I’m sure you have heard of the expression that First Impressions Count or First Impressions Last or Image Is Everything! But is there really any substance to those expressions? Well let’s go ahead and find out. Consider the following hypothetical scenario:

You happen to be the owner of a large and profitable company that has recently expanded to include a new department that is in desperate need of a top level manager. You duly go ahead and advertise the position and the economy being what it is you are not too surprised to get over 2000 applications. After a careful weaning process that didn’t require you meeting any of the applicants you manage to whittle that rather daunting figure of two thousand down to a mere two!

Let’s jump ahead to the day of the interview. The two applicants are waiting just outside of your office. You buzz your secretary and tell her to send in the first applicant whom we shall call Candidate A.

Candidate A

Candidate A strolls saunters into your office and the two of you briefly shake hands. Good! Candidate A has a firm handshake, not bone-crushing but not weak limp either. As he settles in his seat you take a more-detailed look at the man who may very well be the manager of your company’s new division in the not too distant future. Evidently you had liked the impression you had gotten of the man on paper that was why he was currently seated opposite you but now the question was to see if that initial impression was truly justified.

On paper Candidate A came off as smart, innovative, knowledgeable, experienced and certainly more than qualified to handle the position being advertised. The purpose of the interview was to see if the man in the flesh mirrored the man on paper. As the two of you converse you cannot but help notice that Candidate A appears…well shabby. Yes! Shabby was certainly not being too harsh! His shirt collar and sleeve ends are frayed with noticeable dirt tracks skirting the edges, there are crumbs liberally sprinkled across his front and what also what seems to be an army of lint parades across the expanse of his black trousers unchecked. To cap it all, his shoes are scuffed and if he’d ever bothered polishing them well let’s just say that it certainly didn’t appear to have happened within the past decade or so!

Uh-Uh! This was just not going to work! The man was obviously very smart and somewhere along the line you determined that Candidate A had an IQ a little north of 180 but that was before you tuned him out and your thoughts drifted to the elusive puzzle of what you were going to get your lovely wife for her birthday. The interview was as brief as your decision not to hire the man. You thanked Candidate A and assured him that you would be in touch soon then you told your secretary to send in the next applicant.

Candidate B

Appearance wise, Candidate B came off as the equivalent of golden sunshine to Candidate A’s drab darkness. As Candidate B strode confidently into your office you could tell that this was a man who obviously appreciated the fact that a professional image was a very important attribute to bring to the negotiating table. Any lingering thoughts about what you were going to get your wife for her birthday were quickly dispelled and you focused your entire attention on the interview at hand.

Although Candidate B didn’t have the mind blowing IQ that Candidate A possessed, he was no mental slouch either. During the course of the interview you quickly determined that he was more than able and qualified to handle the job but perhaps most important of all he projected a thoroughly professional image that was all too important in the business arena. Once again this interview was brief as was your decision to hire Candidate B!

1^st Impressions Really Do Count!

Candidate A may well have been an intellectual giant of tremendous mental ability but that mattered little because his shabby appearance disqualified him from the race as soon as he walked into that interview. I mean there probably is an entire universe of subtext that could correctly or incorrectly explain why someone would present to an important interview so shabbily dressed but the easiest and quickest conclusion most people would jump to is that such a person simply couldn’t give a damn! And if they couldn’t care less about their appearance for an-all-important job interview what kind of message are they subconsciously sending their prospective employer about their future attitude to their future job?

Thus far we have determined how truly important appearance and image is but how, you may well be wondering, does this relate to your online business?

The Appearance Of Your Website Will Make Or Break Your Internet Business!

Unlike everyday real life our online experience is pretty much limited to a couple of senses, namely the visual and auditory senses. Basically what this boils down to is that on the web visual perception is even more important than offline because it is probably the single most important parameter people use to assess and determine the worth and value of any given item. After all, online you just can’t reach out to touch or feel something in order to better determine its true nature and quality; for that you are restricted to a visual assessment.

So in the hypothetical example described above, if we replace the two candidates with websites instead, Candidate A would be represented by a website that is badly designed characterized by gaudy colors, glitzy banners and largely comprised of poorly concealed adverts. The website that would represent Candidate B on the other hand would be beautifully designed, professional in appearance and tend to bestow confidence in the visitors who come across it.

Due To Blogs Having An Ill-Designed Website Is No Longer A Viable Excuse!

And therein lay the greatest challenge for the average online entrepreneur! How to have a well-designed and professional looking website without having to shell out thousands of dollars for web designing services? Luckily these days that is no longer an issue thanks to the advent of the blog. With a blog anybody these days can have a professional looking and well designed website that will invariably impress even the most hardened of skeptics! (Yup! This really is possible even if you don’t have the slightest inkling of web design or have no experience or knowledge of markup and coding language required to design a website from scratch).

With a blog having a beautiful looking website is simply a matter of installing what is known as a blog theme. And the best news of all is that there are thousands upon thousands of fantastic looking blog themes out there, many of which are free, and most of which are customizable to your exact requirements!

Remember that confidence in a person is the first level of trust and people only tend to buy from persons or locations that they trust. Put another way, if it is your intention to make money online it is in your interest to make sure that your piece of online real estate (be it a blog or ordinary website) has a professional appearance and thus distills confidence in your visitors?

I mean when was the last time you felt confident enough to purchase an item online with your credit card from one of those spammy-looking websites festooned with lots of glitzy ads, whizzing java scripts and an endless display of multi-colored banners and sprinkled with more Google Adsense ads than content? Never right? Thought so!

Ultimately if you wish to make more money online from your internet business you will need to convert more of your visitors to your website into purchasers. The surest way to do that is to instill enough confidence into them so they actually stick around long enough to read your message and they will only do that if they feel comfortable with your website. If your current website happens to be somewhat lacking in the professional-design department do yourself a favor and convert it to a blog with a professional looking theme!

That small initial investment you make to acquire a professional-looking blog theme will be well worth it because in no time at all, the increased sales you make as a result of the new improved look of your site (blog really) will exceed the cost of that blog theme many times over!

Article on internet business written by Ba Kiwanuka

Prison Cell