While much can and will be discussed about how a website could or should look, the bottom line is that, in order to make a website successful, you must make two things occur:

1. Attract visitors to the website
2. Convert those visitors to customers, sales leads, etc.

The bottom line is that this is a marketing effort, with all elements going towards serving your goals. While marketing on the Internet can be highly effective (and cost-effective), the Internet is also intensely competitive, more so now than ever, and chances are that most of your competitors are there, too. Thus, it pays to look at what might be needed both to attract visitors and to convert them to customers.

1. Attract visitors to the website

It is better to begin website planning, and budget spending, in the knowledge that once that website exists, you'll have to ensure that it is easy to find. The fact is that, like any "location", websites need to be promoted. Methods exist of attracting customers to websites: email newsletters, paid advertisements on websites, paid listings at search engines (you pay for every visitor to your website), and free listings at search engines, to name a few.

Free search engine listings are those website links that appear after you do a search (the ones not marked "Sponsored" or "Advertisement"; these are paid for). In almost all cases, websites do not automatically appear at the top of search engines without specifically being crafted to do so, especially for topics for which there is much competition. This falls outside of the "web design" capability; the crafting of websites for search engine rankings is called "search engine optimization" and requires skill and a specialized knowledge base.

However it is achieved, it is imperative to ensure that people who are interested in what you have to offer visit your website, so that the next step can take place.

2. Convert those visitors to customers, sales leads, etc.

This is the main focus of market-oriented web design; without making too large a point of it, if this doesn't happen, then the site will likely fall short of its potential. To be technical about it, essentially the site must "sell" your visitors on your product, service, company, what have you — which, of course, requires that a knowledge of marketing and sales, presentational design, ease of use (usability), and art and communication be wrapped adroitly into Web technology. It can be done.
Effective Websites

Websites can be unlimited in size, can present every one of your services, can sell any and all of your products, can encourage people to contact you by phone or by filling out a form online, and can do all of this whether during office hours or not — all of which can save you money in terms of staffing requirements.

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