Consider this scenario. You’re considering buying from a certain business, and decide to look it up on the Internet before making your final decision. Up pops their website and it looks like someone went berserk with a web design program. The fonts are either unreadable or the text is so large that it screams at you. The colors clash or are so bright that they hurt your eyes. The pictures are out of focus or so large that the page takes forever to load. Hyperlinks lead you nowhere, and the site navigation makes you perplexed. In a split second, you decide that you’ll never give this company your business.

This may be an exaggeration, but we’ve all seen bad web site designs. They affect the Web like a bad head cold that won’t let go. You can’t help but wonder what the business owner was thinking. After all, why have a website if it reflects poorly on your company or actually drives customers away?

Often, small and medium sized business owners are not aware of the influence that their websites have on customers and potential customers. They may know that having a web site is crucial, but think that having a professional webpage design is cost prohibitive. So, they conclude that their child, neighbor, friend or spouse can put something together and that it will be “good enough.” Or, ten years ago they may have actually paid a professional web page designer and having done any modifications for years.

In this age of business, there’s no getting around the fact that your web page design is a reflection of your business. Whether yours is an e-commerce site, a lead generation site, or simply a small informational website, you need to build a business website that will put your best (virtual) foot forward and project an image that puts your business in the best possible light. Keep in mind that, if you don’t have a good website, your competition probably does and is siphoning customers away from you.

If you’ve hesitated hiring a business website builder because of cost considerations, it’s time to think again. Unless you need a highly customized, programming intensive site, a web designer isn’t going to break the bank. In fact, there are web page design firms that have professional website builders who specialize in helping small- to medium-sized businesses succeed in their online endeavors.