The idea of designing your website from start to finish may seem intimidating. How can you make a website that catches someone’s eye the first time they visit it? Also, you may wonder how to create coding. The following article will give you tips on designing an effective website that looks great and helps you promote your content.
It’s imperative that you include a tagline somewhere that will be very noticeable on your website. 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.
Speed is king on the Internet, so you need to make sure your web pages load quickly. Your visitors are more likely to lose interest in your website and leave the page if they have to wait for a few minutes before having access to the content.
You must create a website that is easily navigable to attract and keep traffic. Make all links prominent and easily located. Simple menus will make navigation easy for your visitors. Post links that lead back to the homepage on each page of your website to make navigation easier for your users.
You want to set up some way to let visitors give you feedback. This way, if something is missing or they don’t understand how to use your page, you can fix it accordingly. Involving your visitors in your website can help to bond them to your brand and bring them back time and time again.
Leave pop-up windows off your website. Even if you believe it is a good strategy, most visitors will be annoyed by them. When you annoy your visitors with these popup adverts, they will more than likely leave your website and vow never to return.
Good websites are optimized for older IE browsers, like 7 and 8. Many people are still using the older versions of Internet Explorer. Unfortunately, many aspects of your site may not be compatible or displayed properly due to outdated rendering standards, so you may have to create some fixes for the elements that do not work properly. Make sure you look at the very vexing “box model bug” that IE experienced.
If you have links on your page, those links should have text associated with them. Links with content are easier to view for your visitors and help them know exactly what they will be clicking on. If you have links that have no text content, it may be possible to click them by accident and result in a key board shortcut.
Make sure your site loads quickly. If visitors have to wait too long, they will likely leave. Reduce the graphics on your page and limit the script and use of Flash on your page.
Do not forget to test your site on several major browsers. A given web browser will interpret a website differently than another one will, and sometimes the differences are quite drastic. Learn which browsers are used the most. Do not neglect mobile browsers, as they are increasingly used by people of all ages; test to see that your new site works across a full spectrum of browsers.
Learning how to design good websites becomes even simpler the more you do it. Start by creating simple pages you don’t even publish to the web, just so you can see how the basics work. It’s important to practice to make sure you know the ropes of web design.
Keep your early site building efforts small, so you can more easily identify what is working, and what is not. Start out by making a few pages that just have basic information and some easy text, then asses how it works for you.
Task based tests can help determine the quality of your design layout. These tasks help to find the information that is in your site. So ask multiple people in different location, using different browsers to give your website a visit; the task should be easy to complete. This may take a while if your site is not constructed well.
Take a poll of your target audience before you begin designing your website, so you know what they would be interested in seeing on your site. This can help with design, too, since several features are on the site. Taking advice from your target visitors will help your site be more pertinent.
You should use a visible tagline for all your pages. They should be bold and large so that the viewer can see them. It will immediately let them know what the goal of the page is, the offer it’s providing, the reason it exists, or the purpose of it. Most of the time, this determines whether or not this visitor remains on your page or exits out.
It’s not necessary to rush out to purchase expensive books on how to create a website. It’s true that it’s not always a poor investment. There are many accurate books and magazines out there full of helpful information. However, this information can be read for no cost. A lot of the free info is just as useful as what you’ll pay for.
Make error pages that offer an explanation for not delivering what was expected. Some visitors may be confused by an error page. Create an error page that shows the visitor there was a problem you are aware, but also include a link on the page that takes them back to your homepage.
For the typical website, keep your background colors neutral. Backgrounds with texture can make the site look too busy; sometimes it actually makes the site look like it was developed by an amateur. Use a neutral or even white background. Most people believe that neutral colors make it much easier for the eyes to read a website.
Use the advice you have been provided with in this article to begin the website design process. As you continue to learn more about site design, it will become easier to retain a competitive edge.