What You Really Need To Know About Web Design
Everyone seems to be an expert on web design, but the key is to know what you need so you can figure out what you want. For instance, if your site is purely informational, such as a site promoting free marketing tips, it will need a different design than if you are selling a product and need
eCommerce tools such as a shopping cart. If you create or have someone create a website for you, you want it to be effective and meet your needs. Small businesses in particular require web design that helps their businesses grow and increases sales.
Give Your Website a KISS If you have ever heard the acronym Keep It Simple, Stupid, or KISS, then you already know the first and most basic concept of web design. You want to keep things as simple as possible. If a visitor comes to your site, they want to be able to immediately and intuitively follow the content and know exactly what your site is about. If you have too many add-ons or content that goes on and on without ever seeming to stop, your website will not attract visitors that are willing to stay long enough to actually see the products or services you are offering and make a purchase. Simplicity is very important, so make sure that your web developer uses the KISS system.
While the overall site needs to look simple it also needs to be optimized well. The underlying code should make the site friendly to all kinds of devices such as mobile phones, ipads, notebooks and so on, as well as to individuals with special needs. Having a web design company that understands how to make your site accessible is part of keeping things simple. The upside to accessibility is the fact that making your site accessible to all kinds of users helps to optimize it for the search engines.
Keep to a Basic Color Scheme Using lots of colors and textures on your website can chase visitors away. KISS those extra colors goodbye and give your visitor’s eyes a rest. If you have a branded logo that uses color, stick to the logo’s palette of colors throughout the site. Don’t be tempted to use different colors for every page. Believe it or not, part of your branding is the colors you use, so constant repetition of the colors is a way to help customers connect with your brand. Your site will look more professional and appealing if you are using a limited number of colors.
Navigation Must be Easy If a visitor can’t get where they want to go once they get to your site, they will simply leave. If your site is static, there are usually fewer problems with navigation, however, if you have an interactive design with a number of pages, such as a page for each product or service as well as order pages and description pages, use of a site map is critical. The site map will not only enhance the navigation but will also assist search engine optimization. Placement of your navigation system should be normal, such as to the left of the main page or at the top of each page. People get used to looking in one place for the information they want and expect that website designers will put things where they expect them to be.
Keep Image and Video Quality High Nothing says low quality like a pixelated photo or video. If you are going to use a photo or image on your site, it must have a high enough resolution to be clear, or there is not point adding it to the site. Sites that use too many graphics and animations can actually give viewers a headache. Tastefully used video and graphics can definitely enhance web pages. It is also important that the page is optimized for devices that can’t read images or videos so that there is text describing the image or video for better accessibility. Another thing to consider when using videos or images is the amount of time required for them to download. As the internet gets faster, people are more impatient than ever a don’t like to wait around for a page to load. Instead, they are more likely to click out of the page or go to another site.
Content The content you are planning to use on your site is absolutely critical. If your site looks great but doesn’t provide any information, visitors will not stay. You must clearly define what your products or services are in your content. Content writing must be of the highest quality if you want to
attract more visitors. Not only should it be informative and interesting, but proper grammar should be used and it should flow easily.
As content is created, it needs to be optimized for the keywords you are targeting to
drive traffic to your site. Web developers understand how to use such things as headers, meta tags, and anchor text as part of a search engine optimization campaign. Well-written content should be at the heart of such a campaign.
Web Design Leads to Web Traffic Your web design has a direct relation to your web traffic. Your website must be of high quality if you want targeted visitors to come to your site. One of the best ways to get targeted website traffic is to
buy traffic. There are companies that help companies by providing traffic that is organized by location and language spoken so that the people coming to your site are the demographic you are looking for.
If your website has been designed with this in mind, your web pages can serve as the full page ads that are used to drive traffic to your site. You won’t have to also create banner advertisements or do PPC marketing because your website can be used for your marketing. With the high volumes of traffic that can be reached, buying traffic this way can be very economical. Designing your site with this in mind will help you increase traffic and increase your sales.