The design of your website is worth a little careful thought, even if you’re an experienced website builder with plenty of sites to your credit. Visitors are more likely to become customers if your site is easy to use, helpful, and professional. Read on for suggestions about designing an effective and engaging site.
If you want your website to attract many visitors, it must be simple to navigate. It should be painless to locate important links and other information. Another way to provide easy navigation is to incorporate menus. Make sure you have links back to your main pages accessible on every single page of your website; that way, visitors are able to always get around.
Stay away from lots of graphics on your website. Though graphics are necessary for a professional look that is well-designed, too much creates clutter. Your graphics should not only be decorative; they must also be true improvements. Your site will be easier to navigate too if you keep the graphic clutter to a minimum.
Be considerate when it comes to your site background. While some websites utilize moving GIF backgrounds, opt for simple background since these moving backgrounds can make text hard to read. In order to preserve your website’s focus, and make it easy for your visitors to comprehend, you should choose a background image that harmonizes well with your site instead of clashing with it.
Offer to store personal information for returning users. An example of this is if someone fills out a form to register, and then has to fill out other forms for other things. If the person’s info transfers from one form to the next, it will be much more convenient and less time consuming for the user. With this “sticky” information, you create a simpler, easier experience for your users, which will prompt them to stay on-site longer.
Newsletters can generate repeat visits. Giving your customers a reminder that you’re still online and have some great deals or new content that will bring them back to your site for more. Place the form for signup in a sidebar or at the top of the pages in your site, and track those who sign up. Send the newsletter only to people who opt-in or you could get in trouble for spam!
When designing a large site, always incorporate a search feature. On your homepage in the corner to the upper right-hand, you can add a search box which lets users search for a term on your site. You can get a search bar from Google or FreeFind.
File Sizes
Regardless how your website is designed aesthetically, it is important to make certain that all of the files have small file sizes. The reason for this is that your file sizes directly affect how quickly your website loads. It is always a good idea for your website to load as quickly as possible. Bear in mind that some site visitors are still using dial-up. Continue to test your site to make sure it will load quickly, even with a dial-up connection.
Build websites with fonts that are easy-to-read, professional-looking, and widely available. Check out a site’s fonts to rate it’s professional quality. Don’t use silly fonts, especially Comic Sans, or rare fonts that most people won’t have installed. If they don’t have that font on their computer, it might be subset to their default font. This can make your website look a lot worse.
Sign up for forums, newsletters and podcasts that discuss website design to help you keep up with the trends. Newsletters are undoubtedly helpful for both beginning designers and professionals alike.
In order to get your first webpage up, you need to educate yourself on how to do this properly. When you educate yourself on website development from experts, you will create a better website. If you aren’t acquiring knowledge from skilled web designers, you most likely will end up with terrible looking web pages which nobody will look at.
Most people are aware of the Photoshop software and that the more knowledgeable they are in it, the better their chances are of creating good web page design. However, many are not as familiar with Dreamweaver software and its features. It might be worth looking into this application to find out how it can benefit you.
Use a basic layout that will help you build a web page design foundation on which to build. As you continue to learn about website creation, you can update and change your site to reflect your new knowledge.
Find your target audience and ask what they think of your site. This can help you with the design as well as the many features available on your site. The advice that your target customer base can provide is always helpful.
Using these tips, design the website you desire and create good relationships with your visitors. If you can accomplish this, you will enjoy higher rates of success and improved sales.