In days of old when you wanted to open a business, you had to use word of mouth and have a storefront that was in a high traffic area in order to get customers. But with today's technology, a website is your portal to much more.

Think of a storefront that stays open day and night, with nearly 60 million prospective customers walking by all the time. Even when you're sleeping, the store is open for business and has its doors open for anyone in the world. That's what a website is.

But just like a physical storefront, appearance is important. If your website looks shoddy and low quality, customers will leave and look for a better place to spend their money. Your website needs to look professional and sophisticated.

Here are some keys to creating a successful website.

Consistency

The amateur web designer will often fall into this trap. While building a website they can't decide between all the fonts, pictures and graphics they want to put on the webpage, so they use all of them. The chaos of constant changes is disconcerting to the viewer who is coming to your site to see your product, not how many fonts you own.

Pick colors and a style for your website, and keep that look consistent on every page.

First Impressions Count

People who are using the internet to search for an item or service will make their decision if your website is where they'll be spending their money in the first few seconds of clicking into your site.

If they're reading a welcome message on your website and stumble over typos or grammatical errors, that less than professional appearance is going to gauge how they feel about your company.

Short, Sweet and to the Point

While you may be proud of your company, when customers want to buy, they don't want to read page after page rambling on about your services or products. Tell them what they need to know.

Let them know what the product or service is, why they need it, and why you are the person they should give their money to for it.

This doesn't mean there can't be a section for your company's history, your expert background or other pertinent information, but those items can be on appropriate background pages.

Make sure the navigation on your site is not confusing. You aren't going to make any money if customers can't figure out how to get to the area where they can purchase your product.

Use a simple navigation bar that is clearly defined so customers know exactly how to get to the information or products they are searching for.