This article will help you visualize how you can integrate your business card with your web based business.
The key to any good website is its front page--just as your website is
an entry point to your business, your front page is an entry point to
your website. A good front page accomplishes three tasks:
• It invites viewers to learn more about the business.
• It's easy to use.
• It creates a positive visual impression.
This means, above all, that your front page needs to walk a line
between complexity and simplicity. A front page that includes a ton of
clippings about your business, photos, flashy menus, and busy graphics
will bewilder users rather than entice them, while a front page that
contains nothing but a list of blue-underlined links to various
sections of content may be easy to use, but won't tell viewers anything
at all.
The ideal solution here--especially for anyone who uses business cards
as a central pillar of their promotional strategy--is to use elements
of your business card design when designing your website. This is a
cost-effective solution, and one that contributes to an overall sense
of your business's identity. If you use a graphic as a dominant element
in your business card design, use the same graphic--or one with a
similar visual style--as the dominant element on your front page. If
your business card is text-oriented, try to match the visual effect of
the text on your front page, or even use some of the same slogans,
descriptions, or other content.
Content, of course, is a critical element of a good front page. But
since a good front page needs to be simple and easy to use above all,
you'll want to be very careful about what content you include on your
front page. At a bare minimum, you want to have this:
• The name of the business.
• A brief description of the business.
• More detailed contact information.
You'll note that this is the same list of elements that a good business
card needs. What a front page gives you that a business card doesn't,
however, is space and interactivity. On a business card, your business
description often can't extend much beyond a few key words, a telling
graphic, or a brief slogan or statement. On a front page, you can
expend those few key words into a paragraph or two, appropriately
hotlinked to allow users to learn more about the areas of your business
that most interest them. One key drawback of business cards to a
primarily online business is a contact's inability to instantly get in
touch with you (without going to a computer or phone and dialing or
typing your contact information, that is.) On your website, however,
contacting you should be as simple as clicking a link or filling out a
simple form--in other words, taking advantage of the extended
possibilities of the Internet.
The other element a good website needs is an easy way for users to
learn more about the areas of the business that interest them most.
This information should not go on your front page. Instead, create a
simple menu of links in a prominent part of the page, each one leading
to sub-pages that go into detail about aspects of your business. These
sub-pages might include photos, examples of your work, clippings of
client and customer feedback, industry reviews, a product catalog, or
lists of affiliate organizations (not competitors) who might be willing
to link back to your website in return. This is the meat of your site,
but by including it on the front page, you run the risk of overwhelming
your contacts and sending them away for good. Make it easy for your
users to access only the information they want to know--while at the
same time enticing them to want to know more about other areas of your
business--and you'll win their loyalty, which means winning their
business. If you try to force all of your information down their
throats, they're much more likely to decide not to bother with you at
all.
Make sure to take the following article into consideration when you integrate your web business with your business card.
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