Building a good website is tricky business, there are lots of variables and things that can go wrong, throwing a wrench in your gears. Luckily, this nifty guide will teach you some of the do’s and don’ts of web design.
The most important part of having a good website is good content. Content is why people go to websites, it’s why they go back to them, and it’s why they suggest them to other people. Without good content a website is going to fail, there’s no way around this.
Try to come up with something that’s never been done before, or figure out a new spin on something that’s been done before. Make it interesting, make it valuable. Most importantly, make sure it’s something people want to share. Don’t copy content though. Not only is it bad practice, you won’t get good ratings from it.
© Photographer: Cristian Nitu | Agency: Dreamstime.com
Content Is King On The Web
Almost on par with content is your visual design. No one wants to visit a site that looks bad or is hard to read. Look around at other popular web sites and how they are designed. It would be very wise of you to spend some time surfing your competitions web sites to insure you do not have the same or very similar content as well. You don’t want to see the same content over and over from web site to web site. And you also want to be sure that your content keeps your competition on its toes. This is why you want your content to flow together and be easy to navigate. The easier it is to get from one page to another, the more likely it is for a person to do it, keeping them on your website longer.
Make sure your navigation is easily visible and not hard to click. None of us can stand it when it is hard to find the log in buttons are hidden or tucked away somewhere out of their direct line of sight. Not to mention the hunt for the log out button on your way out. Most importantly, make sure your site is easy on the eyes. You want easily readable text with colors that aren’t too bright or hard to see. Make sure your text isn’t too small to be comfortably read either. All of these things are instrumental in creating a clean running, easy to navigate web site for our visitors to fall in love with and enjoy for many years to come.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And for this reason you want to be sure your web sites design and themes look good to all visitors who stop in and take a closer look. You want to be sure that the imagery and other associated content is visually stimulating without offering a distraction. This is very important because the look and feel of your web site and its content are exactly what cause your visitors to become repeat visitors at the end of the day. You would be well served to look at your site on a few different computers as well, as things may appear different on different monitors or browsers. This is because things that may present well on your big, 27″ screen could look horrible on someone’s little 19″ monitor or vice versa. Don’t be afraid to tinker with things until you get them just right, it will pay off in the long run.
Social networking has taken over the web, many users have a profile on Facebook, Twitter, or something similar. Make sure you make it easy for users to share your content through these channels with “Like” buttons, StumpleUpon buttons, twitter tags, etc. These social networks are rapidly becoming a spring board to success for many companies on the web today.
We all know that a twitter feed can go viral in milliseconds. And if your company, its web site or product is on the fingertips of the twitter users today it could mean the instant and resounding success of your business or blog site. Thus reiterating the importance of these like and other social network buttons. They work as a word of mouth type advertising and marketing campaign in a sense. This is due to the rapid pace at which these social networks share their likes and dislikes with friends and loved ones. And due to these facts you could launch a grassroots marketing campaign with these social sites by simply offering these ease of access buttons to your web site.
If you have a website that requires a log in, make sure it’s set up so that users can log in with their Facebook or Twitter accounts, it’s normally pretty simple to do and by knocking out a big portion of the registration process you make it more likely for people to join. This is because today’s web surfing crowd is very in tune with these social sites and share information more rapidly via these social sites. So it is recommended that you assist this process by adding the Facebook and Twitter login option to attract these clients to your web site. These clients are typically between the ages of 15-35 and are the prime spenders in our e-based business world today. They grew up with this type of social networking in their lives and rely on it for information and news pertinent to their peer groups. And it is through these methods you can expect to build a better website.
Marketing Is Key To Your Websites Success
Make sure you get your website out to the public. All the great content in the world won’t get you traffic if no one knows it exists. Tell your friends and family. Find other websites of the same niche, and inform the members there as well. If you visit web forums, be sure the link is in your signature (if it’s allowed) so that others can see it. The social network integration also helps here, the more people are talking about and sharing it, the better.
Before you do any of this though, remember to make your website about something you enjoy. If you don’t enjoy what it’s about, you won’t want to work with it.
This article was contributed by CD TECHNICAL who specializes in websites for authors and online donation software.
Tags: better web design, better webdsite design, better website, Building a Better Website, web design, website design