If you were in the market for a new vehicle, would you choose a car that gave you excellent fuel economy, a roomy interior and attractive design that fit your budget, or would you go into debt to buy a luxury yacht? Cheap websites are the Internet equivalent of economical cars; they get you everywhere you need to go in comfort and style for reasonable prices. Paying too much for website design is like buying that luxury yacht - it's lovely, but impractical for your daily commute. Buying extra features that take your website in directions you don't need it to go isn't cost-effective.

The first step toward effective website design is understanding what you need your website to do. A yacht is ideal for sea travel, but it's a terrible choice for an afternoon drive. For most small businesses, a website acts as an online brochure, informing visitors about the company and encouraging them to contact you. As the online presence of your business, it sets a tone for potential customers, subtly casting your tax preparation service as reliable or your shoe shop as stylish. A cheap website that uses the fundamentals of good design will cost little more than a print run of brochures, but reach a huge client base.

Some websites also serve as online catalogs, allowing your customers to buy directly from the site. Designing an online catalog doesn't have to be costly; cheap website packages can include an e-commerce function that lets you plug in your merchandise descriptions and create an instant online shop. An inexpensive website building service can also create the site architecture to support an online shop. By structuring the site to showcase the merchandise and facilitate payment, a talented website designer makes it easier for shoppers to become buyers.

Whether your site is promotional, educational or informational, its content must create the right impression. No amount of spending on fancy mouse-over menus or animated design elements can compensate for clumsy content. Website design services can create content for you or polish your existing content. Any money you pay a professional writer or editor to perfect your content is well-spent. Clients may not notice mistake-free content, but they will notice a grammatical flaw and wonder if you're similarly heedless of other small details.

A cheap website doesn't have to look cheap. On the contrary, clean, straightforward design often has a contemporary appeal that sites overloaded with costly widgets lack. Overpaying for a website results in features you don't use and elements visitors don't want. Save your money and invest in a cheap website that gets you where you need to go in comfort. Economy can be a beautiful thing when it comes to website design.

Small businesses benefit from attractive and functional cheap websites, they don't need to spend a ton to be online. See our Squidoo lens on cheap website design for more info.

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