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Your choice of website style really centres around the type of business you are in and the message you wish to communicate to site vistors.

 

Remember, a single page website can be just as effective as a multi-page site. You only have to look at the large number of single page sites out on the web to fully appreciate how they can be used to attract interest - and even take orders for products and services.

 

Of course, even a single page website is more effective with the addition of a few additional pages, usually linking to customer testimonials or order pages. However, in essence, they are the simplest of sites, but ones that can do a huge amount of work.

 

If you are attempting to portray a strong corporate image, and wish to give site visitors a large amount of information, it is better for you to have a multi-page site with clear navigation to help visitors find your information. Many people don’t like scrolling through very long pages of information, so its better to break down your site content into logical pieces, and make each piece a separate section of your site.

 

If you have an extremely large amount of written detail that you wish to give site visitors, it can often be better to summarise the information on your web pages, and give visitors links to downloadable documents. This can be particularly relevant where you may have a substantial product or service brochure. It isn’t usually practical or desirable to make a website into a form of electronic brochure. Far better to use your site to “inform” rather than to “catalogue”.

 

The exception to this rule, of course, is in the case of an e-commerce site. These sites are usually used to take orders for products or services directly. Therefore, it is important that visitors can get detailed information on what they may be buying. Unless you are planning a full-blown e-commerce operation, you would be better advised to use your site to solicit enquiries rather than try and tell the whole story on the web.

 

If your need is for a site that provides large amounts of information that has to be updated frequently, you may like to consider a CMS site. CMS stands for Content Management System, and such a site can be updated simply and quickly by any authorised site visitor (including members of the public if needed).

 

For most small to medium size businesses, the best site is an easily managed, multi-page site that offers visitors useful information on some topic of interest. It shouldn’t be a pure self promotion site if that can be avoided. Almost all Internet users search for information rather than specific products or services. Therefore, by offering useful information, your pages are more likely to be picked up by search engines which ultimately direct visitors to your site. Once they are at your site (reading your useful information), you have the perfect opportunity to direct them to other parts of your site where you can promote yourself more commercially.  

 

 

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