Ever noticed how you always walk past some shops in a mall - never giving them a second look? Or how a dirty front window or dusty display of a store keeps you outside?

It’s the same on the Internet. A web site that looks unprofessional immediately signals to a customer low quality. Even if the products you are selling online are high quality. Just like in the real world.

But there is one big difference.

Unlike in the real world the Internet allows you to create a first class impression without spending much money by using e-Commmerce software.

To create a great impression in the real world, you must spend big on building an impressive shop. On the Internet even a small merchant can look big. After all, customers are only looking at web pages. If these are well designed, customer may even perceive you as bigger than you really are.

This is exactly the trick used by many on-line businesses, who have managed to compete successfully with the big boys.

And it is a trick available to you, too. Wether you use shopping cart software such as ShopFactory with award winning designs provided or spend money on a designer to do this for you.

If you put your business on the Internet, do it properly. Don’t risk your reputation with an unprofessional Internet presentation.

Your Home Page

The first page of your web site - your ‘Home Page’ - is like your street window display. It is usually the first page potential customers who visit your website get to see.

It should look professional - and entice people inside.

Many web sites have a nice logo picture on the first page and nothing else. New visitors have to guess what the website is about.

You would rarely see a shop in the real world which does not let people walking buy quickly know what they have on offer.

Don’t think the Internet is different. Just as people can quickly walk past a shop in a mall, they can move even more quickly away from your webshop on on the Net.

Professional design however does not mean lots of gimmicks. A clean lay-out, a single image and some interesting text work much better than some overloaded pages, which appear confusing and give no clear idea of what the site is all about.