The Wild West & Essentials of Web Design

The Internet is the Wild West of the 20th century. Like the Wild West the vast spaces offered tremendous opportunity. However, opportunity is always accompanied by risk and as always with human nature; it also created a breeding ground for thieves, criminals and con artists. Like in the Wild West the prudent user was wary of strangers and all but the most adventures stayed in their comfort zone and buried there money. Any scammer well knows that the first appearance matters most for the success of the venture.

Thus, from the very beginning a website must say professionals you can trust
As soon as a website pops up on the screen the potential customer forms an instant impression of amateur (untrustworthy) or professional (trustworthy. If the former, forget about them staying, coming back or plugging their credit card number into your shopping cart.

For that reason, the adage: “If you want a professional outcome, hire a professional” has great relevance to beginning a successful web presence. A professional knows what every successful web design must contain.

Name & Brand

As the Wild West cattle barons knew: to establish your authority you had to have a name and a brand to protect your stock. The Internet equivalent of a name is the Domain, the brand a Logo. Hosting your website on a shared server under some other name and brand make you a squatter. The Internet barons own their own space in cyberspace and have their own brand in the form of a professionally designed logo.

Web Media Content Based On One Theme

Wild West cattle barons did not mix cattle with sheep or horses and corn. Successful web design features one basic content theme that is well organized and presented in a visually appealing manner. That web media must be fresh and with substance that usually take the form of tips, articles and news or multi-media. If you cannot provide web media there are many sources that will.

Private Communication

The Wild West did not use smoke signals. They had the Pony Express. Email is the Internet equivalent. You must have a way to capture the visitors email by offering something of value such as a tip or newsletter in exchange for that confidence and give assurance that email address will be respected and not sold or programmed into a spam database.

About Page or Mission Statement

In the Wild West it was word of mouth. You must use biographies of yourself or key persons and photographs with a complete description of the entity, website and objectives or mission statement including relevant names phone numbers and email addresses.

Credibility

A mans word was his bond in the Wild West. You must provide credibility with unsolicited testimonials including customer’s name, email address and web address along with a Money Back Guarantee that removes purchasing risk and demonstrates confidence in your product. Use a FAQ or Feedback form for the potential customer’s questions and a secure server with SSL certificates. Display copyrights. All of these feature inspirer confidence and professionalism.

Quality Hosting

In the Wild West access was key, access to land, water and supplies. The entire above essentials are not worth a thing if the website cannot be accessed. That means dependable 99.9% – 24/7 uptimes and that access must be fast. Nothing turns the user elsewhere faster than a DNS error page or pages that take forever to load.

There you have it. Six essential features a professional trustworthy and successful web design must feature. When you venture forth into the Wild West of the Internet your success and survival depends on a Name and Brand featuring one basic Theme and quality web media Content relevant to that theme. You must offer secure Private Communication. An About Page or Mission Statement must be presented and Credibility established. Lastly, reliable speedy access in the form of Quality Hosting must be provided.

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