Development Website

You have a website for one primary purpose, and that is to make sales. The other purposes, like providing information and allowing customers to contact you, are important, as well, but your website needs to improve your bottom line. It’s a marketing tool, above all.

As a marketing tool, your website must be intuitive to navigate. If people can’t find what they’re looking for on your site, they’ll find it somewhere else.

You can work with your web designer, a Chicago web design firm or other web design firm, to create great navigation.

These guidelines will help you create intuitive navigation that makes finding information and taking action on your website simple:

1. Place your navigation links or icons where people expect them. This could be the top or vertically down the side. You might even put major sections at the top and more detailed navigation on the side. You may also have a second navigation menu, with more options, at the bottom. The key is to have top or side navigation that will get the user to any major section of your site.

2. Add a search button to your site. If your visitor is looking for something, make it easy for them to find. This may be part of your navigation menu or separate, but it is a critical part of your entire navigation system and strategy.

3. Put important links like Login, Cart, Contact Us, Help and Home at the very top, perhaps in their own navigation bar. People expect to see these links. If they can’t find them, they’ll become frustrated and might leave.

4. Keep your navigation consistent throughout your site. The main page of each section might contain additional links to the pages in that section, but do not change the look, feel or location of the navigation bars inside the site.

5. Let people know where they are. One way to do this is with “breadcrumbs,” links at the top indicating what page and which section they are on. You might also change the navigation tab in some way using

Navigation is a critical element in the success of your website. If your visitors feel confused, lost or frustrated, they won’t want to work with you.

When you think about developing a website for your business, you may feel overwhelmed at the thought of building it yourself using a web editor. Years ago, that was your only option. Now you have a variety of methods for getting your business online with an attractive website.

First, you can work with a web design firm. If you have not considered this because of cost, you may be surprised. Many web development firms are quite affordable, and the return on your investment will make the cost worthwhile. Professional web designers know how to create a website that works for your business, and have knowledge and skills you may not possess.

If you prefer to do your website in-house, you have several easy and affordable options.

A professional website template from a site like TemplateMonster will set you up immediately with a website that looks like it was created by a Web design Chicago (www.intechnic.com). These templates are attractive and easy to use, and generally cost under $75. The main drawback of the templates is that they are not easily customized. This is not usually a problem if you buy a template that works for your business.

Another, similar option is turnkey website builders like Site2You. Unlike a template, which you put on your own website, turnkey solutions include everything you need. Your solution provider will host your website and provide unlimited emails, contact forms and other features. Your website will literally be completely built for you, and you don’t have to do anything but choose your layout and features and upload your content. The downside of this is that if you decide you want to move, you have to rebuild your website. Still, this may be a good solution for some people.

A third option is to use a hosting company that has a free site builder. Godaddy is one such host, but most hosting companies offer this option. These template-driven site building software programs make building a site easy. You choose your template, customize it with your own images or included images, and add your content. It’s very simple, and very affordable. The drawback is that some programs have a limited number of templates available.

Whether you hire a website development firm or choose one of the available options for building your own website, you will find that having a great website makes your business more effective.