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”.

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.

With a luring price tag of £100 or even less why wouldn’t you build your own website? The price looks good, you can add some text, a few pictures and away you go – right?

While many businesses don’t require an all singing, all dancing website there are a few things to consider before diving in for the cheapest price going.

A website is often the first contact a business has with potential customers. It is a reflection of your company so you want it to look professional and stand out from your competitors.

A bespoke website from a reputable company will provide a professional, knowledgeable approach to your website, and offer advice and guidance so you get the most out of a very powerful marketing tool.

If you think of the cost of a full colour advert in a local paper then the cost of a website is negligible. For the price of a weekly paper advert any business can have a custom built, fully functional website that is available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

While a DIY website may look appealing cost-wise, there are also additional costs that you may not be aware of, such as domain name registration and website hosting. A website design company will provide advice and guidance for these as well as the latest SEO (search engine optimisation) techniques to help the site rank higher in search engines.

At the end of the day, would you rather spend a few pounds on a template website that looks the same as many others, or invest in a custom designed and built website that makes you stand out from the crowd and offers visitors a great user experience?

Designing a website should not be considered in the same light as you would design a poster or a leaflet. All too often we see websites that would look great printed and hung on a wall, but offer the modern computer-savvy customer little in the way of interactivity, options, style, or flair.

A website is a portal into your business that can sell to customers even when your entire workforce is safely tucked up in bed – and if the website is good enough it may even do a better job, as it is inherently driven by the needs of the customer rather than a “hard-sell” salesman.

The key to good website design is identifying the expectations of the customer and how they are likely to want to use your site (NOT how you want them to use it!). This can be difficult. As a retail business you naturally want to guide customers to ensure a sale, but now you must rely on the website to do that for you.

The silver lining of this careful balancing act is that the winning formula will keep working for you on every customer, time and time again, even when you are still in your pyjamas. So, get it right and spend the right amount of time and effort doing so, because it will pay you back ten-fold.