The idea to good website design is to offer your viewer a logical flow while making it interesting and easy to understand. Lead your viewers to the starting point and then direct them through your site without confusing them.
Here are some excellent tips that can help you develop a user-friendly site and please your visitors senses. Give yourself a chance before they get away.
1. Use lots of white space.
Don't feel that because you have a whole screen that you need to fill it up with stuff. Your page should follow a clean outline. Include your site name at the very top. Below that list the subject of your page and below that expand on your topic. Leave adequate space between each section. Don't cram a lot of pictures and ads. If you have an ad keep it off to the side or subtly intersperse it between your text. The idea is not to overwhelm your reader.
2. Don't use animation and flashing objects.
As advertisers we feel the need to get our viewers attention. This is important but we need to do it gracefully. Flashing objects and scrolling images distract your visitor and take away from the content. If your product is better demonstrated with animation or some other multi-media, allow your viewer to select the option. Don't force it on them.
3. Every page of your site should contain an 'about' link.
The Internet can be a rather cold and quiet environment. If someone can come to your site and find out about who you are and what you are about, they can feel a little better about doing business with you or taking advice from you. Always include your business address and phone number and email address as well. This lets viewers know that you are serious about your business and that you welcome contact.
4. Include a 'Privacy' Link
Viewers like the reassurance that you have a policy that follows privacy guidelines. They want to know that you will not sell or give away their information. In these days of rampant spam, your privacy policy needs to be prominently displayed. Many viewers and business partners won't do business with you unless you have it.
5. Always keep your links in blue.
Why does that matter you might say? It's an expectation that viewers have along with the links being underlined. There's certainly no law that says they need to be as such but people spend a lot of time on the Internet and it's good practice to keep your navigation consistent and recognizable. If it's not, you may lose out on clicks.
6. Keep navigation consistent
Keep your site's navigation consistent. What you do on your index page should be done the same way on the rest of your site's pages. Keep the colors consistent as well. Don't force your viewers to relearn each page of your site. Keep your navigation bars and links the same for each page.
7. Understandable buttons and links.
Title your links appropriately. Don't use cute or misleading names. For example, if you have a link to sports equipment don't label the link 'Great Outdoors', call it 'sports equipment'. If you have a link to 'cameras' don't label the link 'hotshots', label it 'cameras'. Your viewers don't want to waste time figuring out what things are. Be clear with your labeling.
8. Focus on the 'YOU', not the 'ME'.
Make it obviously clear to your readers that you are there for them. What can you do for your reader? What benefits are there for your viewer? How can you make their life or business better or more profitable? Request feedback on their success. Find out what they want to know or how you can offer them what they need.
9. Make sure your page loads fast.
If viewers have to wait for a page to load they will click elsewhere. Here's a site that will help you determine how well your page loads. If a page doesn't load in 8 seconds you lose 1/3 of your visitors. Here's a great free tool to help you check your website's load time.
10. Use a site map.
A site map will give visitors a "guide" on viewing your site and also eliminate confusion, especially with larger sites. It's a road map for your visitors to follow while they are on your site. Sitemaps will also increase rankings and placement within the Search Engines.
Source : http://www.theukwebdesigncompany.com/articles/article.php?article=1426
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
Attractive Website : A Creative Approach
Internet provides remarkable tools to enhance the design of your website. With just little effort you can turn your website a masterpiece with visuals applets and special effects. You can put numerous templates and effects in your website. Adornments can make your website more appealing and desired by your visitors. Good website designs allure visitors to at least visit through the whole site.
Following are few guidelines which can help you make your website more appealing and professional.
Allure with Graphics or Photos
Human beings are visual creatures. Visuals appeal them the most. Try to use images and graphics in your website. Your potential visitor might not be that free to read your content but if you can attract them by images then you can convey your important message clearly. Capture your visitor's attention and let them recall your site to visit again and again. Graphics with moving images can make your visitor curious to visit your website. You choose from several applets and special effects as per your website's requirements.
Be credible with professional color scheme
Your website represents your company's image. Hence your every approach should be professional and lucid. Once you decide all your graphics for your website, pay attention to the color scheme for your website. Though it looks an easy task but the choice of right colors involves a lot of research and color knowledge. You can get several online color schemers for quite less expensive charges. But the scheme should be interesting and eye catching.
Use Graphical Signposts
Make your website content more attractive with signposts. Use bullets and numbering to make your content more crisp and lucid. Your visitor might not read every sentence of your content but can read the bulleted points easily. Users can easily absorb bullet information where they don't need to pay all their concentration on the content. Visit websites and make points about your liking and disliking in that website. Be your own critic and judge as a visitor. You can find several ways to make your website look captivating.
The above stated points can enhance the credibility and beauty of your website. But, do remember few points which you should strictly avoid while designing your website.
Avoid over makeup
Visual effects can be pleasing but it can be diluted when you use several images in a single page. You should find the right balance between images, as too many images distract the visitor as much as no image in your site does.
Flash Bash
Flash is the most ubiquitous graphic tool. It should be used to enhance the images and text in the website. Over use of Flash makes your website look less professional. Try to be meager while using Flash and other animation tools.
Be simple but avoid being too bland
Numerous sites are uploaded everyday. You must stand out in order to be noticed in this astounding web fraternity. Be creative and easily accessible. Use graphics that reflects your purpose and offerings. This will help you become more desirable and attractive to clients.
Source :
http://www.e2solutions.net/articles/attractive-web-designing.html
Following are few guidelines which can help you make your website more appealing and professional.
Allure with Graphics or Photos
Human beings are visual creatures. Visuals appeal them the most. Try to use images and graphics in your website. Your potential visitor might not be that free to read your content but if you can attract them by images then you can convey your important message clearly. Capture your visitor's attention and let them recall your site to visit again and again. Graphics with moving images can make your visitor curious to visit your website. You choose from several applets and special effects as per your website's requirements.
Be credible with professional color scheme
Your website represents your company's image. Hence your every approach should be professional and lucid. Once you decide all your graphics for your website, pay attention to the color scheme for your website. Though it looks an easy task but the choice of right colors involves a lot of research and color knowledge. You can get several online color schemers for quite less expensive charges. But the scheme should be interesting and eye catching.
Use Graphical Signposts
Make your website content more attractive with signposts. Use bullets and numbering to make your content more crisp and lucid. Your visitor might not read every sentence of your content but can read the bulleted points easily. Users can easily absorb bullet information where they don't need to pay all their concentration on the content. Visit websites and make points about your liking and disliking in that website. Be your own critic and judge as a visitor. You can find several ways to make your website look captivating.
The above stated points can enhance the credibility and beauty of your website. But, do remember few points which you should strictly avoid while designing your website.
Avoid over makeup
Visual effects can be pleasing but it can be diluted when you use several images in a single page. You should find the right balance between images, as too many images distract the visitor as much as no image in your site does.
Flash Bash
Flash is the most ubiquitous graphic tool. It should be used to enhance the images and text in the website. Over use of Flash makes your website look less professional. Try to be meager while using Flash and other animation tools.
Be simple but avoid being too bland
Numerous sites are uploaded everyday. You must stand out in order to be noticed in this astounding web fraternity. Be creative and easily accessible. Use graphics that reflects your purpose and offerings. This will help you become more desirable and attractive to clients.
Source :
http://www.e2solutions.net/articles/attractive-web-designing.html
Friday, June 1, 2007
12 Website Design Decisions Your Business or Organization Will Need to Make
You may be on your first website. But more likely you're faced with redesigning a website that isn't functioning as well as it should. I see 12 vital decisions involved with developing a website, and I want to explain them with you in mind:
.You're the owner or marketing director of a small business and know that getting your website to pull its share of the load is vital for success. But your budget is severely limited!
.You've just been assigned the task of redoing your company's website.
Congratulations, now you can be blamed if things don't work well. :-)
.You've volunteered to take on your church or organization website and make some sense out of it -- without offending the person who built it in the first place.
.This time around you've decided to outsource the job, but you have no idea of how to supervise a design company to make sure it does what you need. Good luck!
I want to help. When I built my first website in 1995 at the very beginning of the commercial Web, I didn't have a clue how to proceed. In those days there was no one to guide me. I've made every mistake you can think of -- some more than once, I hate to admit.
Since then I've built and assisted with dozens of online stores and hundreds of websites for all kinds of businesses and organizations, from mom and pops to major corporations and international organizations. I don't design websites for others these days, but I actively develop and maintain my own site.
There are twelve critical places in building a website where you must make the right decision, or you'll have to repeat this task again and again until you get it right. I won't be talking about how to write HTML; I want to help you with the mindset, the basic approach. I want to take you by the hand and lead you through the critical decisions. The better you grasp these essential points, the better your website will work and the happier camper you'll be.
Okay, let's roll up our sleeves and get started. By the way, why don't you print out this document and then mark it up with your thoughts and ideas as you read. It's designed to serve as a worksheet to clarify your thinking and provide direction at various stages of the project. If you decide to outsource the project, you'll want to share a copy of your marked-up copy of this document with your website designer. Print it out!
1. Determine Your Website's Chief Purpose
When you begin a website, you must have your main purpose clearly in mind. I say this because it's easy to have conflicting purposes.
. If you're a website design firm, you may want to show off your high tech goodies with your client's site as the showpiece.
. If you're an employee stuck with this task, you may want to look good for your bosses and not do anything for which you can be blamed -- you've got to protect your backside.
. If you're a volunteer, you may just want an excuse to tinker and be praised for it.
. If you're a business owner, you probably care about the bottom line. You're wondering, How much this will cost? and Will it be worth it in the long run ?
Dear friends, recognize your own needs -- they're legitimate. But to build an effective website, you've got to look at the business's or organization's needs and make those primary. From the organization's perspective, what must this website do in order to be successful?
Let's look at some common website purposes. Put an X next to all that apply
. Build your brand. Create an online brochure that will help potential clients, customers, and partners learn about your company and look at it in a favorable light. You're trying to enhance your brand or organization image. I've heard people disparage this kind of website as "brochure-ware." But this is very legitimate for some kinds of companies, especially local businesses or organizations that aren't trying to conduct national or international commerce. You want people to know who you are, what you do, where to find you, and how to contact you.
. Provide product information to drive local sales of your products and services at dealer locations. Auto sites are a good example. Many manufacturers don't sell on their sites, but point people to retailers who carry their products.
.Sell advertising. A few sites are designed to sell advertising -- Yahoo!, Google, and other portal sites are examples. But these days, there's far too much advertising space and not nearly enough money to fill it all. Internet advertising is improving, but is still under-priced. You may be able to sell a little advertising if you're a portal site for an industry, or perhaps put some Google AdSense ads on your site. But these aren't big money-makers. Look at advertising sales as a hopeful bonus, not as a sure thing.
. Sell products or services directly over the Internet. You want to conduct e-commerce and sell to a national or international market. You'll have some kind of ordering system for one or more products, or perhaps an extensive online catalog. You may offer an online service that can be delivered over the Internet or that can be initiated online.
.Earn affiliate commissions for sales and leads generated through links on your website. Savvy marketers are building microsites designed to generate search engine traffic for a particular hot product or service. When a visitor clicks on one of their links, he is referred to an e-commerce site, and, if a sale results, the affiliate gets a commission. Perhaps a form on your site generates leads or subscriptions for another company.
. Provide customer service and support. Websites are a great place for troubleshooting guides, FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), technical information, etc. You can generate Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) labels. You can provide multiple ways for your customers to contact you (see under Point #9 below).
. Save money by means of online efficiencies. Companies have used the Internet to save billions of dollars. Taking orders online with real-time credit card authorization saves paying call center operators and cuts entry errors. Online catalogs save lots in paper, printing, and distribution costs. Online FAQs and knowledge bases cut the number of customer service personnel you need. And I'm just scratching the surface here.
What's the design decision here ? To be clear and focused about your site's objectives and purposes.
by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, E-Commerce Consultant
Web Marketing Today
.You're the owner or marketing director of a small business and know that getting your website to pull its share of the load is vital for success. But your budget is severely limited!
.You've just been assigned the task of redoing your company's website.
Congratulations, now you can be blamed if things don't work well. :-)
.You've volunteered to take on your church or organization website and make some sense out of it -- without offending the person who built it in the first place.
.This time around you've decided to outsource the job, but you have no idea of how to supervise a design company to make sure it does what you need. Good luck!
I want to help. When I built my first website in 1995 at the very beginning of the commercial Web, I didn't have a clue how to proceed. In those days there was no one to guide me. I've made every mistake you can think of -- some more than once, I hate to admit.
Since then I've built and assisted with dozens of online stores and hundreds of websites for all kinds of businesses and organizations, from mom and pops to major corporations and international organizations. I don't design websites for others these days, but I actively develop and maintain my own site.
There are twelve critical places in building a website where you must make the right decision, or you'll have to repeat this task again and again until you get it right. I won't be talking about how to write HTML; I want to help you with the mindset, the basic approach. I want to take you by the hand and lead you through the critical decisions. The better you grasp these essential points, the better your website will work and the happier camper you'll be.
Okay, let's roll up our sleeves and get started. By the way, why don't you print out this document and then mark it up with your thoughts and ideas as you read. It's designed to serve as a worksheet to clarify your thinking and provide direction at various stages of the project. If you decide to outsource the project, you'll want to share a copy of your marked-up copy of this document with your website designer. Print it out!
1. Determine Your Website's Chief Purpose
When you begin a website, you must have your main purpose clearly in mind. I say this because it's easy to have conflicting purposes.
. If you're a website design firm, you may want to show off your high tech goodies with your client's site as the showpiece.
. If you're an employee stuck with this task, you may want to look good for your bosses and not do anything for which you can be blamed -- you've got to protect your backside.
. If you're a volunteer, you may just want an excuse to tinker and be praised for it.
. If you're a business owner, you probably care about the bottom line. You're wondering, How much this will cost? and Will it be worth it in the long run ?
Dear friends, recognize your own needs -- they're legitimate. But to build an effective website, you've got to look at the business's or organization's needs and make those primary. From the organization's perspective, what must this website do in order to be successful?
Let's look at some common website purposes. Put an X next to all that apply
. Build your brand. Create an online brochure that will help potential clients, customers, and partners learn about your company and look at it in a favorable light. You're trying to enhance your brand or organization image. I've heard people disparage this kind of website as "brochure-ware." But this is very legitimate for some kinds of companies, especially local businesses or organizations that aren't trying to conduct national or international commerce. You want people to know who you are, what you do, where to find you, and how to contact you.
. Provide product information to drive local sales of your products and services at dealer locations. Auto sites are a good example. Many manufacturers don't sell on their sites, but point people to retailers who carry their products.
.Sell advertising. A few sites are designed to sell advertising -- Yahoo!, Google, and other portal sites are examples. But these days, there's far too much advertising space and not nearly enough money to fill it all. Internet advertising is improving, but is still under-priced. You may be able to sell a little advertising if you're a portal site for an industry, or perhaps put some Google AdSense ads on your site. But these aren't big money-makers. Look at advertising sales as a hopeful bonus, not as a sure thing.
. Sell products or services directly over the Internet. You want to conduct e-commerce and sell to a national or international market. You'll have some kind of ordering system for one or more products, or perhaps an extensive online catalog. You may offer an online service that can be delivered over the Internet or that can be initiated online.
.Earn affiliate commissions for sales and leads generated through links on your website. Savvy marketers are building microsites designed to generate search engine traffic for a particular hot product or service. When a visitor clicks on one of their links, he is referred to an e-commerce site, and, if a sale results, the affiliate gets a commission. Perhaps a form on your site generates leads or subscriptions for another company.
. Provide customer service and support. Websites are a great place for troubleshooting guides, FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), technical information, etc. You can generate Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) labels. You can provide multiple ways for your customers to contact you (see under Point #9 below).
. Save money by means of online efficiencies. Companies have used the Internet to save billions of dollars. Taking orders online with real-time credit card authorization saves paying call center operators and cuts entry errors. Online catalogs save lots in paper, printing, and distribution costs. Online FAQs and knowledge bases cut the number of customer service personnel you need. And I'm just scratching the surface here.
What's the design decision here ? To be clear and focused about your site's objectives and purposes.
by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, E-Commerce Consultant
Web Marketing Today
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