web design tips

WEB DESIGN : things to consider ...

A good website is easy to navigate, attractive and well laid out, get any of those three wrong and you will be losing valuable visitors. If things are difficult to find on your website, then people will give up looking and move along, so it is vital that you have all the important information right on the front page. Something eye catching that will grab your visitors attention.

Keep things simple!

Try not to clutter your web site with too much information on one page, deliver your message in the simplest way possible. Too much going on can distract from the message you are trying to get across. One of the best examples of this is google - their web design is in the simplest form, you start off with an innocent looking search box on a white page, which then goes on to reveal vast amounts of information, a very clever information delivery system indeed. Think about your favourite web sites and borrow the elements from them, have a look at competitors sites and adapt what they have gotten right and learn form what they have gotten wrong. Think about the experience you want your visitors to have when they visit your website. Taking all of these things into consideration will help you get the most out of your website.

Follow the rules ...

Keeping the look and feel of your website consistent throughout sends out a very strong message. Using the same font and keeping the page layouts, headings and spacings consistent on each page is an easy way to help your brand and website gel together. Making yourself a few design rules and sticking to them will really pay off.

Adding images

By adding a few attractive pictures to your website you can really brighten up the page, they can also help you deliver the message you want to your visitors. When you add images to your website, make sure that you optimise them to under 100k so that your page loads quickly. We take most of the pictures we add to our websites, but there are also some really good, inexpensive stock photography websites that you can purchase images from. We often use istockphoto as they have a creative and diverse selection to choose from.

and finally ...

Think about search engines when you design and write content for your website, this is such an important factor that we have another page which can be found here, dedicated to it.

The above is a small guide to get you starting to think about what it is you actually need from your website, and how to get there. The best websites evolve over time, so keep adding and amending your website to get the most from it, experiment and enjoy!