| It's said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or | | | | pay-per-click ads lead to different landing pages, and |
| that it's only skin deep. When it comes to your web | | | | pick the keywords to find the people who are |
| site, beauty is expensive not just in designing the | | | | comparing, buying now, or just browsing (using the |
| site, but in what it may do to your traffic. The | | | | same adword phrase with "info", "buy" and |
| internet is laden with gorgeous works of art for web | | | | "compare" is one way to do this, albeit a basic one.) |
| sites. They have flashy graphics, subtle cues, | | | | However, it's worth it to hire someone who does this |
| beautiful work in cascading style sheets, and more. | | | | for a living, as there are a lot of tricks out there for |
| And they're losing money. The internet is about | | | | conversion, and web design, to make this all combine |
| commerce, and your web site should be about | | | | to raise your profits and sales conversions. |
| commerce, not about art. | | | | People who hit your web site will be on one of three |
| As sad as it is to say, web site aesthetics are not | | | | phases of the customer cycle: They'll either be |
| what drives a customer to pull out their card and | | | | looking for information only, looking to do price and |
| order. Now, a bad (as in ugly, or unusable) web site | | | | deal comparing, or looking to buy right now. Make |
| can drive people away, but beyond the bare bones | | | | sure that your advertising leads them to the right |
| basics, your web site should be attractive, and above | | | | place depending on where in that cycle they are. |
| all else, USABLE. | | | | The other thing to keep in mind is that your time is |
| Rather, other key elements work to turn a targeted | | | | valuable. It is absolutely worth your time to hire |
| prospect into a customer. A majority of people use | | | | someone to do this for you. Pay Per Click advertising, |
| Google and Yahoo! to find what they are looking for | | | | and landing page building, have a lot of subtleties as |
| online. Some are simply doing research on a product | | | | much or more so than an eye-grabbing web site |
| or service they want to purchase, but are looking for | | | | does. It's worth it to find someone who's trained and |
| the best deal. Others want to buy something quickly | | | | certified on the ins and outs of the Search ad |
| and are ready with credit card in hand. Still others are | | | | products that both Google and Yahoo! give. Google |
| simply gathering information. | | | | calls these folks Google Certified Professionals, and |
| Far better than spending your money on experts on | | | | Yahoo calls them Search Advertising Ambassodors, |
| web design (or a web designer trying to build a | | | | but they both have the same job: They recommend |
| portfolio site), build a functional, if somewhat basic | | | | ad words, look over landing pages, and help you find |
| web site, using cascading style sheets so you can | | | | ways to tune up your ad presence to get the job |
| update the look without massive trauma, and focus | | | | done, while building a relationship with visitors to your |
| on what your web site is supposed to do: Convert | | | | web site. |
| browsers into buyers. | | | | So, just remember beauty is expensive, but |
| Now, it's possible to do this yourself have | | | | expertise is affordable, and you'll be good to go. |