Ten years ago, If you had a website for your business which explained who you were and what you had to offer, it was enough.  Five years ago, you needed to pique the users’ interest, whether this was through some animated graphics, or by providing updated content like tips, in order to give the user a reason to come back, and a reason to remember you.

So what’s important on the World Wide Web now? With well over 30 billion pages online, that’s a lot of competition to have a user remember your website, and even more competition for your website to convince them that you are the best choice for them. There is more focus for stronger copy, decreased load times, and better visual presentation, not to mention SEO.

Where ten years ago you just needed to worry about putting up a simple informative website, these days you need to stand out, you need to have visuals that grab the users’ attention without turning them off. You need to interact with them and provide them with new and useful information (which Is just one of the reasons blog use has exploded), you need strong copy to keep them interested as well as to come up in search engines, and you need to have it all load “Right Now!”, or as close as you can get to it.

Web Design in 2009 has seen a shift into newer, more modern, informative, and intuitive styles, not just visually, but all around. Designing around the popular CMS systems out there such as Wordpress and Joomla has been a great deal of fun for me.  It has really taught me a lot, and has given me an opportunity to move into new realms of design, one with fewer limitations, and the ability to create stunning and practical websites, blogs, and more.

With so many people on the net, a website serves as so much more than just a source of information, but as a “sales tool” for the global or local market. It helps promote your business whether you are hard at work or finally getting some rest and sleeping, your website is working for you. So make sure that it’s working hard, and doing the job right.