In the mid-1990s the business question of the day was “Do you have aWeb site?” A well-designed Web site was a new and exciting marketing medium that businesses and users alike saw as a novel, nice-to-have tool. Fast-forward a decade and nice-to-have has given way to necessity, and questions of Web presence have given way to questions of Web purpose.

Nowadays, it’s no longer about whether you have a Web site but rather how your Web site represents your business, and whether you’re using the medium to its fullest potential. A Web site is a business’s face to the world; and as such, it must reflect the tone and style of the business in a professional and polished manner. So why, after 10 years, are there still so many poorly designed business Web sites? Simple: Because they’re easy to build.

With all the commercial and freeware do-it-yourself Web tools on the market — and the relative ease with which they can be used — everyone who knows how to turn on a computer considers themselves a Web designer. But Web sites are much more than the sum of the bits and bytes that makes up its design. There are a lot of pre-development planning and strategy issues to deal with before you can successfully represent a 3-D business on a 2-D medium.

Representing your business on the Internet requires preparation and a well thought out strategy. You should never adopt a quick-and-dirty solution simply because the advertisement for a particular Web tool boasts that it can get you up and running in 20 minutes. Professional Web sites don’t come in a box — they need to be created, not unwrapped.

A truly effective Web site reflects not only the image of the business, but also its objectives. Settling for a cheap and amateurish site will devalue your business and can do more harm to your professional image and reputation than not having a Web site at all. Remember: Building a Web site might be easy, but building a good Web site is not.

Understanding Form and Function

A professional Web site is a perfect marriage of form (i.e., how it looks) and function (i.e., what it does). The site must be aesthetically pleasing, and sometimes even entertaining, in order to catch the audience’s attention. But the site must also be informative and functional in order to provide value for the audience’s time and to get them to come back.

Your Web site must convey a message about your business to potential clients and customers. Unfortunately, many business owners place too much emphasis on the flash and not enough on the substance. The purpose of your Web site’s design is to complement its message, not overshadow it. People rarely go to a Web site solely to ooh and aah the design — and if they do, they’re unlikely to return because non-functional design gimmicks can get old very quickly.

When planning your Web site, it’s important to keep in mind that what you can technologically do with your Web site should never take precedence over what you must logically do with your Web site. Try to observe a three-to-one ratio of functional content and design elements to non-functional, purely esthetic elements.

Maintaining this balance, however, can be difficult for some — especially businesses developing their very first Web site. People can be easily blinded by their enthusiasm for design because that’s always the fun part. Content and functionality seem too much like work in comparison. But a well-rounded Web site must be equal parts form and function; otherwise, it will seem a little lopsided.