Would you buy meat from a grocer that you knew left bad meat with 
good meat or wasn’t clean? Would you buy a car from a sales lot 
that had totaled automobiles on the front row? I wouldn’t and 
neither would you. Your website is your grocery store or car lot. 
You must have an atmosphere that is pleasing to buyers and one 
that tells the buyer that you aren’t an amateur, but that you are 
a trained and seasoned professional. Your site is a direct 
reflection of you and your business, and that is why having a 
well designed website can make or break your sales.

The first thing to keep in mind when designing your website is 
"surfability". Take a few minutes and look around at several web 
pages. What makes them appealing? Were there some that you closed 
out of immediately? Why? Take notes and do your research. Keep in 
mind that when a person visits your site, they have a goal in 
mind. They are either seeking information or shopping for a 
product. Give the person what they want without having to search 
for it. Be sure all the information on your site is relevant to 
your product. Make the buyer think that they need your product to 
solve their problem.

Your main page serves a very specific purpose. It should be an 
avenue by which the customer can shop your site. It should be 
easy to view and needs to load very quickly. First impressions of 
your business will be determined here, and we all know that first 
impressions can either close the deal or loose it. Make it 
simple. It’s best to have links that are easily viewed by the 
reader and that will allow them to navigate with ease. Tables are 
often a great choice when deciding on a way to design the main 
page of your site. Again, your main page should load very 
quickly. Chances are, if it takes the page more than ten seconds 
to load, even on a 56k modem, the customer will click away to 
save time, hoping to find the information or product elsewhere. 
To increase the loading speed of your main page, you should avoid 
large graphics or excessive graphics. Too many banners or special 
effects can cause a page to load slowly as well.

To make your web site more appealing to the eyes, you should 
stick to mild colors. If your site is a content site where the 
user will be doing a lot of reading, it’s best to stick to black 
and white. Color can be added when using tables as a way to 
brighten up the page, but you need to remember to keep the 
overall look of the page professional and appealing to the 
audience that will be visiting most often. Since screen 
resolutions vary among monitors, it is a good idea to set the 
pixels to a standard 800x600. You may also choose to set the 
tables in your web page to span a percentage of the page rather 
than a set number of inches. This will help to accommodate all 
screen sizes. You should remember that a lot of internet users 
will not use the same browser as you, and therefore you should be 
sure that your site looks as good on other browsers as it does 
your own. You can do this by downloading several browsers through 
which to look at your page.

Be aware of the fact that the overall look of your website can 
enhance your ability to make money. The appearance of your site, 
if designed properly, can be an excellent marketing strategy for 
your product or service. 

David Hudson can help YOU
start your own profitable business on the Internet 
within the next 24 hours... To learn more, visit:
http://www.dreamsr.us/pips.html