your site for information, so make sure you put some on. If you want people to just look at your site and admire it as a piece of artwork, print it off and put a frame around it.

• Target market

When designing a website remember who you are trying to appeal to, your ideas of a great site may be different to theirs.

As a web designer and developer, I am constantly reminded that I wear two hats: 1) to design and build websites that can reach the widest audiences, appeal to the most people and deliver rich, interactive, exciting content; and 2) design and build sites that are cost effective, timely and maintainable.

It seems that for some time now those two objectives have been at logger-heads as cross-browser, cross-OS, backwards compatible, highly portable websites have required so many “hacks” , “patches”, “tweaks” and “tricks” to keep things in order that development time increased exponentially. The result being that clients had to take an objective view – spend more money achieving the last 10%, or save money and chop off a category of potential customers.

That dilemma came one step closer this week to being removed. And not before time. There have long been calls from web developers, technologists and end users to convince Microsoft to signal the end of the IE6 browser. The basis for this is in IE6′s complete disregard for web standards, topped with security and compatibility issues. Google’s recent debacle in China proved to them at least that IE6 had not just been an inconvenient side-track, but had actually led to irrevocable damage. Google pulled out of China, and after a brief investigation announced that support for IE6 in its enhanced applications was to be removed as a direct consequence.

Google pulling out of China is not a small headline… It’s not like saying the German’s are to stop eating sausage. China is the most populated country on Earth, and currently one of the largest untapped online resources. Google “giving up” on them is an historic headline. And it seems to me that Google’s announcement to drop IE6 should be seen as the direct aftermath of those events.

Time then, has come to remove your IE6 hacks, tear down your IE6 test machines, hang up your well-used crib sheet for IE6 cross-browser tricks. Isn’t it?

Well, there’s the rub… the purists out there (and in here too) still feel an obligation, a need, a moral duty, to keep providing support for any device/browser/age/config that exists. Isn’t that our job? Shouldn’t we still take the time to explain to clients why cross-browser/cross-everything-else support is still worthy of a few extra Pounds/Dollars/Renminbi?

Of course, some clients will still see the need, and will appreciate the dedication that a good web developer can demonstrate when seventy four different browser/OS combinations are showing pixel-perfect renditions of their new website. But I fear that those clients will become fewer and fewer, and as a business I must recognise the value that is placed on perfection. I will of course always offer full cross-browser support, and will continue to provide the best possible service to my clients. But I will argue just a little less when they say “just make it work for the majority”.

A website that is clear, simple and easy to navigate could increase your sales by 100 per cent, as suggested by the latest research.

It appears that even if your products are less compelling than your competitors, if your website is clean and un-complicated visitors will stay on your site longer and are more likely to buy.

With the fast pace of life these days we expect things to be quick, easy and fuss-free. A website that is clearly marked out and easy to navigate will be more appealing than one that is complicated and busy.

With this in mind a website should be designed for the consumer. The quality of consumers’ online experience determines how long they stay on a site and whether they choose to make a purchase. Good website design coupled with good copywriting could convert up to 100 per cent more than a poor website.

User-centred design (UCD) optimises the principles of designing a website around how people can, want or need to work, rather than forcing the user to change how they work to accommodate the developers design. At each stage of the website design process the wants, needs and limitations of the end user should be evaluated. Rather than dictating how the user will use a website any site should be designed giving the user what they want. Jakob Neilsen, the grandfather of UCD said it doesn’t matter what a website looks like, just as long as it works for the user. Whether you agree with this statement or not the message is the same – usability is the key.

Many websites these days use Flash, and yes, this can make it look very pretty and appealing, but this needs to be weighted up with functionality. Making things bright and swishy doesn’t naturally comply with DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) and Flash content isn’t read by search engines. This begs the question – why use Flash? A well written site doesn’t need Flash, so wouldn’t you prefer a fully integrated site that everyone can see?

There is so much to think about these days when it comes to designing a website, Web 2.0 being one of the latest buzz words.  Web 2.0 design style allows users to do more than simply find information, it provides greater user participation, a richer user experience and dynamic content. Web 2.0 also demonstrates clean, simple, basic lines – less is more, as they say!

Google, the most visited website on the planet is the prime example of the perfect website.  It’s simple, clean and it just works – what more do you want, it doesn’t need to do anything else! Everyone recognises it you know what it does and it just does it – no big Flash banners, it’s not crammed with text and pictures – it just is.

A website is not a piece of art and it’s not the same as designing a poster. People view websites in completely different ways, whether it’s different browsers, operating system, security software, screen size, resolution, hardware or speed of connection. Designing a website must be about the user experience otherwise people will get bored and go somewhere else. Research shows that it takes only eight seconds for someone to choose whether to stay on a website or not so a site needs to be good enough to catch someone’s eye, but not complicated so that they don’t stay on the site.

Mystery meat navigation is something that some ‘designed’ websites use. Although they may look nice and pleasing on the eye the navigation is inefficient and confusing. If a website is complicated and unclear visitors will not stay on the site. It is not recommended to use something that people are unfamiliar with as they won’t know how to use it and it is a sure fire way of losing a sale.

When designing a website one of the key characteristics is functionality. If a site is clear and easy to use visitors will stay on the site longer, make return visits, bookmark the site and tell their friends.  It’s not enough just to think about the colour and what its visual impact is, you must think about what people are coming to the site for. People expect a website to tell them what to do, so make things obvious to guide them. A website is often the first point of contact a company has with a potential customer, so make a good impression.

On the run up to Christmas online sales are expected to reach £6.8bn, a spending increase of £132 per person, according to Verdict Research.

With the busy lives we all lead and shopping days counting down, people are ditching the traditional Christmas shopping trip and are turning to the internet to purchase their festive delights.

In the age of the internet we have entered a new era in consumerism. More and more people are using the internet because it provides a wide variety of choice, it’s convenient and offers comparable prices. Having a website these days is the ‘norm’ and any business wanting to stay competitive would benefit from one.

Now is one of the best times to launch a website, as more people turn to the internet to see what bargains are to be had. Companies that already have a website would benefit from refreshing their site to make it stand out from competitors, or adding special promotions to help increase sales.

Although we are currently in a recession and many high street outlets have seen a decline in consumer spending, online sales look set to rise. So, whether it’s a new website or updating an existing one, any business would want to be part of the increased expenditure of Christmas shoppers.