Building a site from the ground up is intriguing and intimidating. It’s hard to know how you can begin, who you can get advice from, and the amount that you need for budgeting. Read on to learn some principles of basic website design planning so that you can do things the right way from the beginning.
Don’t use lots of graphics. Graphics are important, but too many can yuck things up. You should never use graphics simply to decorate your site; they are used to improve your site. Your site will be easier to use if it’s not overly cluttered, too.
Always look for broken links prior to publishing pages on the web. A visitor will get very annoyed when they click on a link that takes them to either a blank page or one that gives them an error. Use a program to scan your site to get the job done automatically.
Consider your website’s background carefully. Backgrounds with moving GIF views can be great, but can make text hard to read as well. Choose backgrounds that coordinate with your site, rather than clashing with it, and your message will be much more clear to your visitors.
It’s a good idea to set up your site so that it can retain a copy of user information that must be entered repeatedly. For instance, if a person registers on your site and a portion of the same exact information is required for filling another form out, ensure that the information they’ve already put in is saved so that he or she doesn’t have to put in this information again. If you use this data to your advantage, users will be able to save time as they navigate your site.
Try doing some research on a variety of keywords. While your main focus should always be on providing your customer with relevant and current information, you first need to work on gaining a customer base. Knowing which keywords will help visitors find your website will help.
Make sure to test early and to test quite often. Testing early can help weed out problems before they get bigger or affect other aspects. Continue testing it out as you improve and expand your website.
Avoid using pop-up ads whenever possible. Certainly it is important to include PPC ads on your site to earn some money, but pop-up ads that get in the way of what your visitors want to see is counterproductive. It will result in people not wanting to visit your site at all. Simplicity is key when it comes to ads. You do not have to rely on pop-ups.
It is no longer on trend to use a visitor counter on your website. Visitors really don’t care how many other people have visited your site. Get rid of your visitor count and use other methods to see how many visitors your site is getting.
If you are looking for a program to help you design a website, consider Adobe Dreamweaver. Even novices can easily use this product. It offers many layouts, templates and features to help with web page design.
Make sure your slogan is on every page of your website, including those that are housed in subdomains. You should use a large, easy to read text so that the viewer immediately sees them when they’re following links. The purpose of the tagline is so that they know what that page is about. This way the viewer can quickly decide whether to stay or move back to the previous page.
Make sure your site’s content is easy to access for everybody. You should locate someone in another country to see your site to check for errors. Some content may not be displayed the same in other countries, so this is something you may want to check on.
All user interface tools should be designed in a friendly manner to help people easily use them. For example, users should be able to click on text that is underlined. If your website is easy to use and consistent on each page, people will likely stay on your page longer, and they may visit the site more.
Use neutral background colors. Patterns are overwhelming and look amateur. A neutral or white background is best. Studies indicate that text set against neutral colors such as these are easiest to read.
With every web page that you are involved in designing, take the time to validate them. There a lot of WYSIWYG editors that will add meaningless code to your website design. Take the time to validate your code and remove the stuff that doesn’t belong. The World WIde Web Consortium (W3C) offers a free service to validate pages.
Making sure your website’s links are functioning properly is crucial. A good website should be user-friendly, and if links are broken or incorrect, your users will become frustrated. Check each link on your website regularly to be sure they work correctly.
One way to simplify the web design process is to collect a wide variety of checklists and cheat sheets, that can be looked at when there is an issue with your site. It is also a great way to get advice on how to improve your site.
One thing web designers need to learn is to estimate the amount of time that common website design tasks will take. Working to finish a difficult project within a specific time may produce bad work, which will only cause more problems in the future. You want work that you can handle and you don’t want to overload yourself.
When you design your website, remember the resolution. Your content should be able to be seen on computers with different resolutions. You can find stuff online that will help you figure all of this stuff out.
By following the tips above, you should be able to create an attractive, professional looking site. Draft up a budget, seek out advisers and begin sketching out your site. Get started on creating the best website possible for your business without any costly expenses.