The same should hold true when deciding who will design and market your website. It is true that with a basic HTML course anyone can design a website. But not just any one can create a website that will present the image that your company is professional, trustworthy, reliable, and someone to do business with. But even beyond the basic design of the website you need someone to market the site, so people will find it, and someone you can rely on to be there when the site needs maintaining or when your email isn't working.  

Some questions you should ask before hiring a website design firm.

However, a lot of businesses with a website and email are not using them effectively and maybe losing as much as 70% of their potential customers. How? They are not responding to emails within 24 hours, are not sending updates on products and services to email address, or producing on-line newsletters.  

What better prospect could you have then one who has made an effort to search out and then visit your website? They are already interested in your product or service! You just need to "rope them in". The easiest way to start an on going "conversation" with them is to get their email address and add it to your email list. 

The best way I have found to gather email addresses is to ask them to sign up for you free newsletter.  Simply ask for their email address and tell them all the great free information they will receive. Tell then what they are signing up for and why they should sign up.  Adding a free drawing will increase the number of people who sign up. 

You should also give them the assurance that their email address will not be sold or used by anyone other then your company.  .  

Don't ask for too many details. This may scare them away and have them wondering what you are going to do with all that information. The focus here is to get their email address so that each month or so your company name appears in their email box. 

It seems that as every day passes, websites pop up on the Internet that feature the "latest and greatest" special effects to dazzle the visitor. These effects, while impressive, may in some cases actually be a turn off to your potential customers, in effect sending them away to look at your competitors’ sites instead of yours. The spectacular sounds and scenes that fill the screen with color and movement are great for selling the latest video games or promoting the latest science fiction movie… however, they would look hopelessly out of place on a site selling lawn and garden equipment or wedding supplies.

Here are a few things to consider when deciding on how to present the content on your site.

How long will the site take to download? These effects can extend the time your site takes to download from several seconds to several minutes. In these times when the majority of Internet users still rely on 56K dial-up modem connections, your potential customers’ patience will be severely tested by having to wait 3 to 5 minutes in order to view a 10 second video clip. According to several sources, 80 percent of Internet users will leave a site if the download is not complete in 30 seconds.

Is a special "plug-in" required to view the site? Many of the new "special effects" require that a visitor leave your site in order to download a special program called a "plug-in" and install it on their computer. Before you decide whether to use these effects, consider these things first: 

Will your site work on all Web browsers? Many of the special effects available today are designed specifically for either Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator/Communicator. In addition, there are a large number of Internet users who use AOL or one of the other services who supply their own proprietary browsers. Again, the last thing you want to do is limit the content on your site to specific users based on the browser they have chosen to use. It is generally considered amateurish to use the "this site best viewed with (browser name)" logo on your site. If your visitor is not using the browser specified, they may very well go looking for a site that they can view.

Will your site look good on all monitors? While monitor sizes of 17", 19" and even 21" are becoming commonplace, there are still many users who still have their trusty 14" monitors in use. A site requiring a resolution of more than 640 x 480 becomes difficult for these users, requiring scrolling to view the entire width of the page. As in #3, it is considered amateurish to use the "this site best viewed at (resolution)".

There are many other factors to consider in the presentation of your website. The important thing to remember is this: that once a visitor reaches your site, the last thing you want to do is give them a reason to leave. You are presenting an image of professionalism and credibility to market your business online. It is your choice to decide if the "flashy" effects are truly beneficial to promoting your business, or if they will potentially cause the visitor to decide that your site is not worth the time to navigate.