This post was written by Julie and Nathan Smith, my favorite graphic art and web desig team.  I asked them to give us some direction on how to build an effective web presence with a limited budget.  And their article is excellent!  Without further adieu–here it is:

Your web site or blog may be the first contact a potential client has with you. An organized, intuitive site communicates professionalism and promotes trust. That’s where design comes in. Design is more than picking the right color or fonts; it is about communicating your message effectively. Good design will draw your visitors into your site like bees drawn to beautiful flowers.

Begin with your audience in mind

Think about who your target audience will be. Take a few moments to write a description of the person who will be coming to your web site. Write down five adjectives that you’d like to describe your site. If you feel stuck visit some sites that you visit regularly and ask yourself what makes you keep coming back to them. Design is a continuous process. As you start building your site ask for feedback from your clients, or other people in your target audience.

Find a good template

Using an existing blog template is a great low-cost starting point for creating a unique web site for your business. More and more web sites are built using a blog shell, even if they are not completely focused on the blog. Blogger, WordPress and Typepad all have good starter templates. When I wanted to start a blog about teaching Sunday School, I chose Wordrpess.com. I have found it to be very user-friendly. I don’t have complete control over the design, but since it is free—and so simple and clean—I can live with it.

The ideal template is simple, flexible and legible. If you choose a template that is already designed to the hilt with lots of graphics, patterns, bows, flowers, rainbows and other pretties it is very likely that someone is using that very same template, for their own personal blog. You want your business to be distinctive. To be distinctive start with a simple template then customize from there.

Look for a template that is designed around a grid that will fit your plans. If you want to have ads or features, you might choose a 3-column layout. Look to see if the template will allow you to create additional individual pages. Choose a template that allows you to customize the header. Look for templates that have very legible fonts, not fancy script fonts that are hard to read.

Color

If you have a template or service plan that allows you to customize the color of the background, fonts, etc. just keep a few things in mind. Use color to point your visitors to your content. That means you need to keep your backgrounds—patterns or colors—in the background. Neutral colors like tan or cream, cool colors like blue or green, or unsaturated colors like black in the background will point people to your content. If you’d like some pattern use something that doesn’t jump in front of your content or tire out the eye. Bright colors like yellow and red cause eye fatigue when used in large swathes across the page. Your eye constantly fights to stay focused on your content rather than on the background. Instead save your strong, saturated colors for highlighting your most important content—perhaps the link to your storefront, a graphic promoting a new product, or on your logo.

It is good to start establishing a look and feel, or your brand, for your business. Go back to your adjective list you made earlier. Think about colors that seem to convey those descriptions. You might choose one main color with two accents. There are many helpful color sites for branding inspiration. Visit http://kuler.adobe.com for some color ideas.

Fonts

If you’ve chosen a good, legible template, the easiest thing to do is to leave the fonts alone. Fonts on websites display differently in different web browsers and on different computers. Web technology for displaying custom fonts is still developing. In a few years you will be able to have much greater confidence that the custom font that looks great on your system will also look great on all of your visitors’ systems. For now, especially for beginners in web design, it is best to play it safe and use standard fonts like Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Garamond, or Times New Roman. If you are gong to use distinctive fonts, such as those that look like hand-writing or fancy wedding script limit them to one or two key places on your site. Make sure all of your navigation links and body text are in simple, clear, high-contrast fonts.

Images

People are drawn to pictures. A photo might be the first thing people see on your site. It can draw them into spending more time with your content. High-quality images are very valuable. If you can take your own photos you’ll save a lot of money on buying images. If you don’t take the photo yourself be sure that you have the rights to use the photo. You wouldn’t want people to take content from your site without your permission. Take a few moments to get permission before using any images on your site. If you are unsure, just ask. It is better to ask and be told “no” than to find a letter in your mailbox informing you that you are being sued. Large image companies and even smaller freelance operations expect compensation for the use of their property no matter how small or large your website might be.

The good news is that there are some sites that offer a lot of copyright free photos or photos that require you give credit to the photographer, but not a lot of money:
Stock.Xchng (some of these require permission from the photographer, but many do not.)
Morgue File
Flickr: Creative Commons (some restrictions apply)
Wikimedia Commons (some restrictions apply)

You could also subscribe to an image library and buy credits. Some of the photos are only $5 each.
istockphoto.com
veer.com

Try the 10-second test

Bring up your web site then close your eyes for a few seconds. When you open them note what you saw first, where your eye traveled and where it eventually ended up in about ten seconds. If you found your eyes went to you most important content, smile, things are probably going well. If your eyes went to your background pattern first, or lingered too long somewhere other than your main focus, it is time to make a few changes. Ask a few friends to do it too, using different platforms and different browsers. It is amazing how different sites can look on Macs than on PCs, or in FireFox than in Internet Explorer.

When to hire a designer or web developer

Designers spend their days immersed in color, fonts, shapes, photography, and visuals. When you need your business to stand out from the crowd it is time to hire a professional designer. A designer can help you create a logo that is your own, not one that looks like someone else’s or one that is so trendy it will look dated a week after you launch your brand. A designer can help you choose colors and fonts that will work well on the web as well as in print. Prices vary, but expect to spend $200-900 for a logo and more for a larger identity package that includes business cards, letterhead and web design.

A web developer can help you when you need your web site do include interactive features like contact forms, email subscriptions, interactive games, and especially e-commerce. A web developer can also help you with issues related to web hosting and domain names. Just as there are templates that can help simplify beginning web design, there are services that can provide basic web interactivity for low or no cost. Some of the services we have used with clients include JotForm for forms and Mail Chimp, Constant Contact, and AWeber for email lists. Rates for web development depend on the complexity of your project. Often web designers and developers work in teams. If you find a great designer, they can probably recommend a developer.

Julie Smith works as an in-house graphic designer and Nathan Smith works as a IT Systems Analyst. They are also the owners of Vireo Creative, a boutique design and consulting service. You can contact them at vireocreatve@gmail.com. In their spare time, they enjoy playing piano and violin and teaching Sunday school.