7 Tips to Improve your Website design
As a business owner, your website is your business identity on the web. You own it and control it. Your website is the first impression a lot of potential customers will have about your company brand. So, it is very important that your website design looks great and makes a strong impression.
How do you get such a website design? Follow these 7 tips to getting website design right
Tip 1 – Use color schemes that are consistent
Choose a color scheme that suits your brand image. When choosing the color scheme make sure that it is something easy to implement, goes well with basic fonts and complements the images which will be part of the site. Most important ensure color consistency across the site.
Tip 2 – Look at readily available design templates
Lots of sites offering templates from the basic Xhtml/CSS one to ones for leading platforms like WordPress, Joomla are available. You can now easily choose a standards based, attractive template which you can then use as the basis for your website design. Even if you don’t find one exactly matching your requirement, you can always pick out some as references for your designers.
Tip 3 – Always consider usability as a major issue
Always keep usability in mind while choosing a design for your website. Make sure your visitors will be able to easily navigate within your site and find things easily. The navigation bar should be able to provide easy access to all pages in a few clicks (2 to 3 max). Visitors should find it easy to move on a page and across the website.
Tip 4 – Hold back on those visual effects
Don’t obsess over special JavaScript or Flash based visual effects. While they have their purposes, ensure this does not hinder the visitor from doing their thing. This means finding content, consuming content, taking desired action. Focussing too much on effects also has the likelihood of slowing your site down due to heavy graphics, animations or too many scripts.
Tip 5 – Readibility and Clarity matter a lot
Make sure that the font and background color complement each other. This is essential so that content is clearly visible and readable. The wrong combination can be a severe strain on the eyes ensuring visitors leave quickly.
Tip 6 – Improve findability with search
If your site is going to exceed 20 pages, then it is advisable to have atleast a basic “search” feature on your site. This can be a simple sitemap or it can be a 3rd party search tool. The important point is that all your content, product or service information, contact details, etc. are easily findable.
Tip 7 – Absolutely no surprise popups and traffic counters
Garish advertizement filled Popups are passe. Free traffic counters make your website look dated from pre-2000. Same with GIF animations or Popups. Unless you are offering that is retro, these are to be avoided.
Follow these design basics and you are on track to get a great website up for your visitors.
Dharne & Company is a website design firm based in Irvine offering Website Design services to small and medium business enterprises.