If you are contemplating going into business online, have a
website, or are creating a website for your existing business,
this informational resource will prove invaluable to you. It
provides you with ten very important and easy to implement web
design tips to ensure that your website is designed to make you
money. You can have the best or most inexpensive product or
service of its type, but if you don't follow certain guidelines
when designing your website, no one will stay there long enough
to know that! Following these simple but effective tips will
increase your chances of being successful on the internet.
10. DO have an easy to use navigation system in place on your
site. One of the quickest ways to lose visitors and
thereforesales, is to have a navigation system that works like
the Winchester Mystery House (an attraction in California that
has doorways leading to nowhere). If your visitor gets lost and
can't find their way around, or if they have to keep clicking a
back button to return to your homepage just to visit another
page on your site, they will tire of this and just leave, taking
their business with them. Make sure that you not only have a
navigation bar at the top of each page, but also put a text
navigation bar at the bottom of every page, so they don't have
to scroll to the top to travel through your site. The easier it
is for them to move through your site, the more they'll see, the
more comfortable they'll feel and the more likely it is that
they will purchase from YOU and not your competitors.
9. DO NOT use too many large or active graphics. Graphics can
increase your load time and most surfers don't want to wait
around to see a large but 'cute' animated graphic of your
service - they'd rather be informed about your products or
service. So keep your graphics simple and use them sparingly -
especially animated graphics. Too much animation will detract
them from where their attention should be - on your products or
services.
8. DO make sure your text is clear, concise and error-free.
Keeping your text concise and easy to read is important because
if your visitor is confused about what you offer, you will lose
them to a competitor. If writing intelligible text is not your
forte, hire a professional copywriter to make sure that your
text describes your products or services in an intelligent, yet
easy to understand manner. And make sure your site is 100%
proofread! Nothing lowers the opinion of a potential customer
more than a site filled with typos and errors in spelling,
grammar, punctuation or syntax. (Gee, if they can't even spell
'electrical' properly, or don't know the difference between
'their' and 'there', they can't be very intelligent, therefore
what would the quality of their service or product be?) And
that's another point that must be made here - NEVER rely on a
'spellcheck' program to do your proofreading for you - they have
no idea if you mean 'there' or 'their' so therefore you can run
a spellcheck until you're blue in the face and you will still
have those kinds of errors on your site! And again, if this is
not one of your strong points, hire a professional proofreader
to check your site.
7. DO NOT overuse audio effects on your site. Nothing is more
irritating to a visitor than to have some new age music or some
strange noise blaring over and over and over during their visit
to your site. A brief one-time sound as a special effect on the
home page can catch their attention and be beneficial, but don't
loop it so it plays on and on. And even if you provide a way to
mute a sound effect, they still have to deal with locating the
controls and hope they work properly - and they did not come to
your site to be an audio technician, they came to your site
because they were interested in what you have to offer them.
Make your products or services the most interesting items on
your site, without repetitive, annoying audio to distract your
visitors.
6. DO use colors that are complimentary and subtle. There is
nothing that will make a visitor leave a site quicker than that
day- glo lime green background with fire-engine red graphics!
Always make sure that your colors compliment each other and
blend well together. If you choose to go with primary colors,
then stick with the basics (true red, true blue, etc.) and if
you choose to use more dusky colors (teal green, dusty rose,
beige, cranberry), then stick with those. Use bright colors
sparingly and for accent only - not as the background or for
your larger images. And you should have only THREE main colors
in your design. And those three colors should always be from a
'web-safe palette' to ensure all your visitors will see the
colors you intended. You want your visitors to focus on your
products or services, and using the correct colors to showcase
them properly will increase your sales.
5. DO NOT launch your business site on a 'free server' with ads.
A professional website should be just that - professional. For
your visitors to really take you seriously, you need to take
your business seriously. Either get your own domain name and
space, or have your web designer host you on their webspace.
Nothing is cheesier or more insincere than to have a business
site on a free server with ads popping up and under and all over
your site! There are thousands of 'come and go' businesses that
are on the internet to make a quick profit and then take the
money and run. If you want to establish your business as a
reliable and trustworthy enterprise, you must present that to
your visitors by being willing to invest in an ad- free presence.
4. DO make sure your META Tags accurately reflect your business.
One of the main ways to 'advertise' on the internet involves
submitting your site to search engines. And most search engines
rely heavily on META Tags to properly index your site in their
listings. Therefore, if you do not use the proper format for
your tags or use keywords that don't describe your products or
services concisely, you will not be listed correctly in the
search engines. Use two to three word phrases that describe your
main products or services, and list them as you would enter them
yourself if looking through the search engines for that product
or service. In other words, if you have an auto repair business,
some of your keywords could be: car tune-ups, automobile
transmission repairs, car lube and oil changes, etc., in
addition to just automobile repairs. And also, always make sure
that your keyword phrases are inserted into the text on your
home page. Search engines check the content of your page to make
sure that the keywords match your text to ensure that your
business is legitimate, so this lends credibility to your site,
increasing your chances of a better placement.
3. DO NOT pay huge amounts of money for Flash. Now you may be
saying "But Flash is so on the edge - so trendy", but therein
lies the problem - it IS just a trend and it will pass, because
it takes way too long to load in, and 9 out of 10 of your
visitors will hit the 'Skip Intro' button and never see it
anyway! Therefore, you will have paid a large sum of money for
something that only one out of ten of your visitors will ever
even see. Not a good value at all - this is a way for web
designers to take more money from you. You are much better off
hiring someone to design an attractive, well laid out site with
some tasteful graphics, that focuses on your services or
products, not some flashy pictures. Flash is a waste of your
money and your visitors' time. (Think of how many times *you*
have clicked that Skip Intro button, or gotten impatient waiting
for a Flash navigation bar to emerge just so you can travel
through the site! How many times have you *left* that site
because you got tired of waiting?)
2. DO choose your web designer carefully. If you decide to hire
a web designer, always get a comprehensive estimate from a
number of designers before hiring one. Always check out their
portfolios to see if they design original sites and do not use
templates that are replicated on dozens of others' sites. Make
sure you are clear on what you expect of them and find out if
they charge extra for any services or if they are included in
the original estimate. Items like copywriting, proofreading, or
designing logos, for example, are sometimes in addition to a
basic web design estimate. Also, some limit the number of images
you may have, or charge extra for simple JavaScripts (such as a
navigation bar that changes color or images). Make sure the web
designer you hire states clearly if they charge extra for these
services and make sure any charges such as these are listed in
your original quote. Also check the sites in their portfolios to
see if they do use clear, concise text, spell words properly,
use uncomplicated navigation systems, have optimal load times
and properly reflect the business they are representing.
1. DO NOT always choose the most expensive designer. Just
because they charge more does not necessarily mean that you will
get a better website. While there are some 'fly-by-night'
designers out there, many small design companies will provide
you with a professional website for less money. Again, refer to
the designer's portfolio to determine the level of their
expertise, not how much they charge. I have been to many
websites designed by big design houses that have typos,
navigation errors, broken links and other poor design features.
And going with a smaller designer can also improve your service
when you need updates/changes to your site down the road. Having
fewer sites to maintain can mean your site will receive
attention in a more timely manner than a large design house with
dozens of sites that may keep you waiting weeks or even months
until they can get around to your site.
About the author:
Shirley Marshall is the owner of Perfect Sites Web Design and
has been designing websites professionally for over three years
now. This is her first of many articles. To contact her please
e-mail her at: mailto:Info@PerfectSites.com or visit her site
located at: http://www.PerfectSites.com
