Because I’m a one-man-band, so to speak, my clients tend to be small businesses, research groups, and individuals. They don’t have a lot of time or money to devote to a website.

Fortunately, small websites are really not that expensive. Obviously prices rise with complexity and size: large, complex sites with a high level of interactivity are lucrative and exciting to work on. Projects like that come along once in a blue moon for me; my bread and butter is sites of perhaps five to ten pages, giving the visitor an idea of what that business does, and how to get in touch with them.

Sites like these are what I call online business cards.

There are three basic elements to any site like this: content, connection and style. By explaining these terms, I hope to outline the core mission of anyone making an “online business card”, either for a client or for themselves. Similarly, if you’re a business owner—a potential client for someone like me—then this article should give you an idea of what you need, and why you need it.

Content

‘Content’ is often used in the web design community to refer to everything inside page elements: headers, copy, images and so on. What I mean by the term is subtly different, and the gist of it can probably be gleaned by thinking about the following questions.

Who are you? The answers to this question are things like the name of the company, its history and expertise, how many people it employs. People like to know who they’re dealing with, so tell them! Give some names and faces, make the visitor feel as though this is a group of real, flesh and blood individuals.

What do you do? If someone’s looking for a plumber, they probably won’t be interested in a company making specialist electrical components. However, if they are looking for a company who do what you do, make it clear! This website is the first point of contact; it introduces potential customers not only to the company, but to what the company does. Clarity and precision are key.

What makes you special? Differentiation is vital: explain why you’re better than the competition, what sets you apart. Is it your low prices, your great skill, your superb materials? Answering this question has several components, but actually saying something in the site copy is an important part of it.

Connection

It’s no good convincing someone that they should become your customer if they can’t get in touch, or it’s overly difficult to do so. Make it easy. Provide multiple ways of making contact with you, and flag them clearly.

Saying “please contact us” on the front page, with a link to a page with contact details, is a good start, but it’s not all you can do. You need to create a connection between the visitor and the company. Demonstrate that you’re on the same planet as them: give your address, have a map! Make it psychologically easier for a potential customer to become an actual one.

Style

None of the above—wonderfully written, informative copy, clear instructions on how to get in touch, and so on—will matter a damn if your site doesn’t look good.

Aesthetics differentiate. An ugly site says “We didn’t think it was worth paying for a good site.” It says “We don’t care about the customer experience.” It says “We don’t have any class.” These are not good things to say. Make sure your site says the right things.

Visual design is a complex discipline full of symbols and meaning, some of it obvious, some of it not. To be a good online business card, a website needs to be a very selective mirror. It should reflect the best things about the company, enhance and polish them. It shouldn’t lie—people don’t like being let down—but it should present an image calculated to give a good impression.

There are many ways to create a good impression, and what a good impression is varies from person to person. The visual design of a website should appeal to the sensibilities of those the site is aimed at; the “target market”. You should also write your copy in a way that will appeal; style isn’t just a visual thing!

Concluding remarks

Not all websites are online business cards. Not all websites that are, are only online business cards. Amazon is an online shop; the website says something about the company, but that’s not what it’s really there for. The 9rules site says quite a lot about 9rules the company and 9rules the network, but that’s not all there is to it—linking to network sites, providing a categorised directory, and a weblog that talks not only about the business but about the general online context in which it operates mean that it has many functions that aren’t subsumed under the “business card” umbrella.

In contrast, something like the YPS-Langley Valves site (which, I should probably disclose, I designed) is an online business card, and very little more. It’s there to give people a gateway to the company, to say what they do, how to get in touch, and to give a favourable impression. There are an awful lot of sites out there, because it’s essentially required these days.

Greg Storey rightly pointed out recently that you shouldn’t make a website for no reason. A lot of the time, making a site that’s bigger and more complex than—for example—the YPS-Langley one has no point at all; an online business card is all that’s required. However, don’t make the mistake of thinking that the business card itself is unnecessary. Some companies may be able to get away without one, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

At least where I live, it’s becoming harder and harder to find small businesses locally who can carry out a range of important and practical commissions. The internet provides a way to find who’s out there and what they can do. It’s an opportunity, but it’s also a potential liability: if you don’t have a site, and people are increasingly looking online to find this information, you’ll be left behind. In the same way, having a bad site will lose you business. Don’t make that mistake. Hire a good developer, pay them what they’re worth, and your business will be better off for it.