he web design mistakes a small business should avoid

For small business owners, web design is a hot topic. Every small business needs a web site, but it's important to make sure your design doesn't let you down. What's your website saying about you? A poorly designed site can do your business just as much damage as having no site at all. Here are some common web design mistakes to try and avoid:

Unless your small business IS web design, don't be tempted to do it yourself

If money''s tight (and let's face it, when you're in the process of starting a small business, money is always tight!), it can be tempting to try and design your web site yourself. Amateur web sites, however, are easy to spot, and if your website looks amateurish, you can bet people will think your small business is amateurish too.

Even if you do manage to design a professional looking site, there's a lot more to web design than making a site look nice. You'll also have to make sure it functions correctly, looks the same no matter what browser it's viewed on, and shows up on search engines. Unless you really know what you're doing, this is probably best left to the professionals.

Avoid an overly complicated design for your small business web site

When you're setting up your small business web site, it can also be tempting to cram in every last piece of information you can think of - as well as a lot of added extras like pictures and animations. One word: don't. Not only do these kinds of bells and whistles slow the site down, they also make it hard for visitors to find the information they're really looking for.

The internet is different from a book or magazine: it's a source of instant information, and people don't want to have to wade through pages of text, or scroll past pictures of your kids and pets to get to the information they're after. They'll just hit the back button and check out someone else's web site instead. Don't let your web design detract from what your small business actually does - keep it simple!

Make sure your small business web design is easy on the eye

Not everyone who looks at your small business website will be blessed with perfect vision, so make sure the font you use is large enough and clear enough to be read easily, and that your colour scheme doesn't work against the readability of the text. For example, black text on a blue background will be hard for anyone to read, as will a tiny font size (and not everyone knows how to change it for themselves!)

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