It wasn’t all that long ago that conducting business via the internet was a bit of a novelty. Most people probably vaguely recall making their first purchase online, or ordering and sending a gift to a friend using the tools provided by a website. That novelty has faded over time however, and what once a curiosity is now a necessity for most modern businesses.

I can’t help but notice the increasing role that the look and feel of a website plays in the arc of a business transaction. Lately I have worked on several projects where my client already had a web presence, but felt that it was too amateurish and was hurting their business by delivering a poor first impression.

This is becoming more common–business owners not content to simply have a website, but desiring something that conveys an air of expertise. There is a good reason for this: If you look like an amateur online, people will be less inclined to do business with you. I don’t have any studies handy to back up this assertion (although I am sure some exist). Rather I look to my own experiences.

Finding A Business Online

I make my living on the web, but I also use it in my personal life just like everyone else. More than a few times in the past year or so I have needed to make a purchase or pay someone for their services. Here are the steps we’ve become hardwired to follow:

• Type Search Term Into A Search Engine Such As Google, Yahoo, Or Bing.
• Scan The Search Engine Results Page (SERP) For Links Relevant To Our Search
• Start Clicking On Sites And Sizing Them Up.

This last part is where I see a lot of small business owners drop the ball. Getting people to your site is completely different from presenting your online business in the most efficient, user-friendly way possible. You can spend a lot of time and money getting your site to return as the top search result for keyword “xyz”. But if people feel an overwhelming urge to get away as quickly as possible after clicking on the link, you have failed to close the deal.

I can’t tell you how many times I have done a search and pulled up a list of local businesses only to click through and marvel at how amateurish most of them look. Many times I have decided to give my business to a company solely based on the look and feel of the website. In the real world looks and first impressions are a very important part of making an impressions–both for people and for businesses.

Just as you would never dream of meeting with a client in sweatpants and a dirty T-shirt, you should not present yourself online with a site that looks like it was built by your 6-year-old nephew. As I like to say: A good website is an investment that pays for itself.

Lately I have found myself wearing my designer hat again after slipping out of it for a while to work with some PHP. Creativity is a fickle thing. It comes and goes when it feels like it, without any regard for you and your deadlines. So how does a modern designer take back some control and attempt to harness the creative instinct?

Fortunately there is no shortage of resources promising quick and easy inspiration. Every day (every hour?) I get Twitter and RSS feed updates saying things like, “50 Websites to Inpsire You” or “200 Photos to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing”. But do these resources really inspire, or are they just more digital clutter like I talked about in my last post?

In my business, it has been important to me to establish a workflow. Having standard practices brings order to an often chaotic process. But how exactly do you standardize inspiration and the creative process? That initial phase of website building follows no rules, and that can be both a blessing and a curse.

Fortunately for me I have been through the process enough times to have a rough guide of my own at this point. I start by listing out the known factors. What type of business is it? A wine bar will require a very different website from a law firm. What are they selling? What is the call-to-action on the page going to be? From there I start to sketch out a rough draft on paper. I find that listing out the elements of the site helps me a great deal.

I have a number of CSS galleries bookmarked in my Delicious account, and I make sure to visit them and check out the latest designs. CSS has developed to the point where it really allows for near limitless possibilites when it comes to putting creative ideas on the page. There are many top designers practicing today who regularly post their work to provide inspiration to the masses. While I go out of my way to not rip-off their ideas, more than once I have seen page elements positioned or images and color schemes used in ways that I had never thought of. This is where the inspiration comes in. I will return to my own design, which by now has made its way into Photoshop and try out some of the ideas while they are still fresh in my head. Back to the galleries–rinse and repeat.

It really is a fine line between wanting to use the newest coolest tricks in your work and keeping focused on delivering what the client needs. And if you can do both, even better.