Hiring a site design expert can be a pretty costly adventure for business owners. You could save money by building it yourself. But it is never a good idea to skimp when it comes to this aspect of your business. The tips below can help you get started with site design.
Use the proper graphic tools for website design. Keep in mind that PNGs are much better than large and poorly working bitmap images. Consider PNG files for non-photographic images, text buttons or screenshots that require over 256 colors. If not, use a GIF. JPEG works best for photo images.
Search Box
Include a search element that allows visitors to search within your website content. A search box is essential. When one is not available, chances are they will move to a site that is searchable. Make sure your search box is visible. The right hand side of the page, at the top, is the best location.
Be certain that your website can be scanned easily. Usability tests indicate that the majority of online users fail to read content in its entirety, scanning instead for bits of information that are of interest to them. Break your page into various sections using specialized or emphasized text, such as bold or italics. The top of the page is the correct placement for your highest quality information. Your users will appreciate it, because it helps them know if your site has what they are looking for.
A newsletter can help you to get more repeat visitors to you website. When a customer can get frequently updated on things, they will keep visiting to see more. Put the form for signing up in a prominent location, such as a sidebar, and use it to compile a list of visitors who opt in to your newsletter. Only send out a newsletter to people who have subscribed to it, otherwise you will have angry customers.
Be sure your introductory page is clean and simple. A lot of people will only look at the front page. That’s where they are making the decision whether to spend more time on your site. Use descriptions about your company and it’s goals.
If you have links on your page, those links should have text associated with them. That will help the reader know what they’re clicking on. If you have hidden links, users may mistakenly navigate away from the page they were on.
Test your site as much as possible. Perform usability tests in the early stages of designing your website. You never want to stop testing the website and trying to make it better.
Make your fonts professional and readable. The most well-designed sites use professional-looking fonts. Some fonts, such as comic sans, are ones that you want to stay away from. If a site visitor has not installed a certain font on his or her computer, it may display as a default font. This can look worse.
HTML5 is something that you’re going to have to be familiar with if you want to be truly successful with web page design. HTML5 will help to improve your chances of success.
Before you start building your first site, you need to learn about as many successful techniques as possible. Online research and expert information will teach you how to put together a quality website. If you don’t spend time learning, you’ll never get better.
When starting out, limit your content. Adding too much stuff early on will create confusion for you and your visitors alike. Keep it simple to start.
Make sure your site’s design is different from competing websites. Visit the competition and compare it to your site. You want to be separate from those in the pack, so you don’t want your website too similar to someone else’s. You’ll be perceived the same way as any other knockoff: an inferior brand that sells inferior products.
There is a bit of experience needed to go from building a basic website to a more complex website design. In fact, you’ll probably mess up on a few different aspects of web page design. But, you should use what you’ve learned here and you will build an effective site.