Should your business be on the Web?

If your business is strictly local, and your customers are mostly local people, then you will only benefit from Internet users in your immediate area. Still, in Northern Virginia, there are an unusually high number of Internet users. Therefore, there is a real advantage advertising in terms of customers and communications (as well as the image-building aspect of being on the Web). For example, book stores, music stores, and gourmet food shops have all used the Web to good effect. You must determine whether any of your present customers are the type who may be using the Internet. In this area, they usually are.

If you do business with people outside your locale (or would like to) then for you the Web may be an extremely promising medium. National and regional companies, visitor and tourist-oriented companies, as well as any company involved in high tech, telecommunications, software, mail order or specialized products or services are prime candidates for obtaining a whole new source of ready, willing and anxious customers by advertising on the World Wide Web.

A Web site may be also a very good place to disseminate product information, to announce new products, to answer frequently-asked questions, and simply build or maintain a national corporate image.

The Web is, in addition, a good place for charitable and political organizations to set up shop. The Web is an extremely flexible and powerful medium with which to make a point. Pages may be updated continuously, and can employ video and audio, as well as striking graphics. With a few keyboard strokes pages can be linked to other organizations, or to government information sites; the ability to point your visitors directly to source material is a persuasive tactic that has no equal in any other medium.

There are many other possibilities, of course. For example, the cost of maintaining a small web site is so low that writers, artists, musicians, and other professionals who wish to maintain a world-wide presence can easily do so. Even an outboard repair shop might be a good candidate for a Web page, if the owner specializes in collectable antique motors and hard-to-find parts. If you can imagine a way in which the Web might help your business, it may be worth a try.

What equipment is required?

Strictly speaking, you don't have to own any equipment at all to set up a Web site. You can rent Web space on your choice of many servers, and hire a firm to design and maintain the site. Northern Virginia Worldwide Website provides design and maintenance of web pages. However, to take full advantage of the Web, you should at least be capable of receiving and sending email, since Web users will wish to contact you as conveniently and quickly as possible. You can alternately include toll free or regular telephone or fax numbers in your presentation plus your address. You may lose some customers without an email address, but you're still doing much better than the static company with no web presence.

Fo email, you'll also need a modem and an access provider. Your provider can be one of the large information services such as Compuserve or America Online, or you can get a direct Internet connection... often for less than the cost of an online service subscription. If you use email sparingly, AOL or Compuserve, Prodigy or Microsoft Network are considered easy to use with lots of support. However, a direct connection company may be the choice if you will be using many hours on the Internet. Still, you don't get the other benefits (if you use them) of AOL and the others. Regardless, we suggest using the Netscape browser, which is the most advanced and used by 70 to 80 percent of all users (Microsoft's Internet Explorer is also considered very good).

What is HTML and is it as easy as it looks?

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, and at the entry level it is indeed almost as easy as it looks. Given suitable supervision and training, computer-literate personnel are capable of performing the day-to-day maintenance on many sites. The concept is very simple: HTML is a system of tags that mark the text and images of your page so that it can be displayed properly by any browser, on almost any computer. It incorporates the very powerful possibility of near-instantaneous linkages between any and all of the millions of documents that comprise the Web. Its great advantage is its portability, and this portability is what opens the World Wide Web to the world.

However, the fact that it is so easy to mark up pages that will display properly does not mean that any novice can design an effective Web presentation. It might occasionally happen, but it's a rarity. An hour spent cruising the Web will show you plenty of horrific examples of amateur Web design. Like any other form of communication, high-level Web design is a subtle and complex skill that takes time (and a degree of aptitude) to master. Furthermore, though it's easy to write HTML that looks good in one of the many browsers currently in use, it's not so easy to write HTML that works well in all browsers. The best HTML authors currently use a subset of the standard-in-development known as HTML 3. This allows them to take advantage of those advanced features supported by Netscape, the current browser-of-choice on the Web, and still produce pages that don't fall apart when accessed by those other browsers.

How can you tell good Web design from bad?

In creating a Web site, there are lots of design decisions beyond the technical ones covered above. As in any medium, there are effective ways to communicate and ineffective ones. When evaluating a Web design firm, there are several warning signals that may indicate a lack of design sense and/or professional qualifications. Many of the "designers" competing for your business are young hopefuls who discovered the Web last week and want to earn as they learn. There's nothing wrong with this, of course, if they can do a good job for you. However, when you look at a Web designer's home page, be cautious if you find one or more of the following Bad Signs:

• A collection of huge graphics is a Bad Sign. You might think this is a good thing, for firms that specialize in providing Web graphics (especially if the graphics are impressive,) but it shows a basic misunderstanding of the Web's realities. If you're on a fast network connection to the Internet, you might not realize just how long such graphics take to load, at the connect speeds available to most Web users. Most users employ a relatively slow dial-up connection, and it's even worse for those whose connections are mediated through the online services. A visitor can leave your site with a single near-instantaneous point-and-click, and if many seconds pass while a large, information-free graphic loads in, you'll lose any visitor who puts a value on his or her time. By the way, this is not a blanket condemnation of graphics on the Web. Almost any page can be enlivened by small, vivid graphics, and there is certainly a place for large graphics on some sites. But the wise designer uses them after the visitor is hooked.

  Still, you might notice the highly rated sites like Discovery Channel, Microsoft's Home Page and the so called best of the best start with a large graphic, which can be done when the expectation is a large collection of information. For example, the Northern Virginia Worldwide Website Home Page contains a fairly large graphic at the top, but the page loads with text first (for most browswers), the title connotes a larger collection of information and links (higher expectation), the graphic is needed to convey our message and image, and the remainder of the page contains mostly text only. You wouldn't wait for large multiple graphics if you were loading unknown John Smith's home page. It's a question of your name, the readers' expectation, how the page loads, a sense of balance and, most important, what works.

• Too many advanced features can be a Bad Sign. To state it briefly, people can become annoyed with too much in terms of highly segmented frames. Be sure that new features or potentially annoying features are used sparingly or not at all. Content is most important. Many people are new to the Internet. They want a sense of consistency. Don't lose people because they can't figure out how to navigate your too cool, high tech home page. If you haven't heard it before, most Internet users have never liked overused gimmicks, especially that infamous blinking feature. Agreed?

• Poor copy-editing is a Bad Sign. If in perusing a Web design firm's home page, or reference pages, you notice misspellings, ungrammatical constructions, obscure or pompous language, inappropriate style, or any other clues that the author of the page is an incompetent writer, move ahead. The Web is still primarily a text medium, particularly for business purposes. Your pages will be available to millions of visitors, some of whom will be inclined to judge your product by the abilities of the person who writes your copy. If you intend to write your own copy, this won't be so large a factor, but even in this case you may benefit from knowledgeable advice. Northern Virginia Worldwide Website has the advantage of a background in marketing and writing. You may not need this level of expertise, but try to make sure your Web designer's writing skills satisfy your needs.

• The Billboard can be a Bad Sign. If your page is nothing but a billboard for your product, you'll only attract those Web cruisers who are already looking to buy your product. That's not bad, but you can do much better. If, in addition to your advertising copy, you can provide some uniquely-valuable information to the Web, the traffic to your site will be much improved. Or, you might take another approach to the problem and associate your site with a dedicated content-provider. We do that and a billboard with a colorful, inviting look can still be an effective, low cost alternative.

• Other poor ideas. The Under Construction symbol. Every page is usually under construction. Don't put it on if it's not ready, but don't advertise your failure to get the job done. Coming soon is a fine line, but not pardon our dust or some other term that reminds one of a road project that will be complete in late 1998. There are other ones, like Click Here rather than saying what your're clicking to see. Surf the Net and you'll soon find other small, but bothersome, things. Not that important, especially if you're on John Smith's home page with huge multiple graphics that never loads fast enough anyway. (There's another tip. Don't link to John Smith's Home Page

• By far, the most popular pages on the Web are popular because they have some entertainment value, something unique or interesting, something that attracts attention. Unless your page is designed strictly for communicating rather than advertising, be a little imaginative. Say what you want. In our opinion, that Budweiser commercial with the frogs (Bud...Why...Zer!) attracted more customers than the guys in the business suits arguing about their long distance company service. Work is enjoyable for those who enjoy their work. Remember, a good mood is contagious.
  

This should help you to avoid the least competent of the hundreds of poor web designers who want your business. The organization of your site, the pattern of linkages within your site, the choice of external links, the manner in which the site is presented to the search engines, even the order in which the information is presented are relevant to the success of the site. Don't try to break down the elements (design, content, presence, marketing, communications, image) too much, either in cost or in thinking out your online marketing program. Keep the big picture in mind.

What's the first step?

1. Get online access. Yes, AOL is the most popular. You probably received a least one of their free 10 hours disk in the mail Familiarize yourself with the Web; spend a few hours surfing aimlessly. You'll learn a lot about the conventions and standards that shape the Web.

2. Learn to use the various search engines, such as Webcrawler, Yahoo, and Infoseek. Once you become comfortable with them, use them to locate any competitors on the Web, or non-competitors in similar businesses. See what they've done, and try to imagine ways to do better. If you can't find any competitors, it may mean that your business isn't suited to the Web, but it's more likely that your competitors just haven't thought as far ahead as you have.

3. Make a list of the things you want to accomplish with your Web presence. The more complete this list is, the better your Web designer will be able to serve your purposes.

4. Decide whether you want to take the time to learn HTML and site design, or whether you want to contract the work out to a Web design firm. You may need only a presence provider, but time is money.

5. Look at as many Web design firms as you can stand to look at; you'll find hundreds listed on the various search engines. Eliminate those you don't like. Query the remaining possibilities with your proposal. You'll find that some firms operate on the basis of an hourly fee, which can range from trivial to hundreds of dollars per hour. Other firms are willing to bid for a job on a flat fee basis. They may require hefty upfront fees. They may bill on either basis or both. We do both. Don't be afraid to negotiate. Northern Virginia Worldwide Website looks to your advance work on your content, your HTML experience, whether your purposes are clearly defined, whether you anticipate a system of page changes, and can (and should) adjust price based on the whole picture. Any web design company that attempts to place stringent rules on their pricing structure is not being fair. You usually get what you pay for, but you need to know what you want and how much information you can provide so that your page is the best it can be.
   
   

6. As soon as your pages are fully functional, you can announce them to the various search engines. You may wish to contract with your site designer for this service as it is a very important step. After that, you need to determine any updates you may need for your pages, develop a consistent system to respond to reader feedback and congratulate yourself for becoming a part of the World Wide Web.