Web Design > About Web Design

This category is a tough one. The first decision is whether to do all of the design yourself or hire the work out. Keep in mind that most of the working web sites are always changing and growing. If you are going to do all of the work yourself you must ask "Do you have the time ? " I would say the answer would and should always be NO. If you are running a successful business you know that you cannot do everything. You must have someone that can perform certain services for you.
So back to how to find a web designer.

• Get Referrals from business associates that have used a web designers services before.
• Talk to your friends - Be careful with this one, everyone knows someone that "does web design" BUT if this person is not a professional or at the least very good you will end up with a site that in the long run will not work out for you. Also, will this person be around in the future to maintain your site ?
• Search the Internet - Ask for quotes and look at the work they have already done. Look at there Web Design Site. If they do not have one that they own do you want them building yours ?

Most website's fall into an educational website about a product or service and many also offer the purchase of these items. the following Items are necessary for an E-Commerce Site.

• Shopping Cart
  • The shopping cart is the software that resides on your web site and process all of the incoming transactions. I personally recommend Quikstore
• Gateway Provider
  • A gateway provider basically allows you to process your transactions online. They accept the payment from your shopping cart and then process those transactions thru your Merchant Account. I highly recommend AuthorizeNet I have used them for years and all of my clients use them. the support and accuracy has been tremendous.
• Merchant Account
  • Either a merchant account or an account thru a service like Alert Pay is required to do business on line.

There is a huge variety of ways to get people to your site. We are listing only the ones that we have personally tried and been successful with.

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  There are several parts to each webpage that will help to rate your site higher in the search engines. These consist of Page title, Keywords and the Page description. These items must be consistent with the page content.
• Cross Linking
  • One of the fastest ways to get your site rated is to link with other similar but not competitive sites that are willing to link back to you. B&N DreamMakers uses some of the best software available to accomplish this. This can also be done manually but will require hundreds of hours to accomplish.