Hey all. I am a business owner who is trying to get their company to expand to the Web. The only problem is, I'm not a graphic designer and I want to make my site really appealing ... mainly for advertisement purposes. But I don't even know where to begin with building a web site. I mean, I know HTML and all that. But I just have no idea on how the layout and graphics should be.

Anyone have any idea on how to get started?

Do you have photoshop? You might check out that program to help you with images / layout.

__________________
Corey
Merchant Accounts | Toll Free Virtual Solutions | My Merchant Account Blog

What type of a business is it? I ask because I don't think your site has to be graphics heavy to be professional and appealing.

__________________
Web Hosting Tips | Career Advice

To answer the first question ... yes I do have Photoshop.


And you're right, I definitely don't want my website to be loaded with graphics. But I do want an appealing layout though. My business is basically a Process Serving Business. We serve all sorts of process throughout the world. Our clients are usually Attorneys.

I would think that the attorneys and their associates would be interested more in how much do you charge, are you bonded, what areas do you cover, etc. A nice header / footer might be nice, but other than that, I would stay away from too many images. You want it to load fast & quickly - easy to navigate

__________________
Corey
Merchant Accounts | Toll Free Virtual Solutions | My Merchant Account Blog

My personal opinion, and it probably applies here due to your clients, is to focus on information content. It's easy to make a nice looking site that supports the information you put out. Too many times companies try to dazzle people with "digital bling" and forget the reason people come to a site is for information. As long as you have an easy way to find data, a simple site should suffice. I'm guessing that attorneys might even like it if the site had very few graphics.

On that note, I found a site a while back that suggested using text for a "title bar". It used a large font and each word was either black or orange. A simple colored bar on the side was used to place site links. I found it to have a simple yet elegant look and it looked appropriate for a "no-nonsense" site. Additionally it could be created either in Photoshop (if you wanted to use the textures and filters to enhance the text) or you can use simple CSS.

Just a suggestion. :-)

__________________
Common Sense v2.0-Striving to make the world a little bit smarter.

I agree. I don't want an image heavy website either. I think a nice banner, and a cool selection menu on the side is all I really need. Most of my content will be informative, but at the same time appealing. I'll see what I can create.

I recommend going to a site similar to what you want, like Microsofts, and analysing their page.

You'll note that they have a large banner in the top-right, below a simple search-bar with their logo, etc... from there you'll be able to get a rough idea of your design and be able to modify it to suit your site.

Why dont you get a web template for your site,
its the easiest way

yes a template is easier