Essential Web Site Business Elements
2003. the estimates of the number of pages on the Internet range from 4 – 6 billion with Google search engine actually indexing over 3 billion. You can suppose that not all these pages are well designed, as a matter of fact there are quite a few that are absolutely terrible.

Good website design is as much a science as an art. An emerging field of research called Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is the study of how humans search, navigate, and locate information on computers. Information Architecture (IA) is another new discipline that studies how users prefer information organization and presentation.
Considerable study has been done on information design principles that are commonly accepted in the print industry and adaptations of these principles are being transferred to website design.

As we learn more about these new sciences we find that the interactive nature of the Internet requires that information be presented differently than we would for a printed publication. We find that the ability to create hyperlinks allows us to offer multiple levels of detail for the website visitor so they can choose anything from a quick overview to a detailed description of the information presented on our website.

We want to make a good first and lasting impression to our new virtual visitors. This may be even more important than a good first impression in person! I went to the grand opening of a newly opened store in a small town. The sign on the front was hand-painted on a piece of paneling, the display window was broken and duct taped, and the inside of the store was disorganized and very dull. Some items had price tags, some didn't. Items that should have been grouped logically together were on opposite sides of the showroom floor. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed.
Your website visitor’s first impression is at least as important as their first impression of your physical store. There is a vast chasm between having the ability to design a website and designing a good website. By identifying and avoiding some of the most common website design mistakes we can greatly increase our chances of a successful Internet marketing campaign.
