Web Design and Marketing Solutions for Business Websites
By Kevin Potts
Copyright 2007

All too often business owners, especially owners of small businesses with limited funds and contacts in the area of web design and development, fail to do any research on websites before spending their money on building one. This is the perfect book for those business people who recognize the disconnect between the months they would have taken to build a brick and mortar business and the minutes they actually spend going through the phone book looking for the developer of their single most important web resource, their business website.

You don't have to understand a thing about design or code to find this book both understandable and interesting. Author Potts writes in a very clear manner without a single line of code. His dry sense of humor made me laugh out loud on several occasions; something that doesn't happen near enough with most books like this.

I would use this book as a template of sorts. Read what the various chapters have to say and then think about how you can mirror what you've learned on your own site. For example, in his chapter on content, author Potts says websites should avoid corporate speak, sentences understandable only to the initiated. The best practice is to communicate with words your audience will understand, not words designed to display your ego.

After reading the chapter on accessibility you will gain considerable insight into the problems faced by people with disabilities on the web. The book shows how accessibility is a problem for a lot of people that can be assisted in ways neither difficult to achieve nor expensive. Keep in mind when building your site that the whole point of a business website is to draw in as many customers as possible. Why refuse entry to thousands when a few small fixes can do wonders. If you already have a site, take another look at it and see what changes could be beneficial to both you and a larger possible audience-then give your designer a call.

The chapter on SEO, search engine optimization, could be particularly important to business people new to the web. SEO will be the mantra you'll hear continually as you try to build your site's following. Literally thousands of sites exist that claim to be able to improve your SEO. But before you turn to any of them take a look at this chapter. Not only will it explain what SEO is, but it will help you understand what can actually be done to improve it. If you follow the book's systematic approach you will likely improve your SEO without going outside your company. If, after finishing the chapter, you still think you need professional help, you will at least have a better idea of what can be realistically expected of any SEO consultant and possibly thereby save yourself a lot of money and grief.

This book touches on all of the most important aspects of site design and development. It doesn't tell you how to build your web page, but it does give you some idea of what it should look like when you're finished so you can go to your designer and tell him what you want with confidence.