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Do I need a professionally designed website to have an online business?

Guest post by: Harriette Blye

Article Overview: Some professionals give a resounding yes to the question of having a professionally designed web site for your online presence. For the rationale behind this look no further than your local Barnes and Noble Book seller for a good example. It is a brick and mortar structure. Barnes and Noble have lovely buildings that are clean, safe, well stocked with all types of books, magazines and CD's. You can usually relax and have coffee and a sweet if you choose. It other words Barnes and Noble present themselves to their customers very effectively.

Do I need a professionally designed website to have an online business?

Some professionals give a resounding yes to the question of having a professionally designed web site for your online presence. For the rationale behind this look no further than your local Barnes and Noble Book seller for a good example. It is a brick and mortar structure. Barnes and Noble have lovely buildings that are clean, safe, well stocked with all types of books, magazines and CD's. You can usually relax and have coffee and a sweet if you choose. It other words Barnes and Noble present themselves to their customers very effectively.

Then we compare Barnes and Noble with Amazon who have professionals design their websites. It has all of the bells and whistles. It compares with Barnes and Noble as an effective bookseller being a virtual site without a structure one can visit. It may even sell more books than Barnes and Noble. They are both very successful booksellers.

There are others that say no to having a professional design your website. How can this be? One may ask. Well, there are many web sites that can assist you in building a professional web site of your own. If you can type... if you can copy and paste, you can build a website that looks professional and will attract customers and get your product and view point out on the Internet. These companies offer hosting, and professional designs.

Your web site will look professional but a professional did not design it. You can search Goggle, Yahoo or Ask to find a company that will meet your needs and assist you in developing your web site. Locate one that you can also purchase a domain name as well. I have used Go Daddy with good results but there are many other good ones as well.

Another option is to have a blog. They are really easy to produce. When you follow simple instruction you can begin blogging within minutes. No need to have a hosting company, or a domain name. It is all taken care of for you. Most of all it is FREE. So if you are getting started with a new business, creating a blog could be your first step.

Blogs can be better for your business initially than websites because search engines pick them up faster and folks who are looking for what you have to offer can find you easier. This is because the search engines are always looking for fresh content that comes from bloggers.

Some use blogs if they are affiliates for another company or if they belong to a networking company and want to establish their own identity on the Internet. Blogs can be used in so many ways to get your business off the ground. Check out blogger and wordpress for starters.

One can see how Barnes and Noble present themselves with their brick and mortar buildings. We can only imagine what Amazon's warehouse is like but we know how Amazon is presented on the Internet. Both very professional. They both show themselves well. So the answer is a yes, you must have a professional website, blog or both to present your business on the internet to your customers but, the truth is that your website or blog does not have to be designed by a professional web designer. Go to it, have fun and be creative.

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  The Importance of A Good Design
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  The Components Of An Internet Business In A Box
  Is Your Website Destroying Your Online Business’ Potential?

Article Tags: amazon, barnes and noble, bells and whistles, blo, blog, book seller, bookseller, brick and mortar, coffee, domain name, hosting company, magazines, new business, presence, professional design, professional designs, rationale, will meet your needs, yahoo
Referred by: http://jaykubassek.com



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Re: Online Promo Budget - [quote="litekepr":3lab5u2k]My promo budget is very low because I do my website design and maintenance work myself and most of the promotional work myself. This saves me all kinds of cash outlay, but it does take a lot of my time. But, since I'm writing fulltime, the promotional work is an interesting diversion at the end of a long day. Shri[/quote:3lab5u2k] Thank you for your reply Shri, I am assuming after a long day you promote your writing business, is this is correct? Would you ever consider in the future hiring another business to do your promotional work to free up your time for other things? Or perhaps having your website professionally developed to help increase online leads for all the different types of business offers that you've listed?
Re: 3 Steps To Startup Success - Emma's point about a website is a good one. One thing anybody who wants to start a business can do is set up a website. You can do this before you start your business, while still working in a regular job. Your website doesn't even have to sell anything at this stage (although I'd recommend that you monetize it using Google Adwords, Amazon, affiliate products etc)... Use your website as a kind of online resource centre where you can put together your ideas and build a knowledge base about the business and market niche you want to get into. Write articles about the business, products, problems people face. By doing this you will: 1. Have a place where you can focus and develop your thinking about your business idea. 2. Build an online presence NOW that will greatly assist you in marketing your business when you are ready to set it up. 3. Establish your reputation as an expert in your field before you set up your business. 4. Give you an outlet to test your business ideas before you take the plunge... Good luck! DH
Online vs. Offline Marketing - I think it really depends on your business model. For example, for my company I do mostly online marketing. It's the most cost effective way to create awareness and I have a way to monetize the traffic. It's hard to run a website based business without online marketing. I have done some offline marketing in the form of media interviews, seminars, conferences, etc. but the results pale in comparison to what I can generate online. There are also many successful offline businesses that don't use any online marketing efforts. Depending on your business model sometimes referrals are the best way to grow as supposed to web marketing. I think it's hard to find a business that could not benefit from both online and marketing efforts but depending on your business model (and the personality of the owner) most entrepreneurs typically skew towards one over the other.
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