In the first iteration of doing business on the web (early 90's), thousands of people rushed into the market to put money and ideas into a new and exciting frontier. Many (if not most) of these online ventures failed for various reasons, but it is clear that much of this happened because the new information highway was unpredictable and largely uncharted.

Now, 15+ years later, the internet has really started to come of age. Just about everyone in the US has a computer in their home and most of them are online. In many households, it is more natural to Google for local products and services rather than open the phone book.

It has been our experience that today's business owner is finding great value and ROI from a well conceived online presence. A professional web presence has truly become key due to the fact that more and more people enjoy instant access to; products, services, opinions and information about any given business or topic.

But here is where it gets tricky, how does one produce a high quality online presence that offers the most value while serving the intended purpose? While purpose is often the easy part of making a decision, quality and value are subjective ideas that can mean different things to different people. This is why it is so important to understand some of the significant factors that go into a successful online venture — and why low budget design companies such as our fictitious example Joe's Pizza, Burritos and Web Design Shack may miss the mark entirely.

As we have already established, having a great web presence is key - but how much should that cost and what should you look for?

Suppose there is a real estate agent who sells 4.5 million dollar properties for a living. When going to meet a client, first impressions are paramount for him. It would NOT be a good idea to show up in shorts and a t-shirt driving a grey primer colored 1968 VW bus. Most likely this would not convey the image of a successful real estate agent who is ready to handle a multi million dollar transaction.

The same principal applies to a web presence, if a visitor is not visually stimulated in a positive way within the first 3 seconds; they are off to the next search result leaving your site in a cloud of dust. Internet users are finicky; extraordinary design is critical to capturing attention and keeping it. Typically solution providers such as Joe's Pizza, Burritos and Web Design Shack are not going to equip you with a presence that strategically identifies your company or organization.

Another important factor is efficacy, is it instantly clear what your site is about? Our real estate mogul would not be very effective if he showed up in his late model luxury sedan, dressed to the nines - but didn't show the client any properties. Can you say defeats the purpose?

In addition to presenting a visually pleasing experience, your web presence should effectively communicate information to browsers and search engines alike. Site content needs to be rich, relevant and engaging. The user should be drawn in to find out more, the search engine should be able to rank and index your site appropriately. It is not likely that Joe's Pizza, Burritos and Web Design Shack possesses the skill and knowledge required to groom an effective web presence, well… unless you're selling burritos online.

In keeping with our real estate mogul scenario, it is now time to buy that 4.5 million dollar property. The buyers sit down at the table with; the sellers, the selling agent, the title company and our real estate mogul. In the center of the table sits a stack of papers that would dwarf a New York City phone book. As the buyer's hand starts cramping from all the signature lines as he goes through the contracts, he realizes that; 1) his signature is starting to look like it did in grade school, and 2) he would have no idea where to sign if our real estate mogul hadn't put those cool little yellow arrow stickys at each signature block.

But wait, what just happened? Our real estate mogul did something right. He guided our buyers through to their objective making the process apparent and intuitive. Your web presence should be no different; users should be able to easily navigate through your sites content making the path to and from their objective obvious. Maybe our mogul earned his 6% after all (doing math 6% of 4.5 million) oh my.

So what we have learned in these few brief examples is almost too cliche to point out - that is, You get what you pay for. When developing a web presence this is so true. Unless you are willing to spend the time and money needed to get the job done right and extend your project past the initial build to an evolving extension of your business, you may as well throw the cost of the Joe's Pizza, Burritos and Web Design Shack down a deep hole - it will be just as effective.