Information on Products, Services and Resources
There is no limit to the sheer quantity of information you can make available on your web site about the products and services of your business, or the resources of your organization. You could put an entire library of documents, images, sound and video on your web site if you wanted to do so. This is one of the best reasons for having a web site.

Web Sites are the Great Equalizer
A well designed web site can make a better impression than a poorly designed web site costing thousands. It's all in the image you project, and everybody gets the same amount of screen space in which to present themselves. Nobody owns the Internet, so you have as much access to the million Internet users just as the major companies do.

24 x 7 Availability
The time of day is now irrelevant. Your products and information are available to anyone with Internet access 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Another one of the top reasons for having a web site.

Broaden your Customer Base
Millions and millions of people now use the Internet, and more people are getting online every month. Is there any other inexpensive way you could make your products or services available to so many people?

Dramatically Reduce Recurring Printing Costs
If your business or organization prints catalogs or information that quickly becomes outdated, and therefore must be revised and re-printed frequently, you save a tremendous amount of money by displaying the same information on your web site. If your latest catalog gets printed and then mailed out with typographical errors, your customers are stuck with bad information until you can re-print the entire catalog and re-mail them. No such problem with a web site!

Universal Findability
Thanks to the search engines, somebody looking for the type of products, services or information you offer can find you in a matter of seconds, no matter where in the world they are. We are at the dawn of a truly global marketplace.

Immediate Feedback
You can get quick feedback from your online customers by simply having e-mail addresses of all your contact personnel posted on your web site. You can make available customer surveys and receive the results without any printing or distribution costs.

Image
Surveys have shown that most small business and organizations do not yet have web sites. Your having a web site now puts you above the rest.

Improved Customer Service
You can have a section on your web site with answers to all the questions your clients frequently ask, and even the ones rarely asked, and in as much detail as you like, exactly as you would like it stated. Never worry again about a customer service rep "forgetting" to tell a customer a key piece of information.

Improved Technical Support
You can put very complex and detailed diagrams, charts, and technical information on your web site and save your tech support staff hours of time providing tech support on the telephone. Diagrams, charts and specs can be updated very quickly. Some manufacturers no longer print their repair manuals because of the high printing costs due to constant revisions. Instead, their clients get all the information they need from their web site.

Supplement Your Current Advertising
Anytime you display your Internet address in your print (letter-heads,business cards , comp slips) ,radio, or TV advertising, potential customers know they can go right there to get more information about the products or services you are advertising through the traditional media.

Good for the Environment
Think of the millions of trees that can be saved by not printing newsletters, brochures, manuals, even entire books, because the same information can be displayed on web sites.

One of the key elements is to make sure that everyone who tries to access your web site can view it how you wanted them to.

For example :

a) Browser
Your site may appear to be fine on your own computer but a customer may have Netscape as their browser where you have Internet Explorer , so will it display properley in both ?

b) Screen Resolution
Your Screen resolution may be set to 1024 x 768 and the site looks great , but if someone trying to access the site has their resolution set to 800 x 600 can they still access all parts of your site ?

c) Flash
If your site contains elements that were created in such as Flash then what happens if someone tries to access your site if their computer is unable to access such files ? .

Many other issues have to be approached.Detailed below are other key
elements into web site design that include items for us the web designer
and you site owner to take into consideration

1) You MUST have your name or company name, phone number, e-mail address, and physical address somewhere on your web site, preferably on your contact information page. A street address is better to give than a Post Office box. If you want people to do business with you, you must provide at least this basic information. You would be amazed at how many people overlook this simple requirement.

2) You MUST have good content. Content is KING! Content is the reason people come to your web site in the first place.

What is content?
If you are selling information, then your written material or data is probably your content. You may be able to offer this in simple text (perhaps with a search engine), or from an organized searchable database of your information. If you are selling images, video, audio, or computer applications then this is your content. Make it easy to find, easy to use, and the best you have to offer.

Don't hold back, put your best information on your web site. If your content is getting old and stale, be sure to refresh it with something new and different. Content is the single most important aspect of the overall value and quality of your web site.

3) You MUST have a good navigation system on your web site. Simple text-based links are normally the fastest and quickest way to navigate. Image maps, when not too big, work well too. However, remember that most web surfers are unimpressed with whiz-bang complex navigation schemes, elaborate graphics, and layers of gateway pages to wade through to get to what they want. Keep it refreshingly simple, and easy to use.

4) You MUST have a quick loading home page. Your home page should have no more than 60 - 80k in graphics, and must come up quickly for the web surfer. If you have tons of fancy graphics or other bandwidth-intensive content, put them on another page in your site. Additionally, you must be extremely careful when using audio, video, Java, Java Script, Shockwave, and any other browser plug in. Realize that people who cannot manage the technology may have trouble viewing your web site.

5) You MUST have a web site that can still be navigated when the graphics are turned off on the web browser of your web site visitor. This usually means that you will need to have text links as well as graphical navigational tools. Some people browse with graphics turned off, for various reasons, and want text links to navigate more quickly. Some people are impatient, and will simply not wait for image maps and buttons to load.

6) You MUST provide an easy way for people to contact you while still online. Although a simple e-mail link works well, we've found that short on-line forms can generate almost twice the response! It may well be in part because people like to click on buttons, drop down boxes, etc. Whatever you do, make it easy for people to inquire about your services, while they are still online.

7) You MUST have a web site that is legible and works on all systems. Your site must work with all web browsers and all screen resolutions. Don't design your site on a huge 21" monitor with resolution set at 1280x1024 pixels, only to discover it looks funny and is almost impossible to read on a 14" monitor at 640x480 resolution.

Additionally, be very careful when using offbeat fonts, sizes, colors, contrasts, and combinations. If you want to do business on your web site, make it easy to do so. Also, if you want to sell, it may be best if your site looks a little on the conservative side (trustworthy), rather than leading edge (here today, gone tomorrow).

8) You MUST have a way to ask your web site visitors for their e-mail address, in one way or another. This provides you with the opportunity to resell them later, by sending them quality, informative helpful e-mail at a later date as a follow-up. There is nothing immoral or unethical about this, as long as it is done responsibly and in good faith.