Firms operating online must have a website that is both attractive and unique in its design, an expert has said.

Subhash Kandpal, writing at PromotionWorld, argued that website design should be a significant issue for firms involved in managed emarketing who are planning a new search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy.

Good website design will give businesses better visibility through search engines from the likes of Google and Yahoo!, while also helping to give their brand a unique image in the eyes of consumers, he suggested.

Mr Kandpal said: "Content should be unique, attractive and very much relevant. Content makes a great impact on the minds of visitors.

"SEO friendly web design is must to enhance one’s online business."

In the current era of web 2.0 technology such as social networking resources and blogs, online firms rely on attractive and colourful presentation in their website design, Mr Kandpal continued.

Graphic design, flash, HTML coding and multimedia are among the technical aspects firms could consider to help create a unique web design, he added.

Research has shown that ease of navigation and quality of content, in addition to security and privacy, are among the most important factors influencing whether a customer will purchase from a consumer website, reports E-commerce Times.

Living Streams comment:  General rules for effective websites don't necessarily apply to specific industries and specific market segments.  We believe that the most critical complement to website visitor generation (whether by SEO, internet advertising, blogging, articles or press releases) is measurement with analytics and trialling different ideas.