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Business Online 101- Part 3: Website Front End

Posted on: September 11th, 2013 by Walid Abou-Halloun
Categories: Business. Tags: Business Online 101 and Website. Releted Products: Online Store.

Business Online 101- Part 3: Website Front End

Last time in our Business Online 101 Series we discussed Software and Hardware. Today we’re talking about the number one most important aspect of online business; your website.

Think about a website as your online office or retail space. Instead of visiting your office or store physically, customers go to your website. Instead of browsing the aisles looking for the product they want, they browse webpages looking at the pictures and descriptions you have put there. Instead of paying at a cash register, they pay through a virtual shopping cart.

This is why websites are also called Online Stores or eCommerce stores. This article is going to outline the main aspects of a website – website design, website redesign, website support, website development, and how it relates to your current business.
2013-09-11 Website page elements

Home Page
This is the first page people see and should be a great first impression of your business overall. Your website design is like your shop window. A customer will arrive and make an instant judgment on whether your online shop looks like it has what they want. This is why it’s so important to get right and why so many people employ the services of a website design company. Website designers should be skilled not just in what looks good but in what will encourage people to spend more time browsing your store.

Menu:
The menu is the horizontal bar usually at the top of the page. It gives the customer options of how to look through your store.

Pages
Pages are what your website is made up of. Each time the screen loads onto something new, it is a new page.

Above the line
The area referred to as ‘above the line’ is simply that area that is visible when the customer first arrives at your website. Most customers don’t scroll down or click straight away so this ‘above the line’ area is the only space to make your first impression.

Domain Name
The Domain Name or URL is the ‘address’ of your website, similar to a street address. It is a unique combination of letters or words that sends someone directly to your website. Getting the right domain name is important as it will likely go on your business cards and other marketing products so people can find your website. See our advice for getting the right domain name here.

Header
The part at the top of a webpage that stays the same on every page. This provides your user common navigation elements, like the main menu. It also keeps important links such as the contact page visible at all times.

Footer
The part at the bottom of a webpage that stays the same on every page. This provides users with links to key pages in your website.

Interface
A fancy term meaning the screen used to interact with the program. A program interface is the ‘dashboard’ you use to click on buttons and interact with it. Web designers might use this term when discussing how a client interacts with your website design.

Flash
Flash is when parts of the website move or change. If you see something fancy happening on a website, like the menu popping up in a circle in the middle of the page or a vine growing down the side of the bar, you know that is using flash. It was very popular when it first began because it looks quite impressive. However these elements can take quite a long time to load up and some customers get impatient and simply leave. It is best to stick with simplicity.

The rest of the features of a website are up to the designer and yourself. How do you think people want to interact with your website? Think about what you enjoy when surfing the internet and talk about these elements with your website designer.

It is important when designing your website to keep your customer in mind. Many businesses design their website with content that they want to see. It’s very important when designing every page to think about what information would your customer would want to see and design the content for your customer. At the end of the day, the website is not for you – it’s for them.

The front end of your website is just one aspect. What happens behind the front page of the website is also really important. We discuss the back end of websites here.

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