Web Design and Marketing Solutions for Business Websites

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxii

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2. Overview

   Pages 1-18

3. Content

   Pages 21-34

4. Accessibility

   Pages 37-65

5. Architecture and Navigation

   Pages 67-86

6. The Homepage

   Pages 89-109

7. The about Section

   Pages 111-142

8. Products and Services

   Pages 145-163

9. Independent Validation

   Pages 165-188

10. The Corporate Blog

    Pages 191-218

11. Customer Support

    Pages 221-241

12. Contingency Planning

    Pages 243-267

13. Legalese

    Pages 269-282

14. Search Engine Optimization

    Pages 285-312

15. Outbound Marketing

    Pages 315-341

16. Online Advertising

    Pages 343-367

17. Back Matter

    Pages 369-390

    PDF

The best business websites serve their readers with strong content, well-architected design, and a focus on usability, readability, and accessibility. This book covers the fundamental aspects of building a website that works for the company, not against it. It covers the essentials of strong copywriting, and then dedicates several chapters to designing user-centric About, Products and Services, and Support sections.

Your visitors come to your site because they are interested in your business and are therefore potential customers. This book covers taking advantage of that traffic by expanding the company's story through a corporate blog and using testimonials, case studies, and other third-party validation to reinforce the marketing message. With this knowledge, you will be able to create and maintain a highly professional, polished business site.

While a pleasing website is essential for any modern business, creating it is only a small piece of the online strategy. This book also discusses search engine optimization, using e-mail and RSS to communicate with customers and prospects, and advertising the corporate domain with paid search placement, online banners, text links, and more. The primary theme is using your corporate website to market the business effectively, from designing intelligent product pages to writing compelling e-mail newsletters. This book explores those ideas and offers compelling advice on how to take full advantage of the Web as a marketing medium.

• Marketing
• blog
• design
• homepage
• language
• search engine optimization (SEO)
• validation

Kevin Potts has been working on the web for almost 10 years, having started his career designing his first employer's website with Netscape and Notepad. He has spent the bulk of his design career working in-house as both a graphic designer and internal web developer. Coupled with years of freelance and agency work, Kevin has created dozens of websites for businesses of all sizes in an array of industries.

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