You have a website for your business. That's a good start. But to really empower your web presence, your website has to move from decent to stunning.

After all, today's Internet user enjoys more options than ever before, with blogs and podcasts and comment forums dotting the Information Highway. Can your site stand out amid the millions of competitors? What secret ingredient do you need to elevate your site past the pack?

Before jumping to design solutions, ask yourself what purpose the site serves. Online-only businesses will answer in three parts: To display basic information about the company, to serve customers and to network.

The same applies to traditional businesses, but with several added needs. A site can open international markets, create a 24-hour service and allow customers to submit feedback. There are more uses for a business website, but you get the picture - this is an integral component of running a company, since the webpage is often the unofficial face of the organization.

Illustration by Adrian Hayles, Business Edge


Owners often also regard the website as an online business card or brochure. Forget the paper mill, Luddites - the Internet is here to stay and passing around a regular business card can only do so much. But to stimulate buzz about your website, whether you sell ice cream or auto parts, is an achievable goal well within your budgetary constraints.

You can spend $1,000 or $10,000 on design and maintenance, but payment is unimportant compared to the end product. A $2,000 redesign of your site created by college graduates could be just as worthwhile as a $9,000 job by a professional design firm. It's always best to shop around to find out the cost for your type of redesign.

To better understand where so many sites fail, take a stroll through the web, glancing at several business sites. See what makes you flinch, what makes you sigh in frustration. It's not hard to find the culprits - look for sites clogged with information, with little breathing room. Click on tabs that take you to subdirectories of nowhere. Find broken links, misspelled words and 2003 press releases filed under News.

One of the biggest mistakes a web- page can commit is textual narcissism. That sin occurs when a company talks about itself and not the client, says Keith Thirgood, a marketing consultant for Capstone Communications Group in Markham, Ont. "These sites talk about how great they are, blah blah blah. But they need to understand their target market and reach out to them more effectively."

Another decade-old no-no is poor navigation, Thirgood says. "People designing sites tend to be very web literate, but the site's visitors could be the opposite.”

In this area, his pet peeves are drop-down menus when dragging the clicker over a tab or button, requiring the user to keep a steady hand on the mouse to find the right link.

Most frustrating on some pages, especially for companies in IT, are Flash animations or cutesy cartoons to introduce the home page. Does a senior executive from another company really want to see 30 seconds of cheeky filler? Sure, the teen websurfer appreciates a South Park knockoff, but that kid might not be the site's target demographic. Different strokes for different e-folks.

Lastly, it's obvious when a site is rarely updated. As well as posting old news releases, a company's site shows its age with passé phrases (Be the master of your domain with ... ) or stale information (Find out why we're 2004's best new hypnotherapy institute!). Any business that needs to keep updated on current affairs - media groups, PR firms, professional bloggers - should be constantly tweaking content to reflect the evolving news cycle.

So, now that you know what to avoid, what should you strive for? Thirgood mentions two impressive qualities on a well-designed website: A clean interface that is easy to navigate and a strong image. Finding a good balance is key, he says.

"Management types who visit your site want to see stuff that makes them comfortable about the company," he says. "But tech-savvy engineers might also be visiting, so you might need some technical text in some pages."

No matter the design, understanding your target demographic is paramount. An accountant's website will surely differ from a record label's site, but both should reflect the owner's personality. For instance, a funky and quirky lawyer could have a brightly coloured fun site, while a dark and Gothic clothing store could opt for a less cheery layout.

Realize you don't get a second chance to make a first impression.

A study published recently in the academic journal Behaviour & Information Technology found that a site has 50 milliseconds (about one frame of a video) to impress a user.

Carleton University psychology professor Gitte Lindgaard, who studies interactive technology, concluded: "The question that should be resonating in the minds of all web designers is - how much weight does this first impression carry?" Opinions vary on what makes an attractive site, but some standard rules apply. Backgrounds are usually plain, the most popular being white and greyscale fades, all the better to highlight strong colour atop this base.

The most important text on the page is usually the largest, but use this rule in moderation. Photographs can add an eye-catching graphical element to pages, while also showing a human face to what can be a very human-less medium. Cute icons and symbols are also advisable, but use them sparingly lest your site morph into a still for a children's video game.

Lastly, back to Thirgood's idea about a strong image. Since your site is essentially your business (at least to the unsuspecting web visitor who comes across your URL), the design should conform to the emotion you want to emit. Is your business alternative and bold? Is it reputable and established? Let the design bring those elements out, even in the text on the home page.

All your site can really do is push more customers to your business, but remember they only have less than a second to form an impression of the pixels and graphics on the monitor.

It's up to you (or more specifically, your webmaster) to make sure that indecisive visitor doesn't leave your home page for another more attractive neighbour nearby.

(David Silverberg can be reached at silverberg@businessedge.ca)