Designing you own website can be an exciting prospect and an overwhelming one! Read the following article to find out what you need to familiarize yourself with and what you should aim for when designing your site.
Make sure that your website has a tagline incorporated into the design. This tagline includes a company motto or statement that tells the reader a little bit about the business. A clear tagline lets the reader quickly to see what the site is about, since most people make a decision to stay or go usually within 8 seconds.
Use fixed-position navigation. This technique involves locking a site’s navigation panel in place as the visitor scrolls down the page. It benefits virtually everyone who will visit your site.
Go easy on the graphics in your web design. You want the site to look professional and well-designed instead of cluttered. You should never use graphics simply to decorate your site; they are used to improve your site. Having enough graphics that don’t clutter the site will make your site easier to use, as well.
Longer Relevant
Make sure that you prune content that is no longer relevant. Failing to update your page with current information and upcoming events will cost you in terms of site visitors. Users wants to browse sites that they know are updated frequented with relevant fresh content, but if the site has outdated information then they know it is not well-maintained. Establish a schedule to update your website, and get rid of the content that is no longer relevant.
Frames are a holdover from 90’s design elements. The fact is that while frames were popular in the past, they were simply one of many early techniques that were necessary then but are not today. They are the stone wheel of the Internet generation and should not be used today. Frame designs are harder to bookmark, and they make scrolling a chore. There are better ways to allow your users to browse your pages easily.
Different topics should not inhabit the same page. Break up pages by discussion. This will help to alleviate confusion and help keep your site organized. It will also make it easier for web crawlers to better navigate and rank your site.
You must be sure that your site is optimized properly so that it can be viewed in all browsers. The Internet community loves to hate on IE, but in truth, a large portion of Internet traffic still happens through IE. Since many elements are not up-to-date you will have to work around it. You should read up on the frustrating “box model bug” that has plagued IE for a long time.
If you want your site to become more visible to online users, you must learn to use proper meta tags for each page. Good meta tags help search engines understand and categorize your website’s content properly. Your website will under-perform on search engines and draw fewer visitors than it should if you use inappropriate or ill-conceived meta tags.
Let visitors cancel actions if they want to. This could be a form that they have been filling out, registering for newsletters or emails, or even browsing the website for certain topics or archives. You will inevitably lose repeat customers if you force them to follow through on a purchase that they have decided against for now.
Your site’s files sizes are all affected by things like your graphics, and all of those can affect your site’s loading speed. In terms of graphics, your best choices are GIF and JPEG. PNG and BMP files take up a lot of disk space. Your graphics should be converted into the types of files that can be managed size wise, thus ensuring visitors have a wonderful experience on your site.
Don’t underestimate the importance of your “About Us” page. So many sites have dull, boring information on these pages. You can share personal information, education history and career choices that have lead you to this point in your life. Try giving people a tiny peek into your personal background. Try showing how you got into website development, who inspired you, and what you hope to accomplish with your business.
Designing a website is an exciting opportunity to promote your business and reach your target audience. It is something that when done right will be an excellent addition to your promotional arsenal. Use these guidelines as soon as possible, and you will notice remarkable improvements.
If the site you are designing is large, make sure to include a search option. Perhaps in the upper corner, a search box will ensure that your visitors can search for anything within your site. Search functions for websites are available from FreeFind and Google.