Do you want your website to be beautiful or successful for your business – don't let the design rule you

Ahhhh, beautiful design: it's pleasing to our eye, it's fun to look at, it often inspires us to higher levels of thinking and creating.

But is it good for business?

Believe me, I have NOTHING against art, photography, theater, and great website design. As a pro photographer (as ONE of the things I do) for high end family portraits, weddings, and bar mitzvahs, I always create the most emotional, beautiful work I can.

I'm creating the heirlooms of tomorrow today.

• The bride and groom just after their wedding but before her diagnosis of MS.
• The mother and son two days before his Bar Mitzvah (the last time he rested his head on his mom's shoulder, she says).
• Three children on a common summer chaise in their backyard, but "painted" in the computer to enhance its beauty and make it a lasting memory before they grew up and moved away.

Website Design – Beauty or Business?

What is the purpose of YOUR website?

• Are you attracting art lovers to see how great your site looks OR are you creating a business?
• Do you use lots of images and flash or do you focus on guiding the visitor to leave his or her name and email address so that you can build your business?
• Are you so creative in the look of the site that people forget why they found you and what they are doing on your site?

Is your site lost in Google's shuffle or does the coding of your site enhance the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) automatically?

Are you asking the viewer to do several things while visiting your site and then they get confused (A confused mind always says NO) or do you have ONE purpose for your site?

What Is The Difference – How Can I Tell If My Site Is Set Up For Business?

Here are a few websites that are GORGEOUS. Look how creative they are. Look how up-to-date they look. Look how clever the designers have been. See A Beautiful Showcase of Popular Web Design Trends, Click Here!

So, what is missing?

Ask yourself these questions:

1. What is the purpose of each site?
2. Are they capturing names and email addresses right up front so that they can build a list to build their business?
3. Are they asking the viewer to do too many things, confusing him or her?
4. Are you so fascinated by the design that you forget what you are doing there?
5. Can you imagine selling a product from this site?

How Can You Learn More About What Your Site Needs To Do?

Perhaps my earlier blog post can help you learn about your business and how you need to set things up. To Learn More, Click Here!

And soon I'll be releasing Say It So They Buy It: 15 Direct Marketing Musts When Your Salesmanship Is In Print^TM. If you sign up for my Ezine here on this site, I'll be sure to tell you when this is released.

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad, succeeding in this economy

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