By : Chad Brubaker
Designing a web site on any given theme can be deceptively difficult and smoothly simple! A good design must be aesthetically pleasing, appropriate to theme, present content efficiently, visually coherent and assist in building brand. An experienced and creative designer can come up with a design which fits the bill.
Impression
A web site is a window display of your services. If the impression is not good enough, visitors will leave. It must give a clear message to the visitors. The first question that visitors ask themselves when landing on a site is “What can I gain from here?” The site must answer the question before the visitor leaves.
Home Page Essentials
Home page should focus on what your visitors expect to see. It should not have so much visual noise that it distracts the readers. In brief, an accounts related website design must be inclusive of these points:
1. Who are you
2. What can a visitor do at the website
3. How is the information organized
4. What is new and relevant
5. How can the visitors get help
Design
Objective of a good design is to promote the theme of the web site. Its role is to create the right atmosphere where the user can conduct business or receive information. In accounts related theme, large graphics and flash are usually not needed. Header must present the main idea of your site. Choice of color is also important. Color scheme should support the web site theme as well as make the content easily readable.
Content
The website must offer sufficient information to get the visitors glued to it. A business offering services must have appropriate answers to questions like What, How and When. Remember it is the content on your website which sells. It should be adequate enough to substitute the presence of any real sales person. The content has to be relevant and updated. Dedicate a couple of pages on general accounts and commerce related information. You could provide definitions of commonly used words in the niche, glossary and relevant latest news based information. Analytical articles on latest accounts related issues would help you gain an authoritative position for your site. It would bring users in a subtle manner who are most likely to become your clients overtime. This is befriending with a light pat.
Technology
Role of technology must be supportive to the objective. Use of technology just for its sake is not recommended. The foremost thing you need to ensure is the fast download. There are several other technical issues, such as creation of dynamic pages on the fly, which work on the backend. Enroll these wherever needed.
User Interaction and Online Payments
There should be a proper system in place to enable prospective clients contact you. Features like online chat would help. Business-ready clients must be able to make payments online. If you are getting a website developed to add extra dimension to your business, these features are imperative.
Navigation
Navigation bar should be at top or left of the page. People tend to read from left to right and from top to bottom. Web surfers expect to find navigation bars on these places. In pages with long text, place a button at the bottom to enable users to get at top instantly. At the bottom of the page, place links to key pages. Create a comprehensive site-map and place a link to it in bottom navigation. It would help users find the information they exactly need. Features that enable client interaction and online payments must be accessible from the pages of the website.
There is a stream of website designers out there to assist you. However, when you go to select a few of them for CPA site solutions , remembering a few points would be helpful.
Author Resource:- Author of this article is currently associated with Emochila, which specializes in developing sites for CPAs i.e. certified public accountants and CPA site solutions.