There are at least 700 million Internet users worldwide, with 75 percent of all users located in North America.

No matter what the field of business, a business without an online presence is at a severe disadvantage.

Too often, however, company web sites do little to promote the company effectively — sometimes even detracting from the business' professional image with poorly designed pages, badly written copy and stale information.
While some failed web sites are quick, off-the-cuff projects, as was seen in the Internet bust of the late 90's, there were many sites that proved to be elaborate — and expensive — failures.

The difference between a successful business web site and an expensive failure comes down to basic web site design. Sites that pay attention to site layout, navigation, content, presentation, and location are more likely to attract, and retain, visitors than those where these elements are insufficiently planned.

Purpose
A site's purpose defines its design and function. The first step in any web site design is to ask what purpose the site will serve. Will the site offer basic information about the business, or will it provide regularly updated news and information about the industry? Will it have an online store, or be designed so clients and customers can interact with the business? A web site's purpose influences all other design issues, so give the question serious consideration.

Budget
Once a business knows the purpose of its web site, a budget should be assigned to web site design and implementation. While web sites can be designed and built quite cheaply, investing some money in the site is a good idea. As a rule of thumb, at least the same care, attention to detail, and financing used to produce a company brochure should be applied to the web site.

Online Location: What's Your URL?
For a business web site to succeed, clients have to be able to find it. Make things easy for your customers by creating a site name, or URL, that is easy to remember.

Often a business' URL will be the name of the company (an auto shop called "Fix Your Ride," for instance, might have the URL http://www.fixyourride.com). With so many web sites online, however, your preferred URL may already be registered to a different web site, in which case a different URL must be chosen.

SEO, or search engine optimization, also requires careful thought, preferably with input from an SEO professional. When a user types a search term, or keywords, into a search engine, the engine looks for those keywords in the code and content of web sites, and returns results based on those keywords and their relevance. There's an art to search engine optimization, and most businesses should consider having a professional determine their site's keywords.

Content
Good content is the backbone of any successful web site, but appropriate content varies depending on the purpose of your web site. Content should be relevant, easy to find, and easy to read. The reading skills of Internet users vary widely. Unless the web site is intended to attract very specific people, keep content at a grade eight to ten reading level. Often existing brochures and business information can be adapted and used in a web site. Most importantly, content must provide site visitors with the information they want.

Site Navigation
Good content is useless if site visitors cannot find information easily. A good web site is easy to navigate, and makes it easy to locate information. If the site is small, a menu of links to the site's key areas should be on every page. For very large sites, it may be necessary to include a search tool.

A site that isn't easily navigable frustrates Internet users quickly. Site visitors will quickly leave, and are unlikely to return. Although planning the navigation and layout of a web page takes time, it is one of the most important elements of web site design.

Layout and Appearance
The physical design of a web site says volumes about the professionalism of a business. A cluttered site with unusual fonts and a garish background looks, quite frankly, awful. Keep the background white and clear unless you have a very good reason to choose otherwise. A simple layout and color scheme often looks better than a complicated web page. Each page on the site should be consistent with the appearance of the home page. OUR SITE IGNORES THIS RULE BECAUSE WE USE IT TO DEMONSTRATE VARIOUS COLOR EFFECTS TO POTENTIAL CLIENTS. WE CHANGE FORMATS FOR A REASON.

Font choice is especially important. If you choose an unusual font that many viewers don't have installed, the viewer's web browser will substitute a default font, and that rarely looks good. Instead, stick with commonly used, but professional, fonts. Verdana is a common choice. Commonly used fonts can also be enlarged in a browser window.

Unusual text colors should be avoided. Bright purple text may look good on a personal web site, but it gives a business site an unprofessional appearance. Strange color choices for text also make a site's content difficult to read. Small font sizes also make reading a chore, and site visitors will leave sooner than risk eye strain. A font size of ten to twelve is recommended.

Avoid the temptation to use excessive graphics. Graphics greatly slow down a web site's loading time, increasing the chance that site visitors will lose patience and go elsewhere. If the home page takes longer then fifteen seconds to load, it's taking too long.

Be Browser Friendly
Internet Explorer is the choice of most Internet surfers, and during the initial design process, a business web site will be built with Explorer in mind. However, there are other browsers available, such as Firefox and Netscape Navigator. The website may not appear properly when viewed in these browsers. The site can either be "tweaked" until it appears properly in all browsers, or an alternate site can be provided for non-Internet Explorer users.

After Launch: Staying the Course
Web site design is an ongoing process. After the site is launched, it must be regularly reviewed. Content must be updated and renewed; regular updates will keep visitors interested in the site and facilitate return visits. As the site grows, it must be periodically checked for broken links and other errors.

Above all, have patience. It takes time for a new web site to start generating traffic. It may become apparent that you need to change your keywords, content, or other factors as the web site develops. No matter what changes need to be made, they should always reflect the purpose of the site.