We’ve all seen them. The animated and flashing graphics. The banner ads stuck everywhere. The confusing mish mash of links so that we don’t know where to go. The confusing order process. Sites like these quickly make us move on.

What goes into a good appealing business website? The first thing to consider is your domain name. Forget cutesy, we want a name that will be easily remembered. The ideal domain name will simply be your business name. It’s always best to get a .com domain as people tend to automatically type .com into the address bar. This can be tricky, but not impossible.

Next you need hosting for your site. Don’t make the mistake of settling for cheap. Does the hosting company have a toll free service number available 24/7? Are the service people responsive and helpful? Does the hosting have all of the functions and services you need? These are the questions you need to ask yourself before you order hosting.

A good business website is appealing to the eye without being gaudy. Flashy animated graphics are rarely if ever used. Banner ads if used are keep to a minimum. Color scheme is important and should be carefully considered. The header should always be professionally designed. It should state clearly what the business is about. The header is you customers first impression of your business. Make sure it’s a good one.

The most important part of any business website is clear, consistent navigation. Customers should be able to see at a glance where they want to go and then get there in two or three clicks. Some business sites use silo navigation so that links appear only as needed. This cuts down on clutter and makes it easier to find things.

A good business website will have easily found Privacy and Term of Use pages. There will also be a Contact Us and a Site Map. The easier you make it for people to find what they need the more customers you will end up with.

It’s also very important to have an easily seen newsletter sign up form. You can offer an incentive for an email address. A discount coupon, an ebook, even a free sample of a product are good ways to get people to sign up. Once they sign up you have a list of potential customers to market to. Just be consistent in your mailings and the profits will come.

Now the big question. Do you build and maintain the site yourself, or do you hire it done? Do you have someone in your company who is a wiz at web design? Is yours a small company with limited financial resources? Paying a web designer to build and maintain your site can be an expensive proposition. It can also be far less stressful. If you have the finances this is the best way to go.

If you decide to go the do it yourself route learn the basics of HTML. It isn’t difficult and makes the task much easier. You’ll need a platform to build your site on. WordPress and Joomla are two good platforms to use. WordPress is easier for the beginner and many go this route.

For more information on how to best use technology and the web for your business visit http://www.technota.com.