Any web site designer for small business will say that design is one of the big parts of a web site. And I would agree.
Actually, you agree with this also. If a site that's being built for your business doesn't look good to you, you'll tell your designer to go away and start again. You wouldn't sign off on a poorly designed site for your own business, and you appreciate that your customer won't either.
You've got to have pleasing design, then. But where do you find it?
Fashion drives site design.
Look at the fashion change taking place at this moment at sites set up for Web 2.0. The clean lines, solid colors, gradients and large fonts are popular and becoming wide spread. Another, earlier, fashion change can be seen on corporate websites. A decade ago they had gray backgrounds and used burgundy colors: now you probably won't see this combination on a corporation's website. Just as design never stands still off-line, it is never resting on websites.
Welcome to Web Fashion. Your site ought to be reasonably close to the current fashion so it stays up-to-date for your visitor. For this reason evaluate your site every couple of years and perhaps redesign it.
As well, there is a technology consideration to design.
Form to email boxes, and Google Earth's maps and satellite imagery, are examples of this. New technologies in their days, these tools are now routinely built into web sites by designers.
You should use new technology on your site if it will help your customer, and your site will work better for them.
The design of a site is pushed by what visitors think looks cool and what designers know is technically possible. Think about both when you design a web site.
Len McGrane is a web site designer for small business giving small businesses web sites that look good and work exceptionally well in the commercial process ... for under $500.
