How to Avoid Wasting Money on a New Website

We know that most businesses do not have a professional looking website nor do they have all of the advanced features and functions of an online business that are required to attract traffic, generate leads and help convert sales.
One of the most common barriers that a lot of business owners have in achieving a better online presence and marketing system is the whole daunting task of tackling the issue of website design. Colors, pictures, fonts, layouts, styles, etc, etc. Here is a fact that website designers either don't know or won't tell you.

• 90% of the GRAPHICAL effectiveness of a website is determined by the QUALITY of the design and the images used.
• Only 10% of the graphical effectiveness of a website is actually determined by the individual choice of colors, pictures, styles and layout.

And here's the big secret that is really obvious when you think about it ~ Everyone is different and therefore everyone likes different pictures, colors and styles. So you can never create perfect graphics that will appeal to every visitor to your website because they all have different tastes.
However, so long as your website is created using professional looking images, styles, layouts, etc, then the common PERCEPTION by 90% of all the visitors that come to your website is "THAT'S A PROFESSIONAL LOOKING WEBSITE and COMPANY".
So, if 90% of the GRAPHICAL PERCEPTION of any website by any visitor is based on the professionalism of the design and NOT the specifics of the design, why do most business owners get bogged down talking about pictures and colors and styles, and spend 90% of their website budget on "Design" issues with a website "Designer".
There are THREE main reasons:

1. Most business owners lack an understanding of what Internet Marketing is really all about, and do not understand that there are many different expert fields in Internet Marketing OTHER THAN WEBSITE DESIGNERS. In the past when printing was a more dominant medium used to show your business products or services, you would go to a Graphic Designer to Design a brochure or a flyer or a booklet. Along came the internet with websites and the thought process of business owners was "I better get a Website Designer" to put my pictures and words on a website. Whilst it is certainly true that a Website Designer has the skills to design website pages and websites to show pictures and words that portray your business, their training is in GRAPHICS and NOT MARKETING OR SELLING.
2. Most business owners through either Ego or Ignorance think that their website should be appealing to themselves as a measure of how appealing it will be to people visiting the website and they begin to think of it as an artistic endeavor. What's worse, they often rely on the unqualified opinions of their spouse who "has an eye for color", their kids who "are a real wiz at computers", or their friends or staff to "just see what they think". Really - Do you get these unqualified people to check the tax return that your Accountant prepares for you? Do you get the opinion of these people when a doctor prescribes you medication? The only reason business owners do this is because they lack confidence in the leadership and knowledge of the person giving them direction in the development of their website, and the whole process has simply turned into a very expensive and indulgent artistic creation that usually ends when the time, money and/or patience runs out. And 90% of the bill has been spent on artistic opinions that won't make a 10% difference to the MARKETING or SALES EFFECTIVENES of the website.
3. The website project is not approached right from the start as a Business Results Exercise. The development of your online presence and your internet and database marketing should begin with BUSINES GOALS that you want your website and internet marketing to achieve. You need to begin by asking "How can our BUSINESS GOALS be achieved better and a lower cost by our website, internet marketing and database marketing?". Then you will be looking for internet professionals and tools and techniques that focus on USING websites and the internet with the correct tools and software and methods to achieve BUSINESS GOALS - NOT ARTISTIC INDULGENCES.

So here's the bottom line. If you want to spend money on artwork go and buy a paining or join an art class. If you want to invest your business dollars into smart solutions that are aimed at achieving BUSINESS GOALS then find a company with an ADVISOR that you trust and a SOLUTION that makes sense and INVEST your money to get a Return on Investment from your website and internet marketing.
If you would rather take advantage of a range of website design templates that have already been designed, tested, measured and PROVEN to work, as well as save yourself the Time and Money of designing from scratch, then take a look here.