Is it necessary to use costly design software and highly customized templates to create the perfect website? Well, that all depends on how much you're willing to learn. If you don't have a lot of time, you can use a software program to speed up the process, or employ the help of a website development company to do all the work. If you're willing to put in a little work, however, you can read these tips and learn how to design an awesome website on your own!
Make sure your text and background has the proper contrast. There's evidence showing that white text on a black background is easiest for most people to read, but other colors are fine so long as they're readable. Also keep in mind that people with visual impairments may not be able to read your site if the contrast is poor. Check to see if your site complies with various contrast standards using the tool at http://snook.ca/technical/colour_contrast/colour.html .
It may look pretty, but stay away from having too many animations on your site. Having your sales splash page rotate, spin and blink may look cool to you, but it will likely drive potential viewers away. When you add too many flashy splashes like that, it makes your site look amateurish which is not the message you want to convey.
Avoid creating user interface (UI) controls that mislead your visitors. These controls include elements, widgets and more that create an interactive experience, such as a link, drop-down list or button. You do not want to make visitors think that clicking on an underlined word or phrase for example, will lead to a new page if it is not actually linked to something else. When your visitors have expectations of something working a certain way and it does not, they are more likely to assume there is something wrong with your site and leave.
Minimize the amount of clicking or scrolling visitors must do to access information. The more a user has to click or scroll around to find the information they seek, the more likely they are to give up looking for it. Aim for having at least 400 words on every page of your site by combining pages that have content that falls below this number of words.
Why SEO Takes Time
Give your visitors the ability to search your site so that they can more easily find what they are looking for. If someone cannot find what they are looking for right away, their next thought will be to look for a search field. Put this somewhere obvious and include a search button.
Make sure everything is easy to locate on your website. Spend some serious thought on how everything on your site will be laid out. When content is randomly thrown on your site with little thought to the layout, you are making things harder for the people whose use of your site ensures your online success - your site visitors.
Why Is Search Engine Optimization Important To A Business
You should always put in the effort to make a customized error page for your site; this page should include a basic sitemap that links users to the major sections of your website. This ensures that if visitors follow a bad link or spell your URL wrong, they will be able to find what they are looking for.
Good websites are optimized for older IE browsers, like 7 and 8. There are many people on the Internet who still utilize Internet Explorer. You will have to use workarounds when dealing with this issue, so keep that in mind. Read up on the so-called "box model bug" which has bothered IE users for a long time.
Why Search Engine Optimization
Practice as much as you can. Try out everything you learn with regard to website design so that you truly understand how it works. Use the practice to apply the knowledge that you read here for easy learning. You never want to read something great but not actually "get it" because you didn't try it out on your own.
Try using easy, maintainable and clear navigation. Your navigation links should be easy to see and use to keep visitors on your site. Never forget that your design as far as ease of navigation is the most important thing you can do to retain and build traffic.
A great website design tip is to ensure that your site is able to be found with or without the subdomain. You should be able to find your site by typing www.mysitehere.com and also http://mysitehere.com. Sites that work like this are also able to be found without a prefix at all. You can type mysitehere and find it.
Allowing guest content on your site is a good idea, but never, ever let someone else get into your server to post it! You need to receive the content via email. A lot of amateur site designers actually allow people to access their host's server. Even if this doesn't lead to theft, it's still a really bad idea.
Understand how your webpage will be read at a glance, rather than word for word. Most viewers won't spend their time gathering every piece of written content on a page; at least not until after they've scanned it. Words that are larger, bold, or emphasized should be the most important and placed sparingly to get your ideas across.
When designing a website, you want to keep the privacy of your customer's information in mind. Set up marketing agency for submitting data, and never store customer passwords and such in a text document. Make sure you set up your website properly so that your customers know that visiting and interacting with your site is safe.
Use domain auctions to help you get the domain name you want for your website. It could profit your website if you purchase an existing domain name from SEDO or another domain auction site. Getting a domain name this way might cost some money, but a powerful one is worth the expense.
To ensure stability with your site make sure that you take every precaution to not overload your site with too much content on it at once. You want each page to have just the right amount of information so that people will keep coming back for more after they leave.
A great website development tip with regards to choosing your domain name is to choose a domain name that does not contain a dash (-). Sites with dashes are often not entered when people are trying to visit your site so try and avoid them at all cost so you don't lost any traffic.
As stated above, website design may be attractive to look at, but only if it's executed well. At first glance it's easy to see the difference between a good design and a bad design. The purpose here is to learn some simple tricks to ensure that your design is a good one. The tips outlined above offer suggestions as to what makes a website creation great.
