Gone are the days when graphic designers needed as much physical strength as artistic talent to impress prospective clients. Hours spent lugging bulky print portfolios from meeting to meeting are now a thing of the past. In fact, enterprising designers no longer need a travel budget to work with clients in other cities and states. With a well designed website, any designer can attract and refer prospects to an online portfolio.

In 2006, Melody Thompson founded Identity Designs Company in Austin, Texas, with only a professionally designed website and business cards. She knew how important it would be to showcase her work, so she jumpstarted her portfolio with design projects for family and friends. The quality of her design spoke for itself and other clients soon followed. Having a website allows Identity Designs Company to reach out to clients in other cities and minimizes the amount of time Melody spends pitching to prospective clients.

Melody had been looking for an affordable, easy-to-use website solution for over a year. She wanted a service that provided site-building tools that would help her create a site quickly. Then she found Homestead Technologies online. Homestead made it easy and affordable for her to get the Identity Designs website up and running in less than a week. Melody didn't have to use complicated web design software or spend weeks designing her site. Instead, she was able to build and customize her website quickly by using Homestead's SiteBuilder application.

"I have used other website and e-commerce services, and none compare to Homestead," said Melody. "Their website templates are professionally designed as well as extremely easy to customize and fun to use. The graphics library offers thousands of high-quality images to choose from, and the form-building tools save me tons of time and make my site look very professional. I even use SiteBuilder to add PayPal buttons, allowing my clients to pay online. To top it off, the hosting packages are reasonably priced and let me add additional websites to my account. The bottom line is that the websites I create look and perform like custom-designed sites at a fraction of the time and cost."

Having a web presence has increased Identity Designs' visibility and marketing power with sales increasing significantly as a result. In addition, Melody attends community-networking events to meet with other business owners who may need graphic design and creative services. She also finds that one of the most effective marketing tools is to showcase her work at special events.

For example, her husband is a motivational speaker and author. Melody designed the cover for his latest book and created his website, www.DeonteThompson.org. At meet-the-author book signings, Deonte never forgets to acknowledge his wife's contribution to his success and how she can help others promote their life's work. A well designed website and other promotional materials, including business cards, stationery, and brochures, help entrepreneurs establish a strong, professional identity and image.

To that end, Melody believes that the three most important things to do when starting a business are to find your passion, educate yourself on how to run a business, and don't let fear paralyze you — just do it! She adds, "Everything won't be perfect when you first start, but that's the fun of starting a business. You are always learning and growing. Even though I have an MBA, I still don't know everything. Owning a business is an ongoing learning process that is full of highs and lows. Definitely make sure to go into it prepared, but remember to have fun."

When it comes to developing a web presence, Melody advises small business owners to create a site that is visually appealing and customer friendly. While both are equally important, many sites are lacking in one of these qualities. A business website should be inviting and useful to prospects and customers who want to get more information or purchase products and services. She also strongly recommends learning as much as possible about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), or the art and science of getting your website address to appear in the search results for relevant keywords on Google and Yahoo, for example. According to Melody, "It's important to have a really great website, but if no one knows you're out there, it isn't of much benefit to you. Without SEO, you will have a harder time getting traffic to your site and ultimately a harder time making online sales. If mastering SEO seems overwhelming, SearchLight can take care of it for you. Homestead is very easy to use and very affordable for small business owners such as myself. If you don't have a lot of time or money — or even creativity — try Homestead."

For more information on Identity Designs Company, please visit www.IdentityDesignsCo.com or contact Melody Thompson at .