10 Tips for Killer Website Design
Does website design make a difference in how long people will visit your website or if they'll stay and shop? You bet. You've seen the websites that scream "bad idea" and you know those folks are losing potential customers to their ineffective website design. Whether you are an internet newbie or an experienced marketer, you should understand that good website design is part of the success equation.
So here are my 10 tips on how to create killer website design that will invite potential customers in instead of scare them away.
1. Easy Navigation- The road to success
When people come to your website they are usually searching for something in particular. It might be recipes for a healthy low fat diet that takes less than 30 minutes to prepare or what is the best business to start online. Whatever they want, you need to have the answer. So ask yourself, why do people come to my website? When you know that then you know you should make it easy for them to find it.
I have been on countless websites that make it difficult for me to do business with them. And you know what my first response is? "Next!" I am onto the next website to see if they can answer my question. People don't want to waste their time hunting for things that should be easy to find.
So, if people come to your website to find widgets, have a button easy to see and locate that says "Widgets". People have been trained to look to the left of the website for the navigation bar.
2. Flashing Gizmos - The exit ramp to a dead end street
You've seen those sites where the elephants are dancing and the poker chips are running across the screen asking you to click on them... the only thing they have ever done for me is give me a headache and to reach the "let me get out of here as fast as I can" button on my computer.
If you are a running a professional site, please don't use flashing graphics. Guaranteed you are encouraging people to leave your site. People have come to you for information. Not to click on an ad or have their brain scrambled.
Make your website a pleasant environment for the customer to be in. Just like a store. Think about when you go to the mall. You want to go in a store that is clean, well laid out, has good customer service and the products you are looking for. Your website should reflect this. If it is what you expect in your shopping experience then does it not reason, your customers are looking for this in your website.
What about music? Well, it depends. On most business sites I would suggest not. But let's say you have a realtor by the ocean who rents out homes for summer vacations. They have music that sounds like the ocean is lapping at the foot of your desk. I think music is appropriate in this venue but I would definitely have it "off" as people log onto your site and give them an option to turn it on. Don't forget many people are surfing in their office environment and don't want the boss to find out. If your music is loud or on as people log onto your site and can't find a quick way to turn it off, they will leave your site faster than a cat that just saw the jaws of a Doberman!
3. Color - Enhancing the highway scenery
Color is an individual preference but studies show that colors have an affect on people's emotions. Look at the top sites like Amazon; their layout is simple and so is their color scheme.
My recommendation would be to go with the flow. If you have a financial investment site then conservative colors seem to follow. If you sell beach items then lots of fun colors apply. If you have a bridal shower website, I would say soft pastels. Think about your audience and you will know the color scheme.
4. Page Links - I-95 to your destination
This is a no brainer but make sure all of your buttons are hyperlinked to a page and the right destination page. No one including Goggle likes broken link pages. It can be tedious but do it anyway. As you hover over the button and look down in the left-hand part of your screen, you will see the hyperlinked page. Just verify that yours are correct.
5. About Us - Is your map reliable?
People usually want to know basic things before they do business with you. Who are you, how do I get a hold of you, what is your product or service guarantee, will you resell my email address, what is your privacy policy, when will I get the product, etc. You need to answer these questions to create trust between you and your potential customer.
6. Sitemap - How do I find my way around this big city?
Let's say you have a lot of products or pages and resources. A sitemap helps people where to find what they are looking for quickly without have to rummage through your whole site like a lost soul. They are not hard to create but are useful for large sites. It also helps the search engines to know what you are about very quickly.
7. Fast Loading Pages - All lanes are go!
There is nothing worse than slow loading pages. You can optimize your graphics for your website. People hate to wait. You can check your page load time and page rank on Alexa.com. Slow pages equal death to an online business.
8. Shopping Cart - Need to buy some souvenirs
If you are selling items or services, you need a reliable and well organized shopping cart. I have seen some websites that have a zillion products listed and to email them for orders. What a nightmare! Yes, the shopping carts will charge you a fee but it is worth it for them to handle the transaction. There are many good shopping carts available and I would research them based on your business' needs.
9. Templates or Original Design- Chevrolet or Porsche
People often think that to have a website designed is going to cost thousands. So they opt for the templates and throw together sites. There is nothing wrong with this approach except I can tell the difference between what I call a "canned" site and one that was created from scratch. While I don't think a website that uses templates will turn off a customer, I just think it may not be as appealing.
Have fun with your online business. You can go to any number of photography sites and download professional photos from cows to race cars. This will make your site look more customized.
Again, I recommend that you shop for a good web designer. I paid around $400 for a basic site to go up. I know others would have charged me $1000 or more. That's why you need to shop and see examples of their work.
10. Customer Service - The Finish Line!
Okay so how is customer service a website design? Well, customer service should be written all over your site. From tips, to free reports, to guarantees, to fast and reliable shopping. People want to know you know what you are talking about and can deliver the goods they want. Give a little and I guarantee you'll get in back tenfold.
Jan Peterson founder of http://www.goldstarreview.com researches and reviews business opportunities including internet marketing, real estate investing, affiliate marketing, financial investing and more. Over 400 FREE reports available.
Related News:
4 Reasons Not To Design Your Own Website
Remember, your web site is the first thing that the online buyer will look at. Therefore, a bad quality website design would reflect on your business, giving negative perception on your products or services. The number of consumers buying online is growing rapidly and the last thing you want is to have your potential customers to shop on your competitors’ websites because they are better.
5 Things You Need To Know Before Hiring A Web Designer
Everyone loves saving money and some will even go beyond to do so. You are saving money only if you get at least the same quality web site design for less money. However, it would be considered very expensive if you are getting an insightful and error prone web site design for it. Finding a good web designer for your web site is the first step to the success of your online business.
From Good Web Design To Great Web Design
While it is relatively easy to poke fun at bad web site designs, it is a much harder task to distinguish good design from great design. A great web designer is more like a problem solver. Every web sites has its own set of functions to address one or more problems. Finding the root cause of the problem is the first step of great web site design concept. In the nutshell, web site design is a two steps process; finding the problem and then applying the right solution to address it.
10 Must See Scarilious Web sites
Hi Ghost lovers, Haunters and the haunted, are you looking for the good old scary times? Here are what you have been waiting for, The compilation of 10 of the most Scarilious Web sites. They are the best of the scariest and bloodiest web sites of them all that you'll be downright scared of your own shadow.
Sailors Build Boating Websites in Seconds with Free Website Platform Built by Sailors for Sailors
For sailors and Boating enthusiasts, it has always been a chore to keep good communication with fellow crew members to share info, pictures, and schedule events. Blue Water Media addresses this need with a newly created website platform called Telltale. Telltale allows sailors to create their own personalized boating website within minutes.
PR Leap
The Evolution of Web Designers
A growing number of web designers are learning how to code as their clients have more sophisticated requirement. This new trends will emerge to create a new breed of web designers, Web Application Designer?
Mac OS X Leopard-enhanced Freeway Web Design Software
Softpress announced that on October 26th 2007, it will release the Leopard-enabled Freeway 4.4 that is compatible with the Apple's Mac OS X Leopard’s new 'Quick Look' functionality, in which, you will be able to display an enlarged preview of a file without opening it.
Web Site Cookbook: Page Design and Navigation
Color, layout, and navigation are what usually come to mind when one thinks about web design. This paper explores some of those choices and present solutions that will help the user balance aesthetics with usability.
ZDNet
Is Man Better At Web Design?
According to a 2007 Web Design Survey by A List Apart, the average web designer is white male whose age is between 25 and 32 years old.
Event: Voices that Matter in Web Design
By David Dahlquist :: Filed Under » Events Heads up, San Franciscans—New Riders, Pearson Technology Group’s Web design imprint, is bringing it to the Bay by ...more
CMSWire, CA
First Ever Web Design Survey Results
Close to 33000 web professionals answered the survey's 37 questions, providing the first data ever collected on the business of web design and development ...more
Slashdot
Related Articles:
10 Tips for Killer Website Design
Does website design make a difference in how long people will visit your website or if they'll stay and shop? You bet. You've seen the websites that scream "bad idea" and you know those folks are losing potential customers to their ineffective website design.
Make Money Online With Website Design
Website design is one of the fastest growing fields in the world today. With the new global economy, the Internet is the new marketplace, and a company's website reflects on the company. With this in mind, a lot of people and businesses pay to have a website set up and designed professionally. No matter what business you are in, and how big or small it is, a website on the Internet will give you that edge. Making money online with website design can be a very profitable business.
RedneckGifts.net Launches New Website Design, Advanced Shopping Cart Infrastructure, and New Products In Time For The Holidays
Increased sales and involvement with the NBC Pre-Emmy Party Celebrity Gift Bags prompted expansion. Redneckgifts.net is increasingly popular, and expects record sales this holiday season.
Social Networking Website Design Tips
There are already a lot of social networking websites out on the Internet, and yet, more and more people still wants to create their own social network. One probably good reason is that those already out for public use, still does not cover the niches you want, or some still do not have the features you are looking for.
Choosing Your Website Design, A "Need To Know" Sketch
You have a company and want to establish an online presence? Then you'll need to learn what to look for when working on probably the most important aspect, the website design.
Google News Inside Launches New Attractive Website Design
Google News Inside has been through many changes. But without a doubt, this design is perfect for what Google News Inside represents. Professionalism, quality, and accurate information about Google.
WebTemplates7 Adds a New Dimension to Online Website Design
WebTemplates7 today added a new dimension to online Web Design by launching their Website http://www.webtemplates7.com which provides a customized website from a collection of millions of Web Templates.
6 Tips Website Design
1. Use CSS (cascading attraction sheets). If you follow through not apperceive CSS, ferret out it. CSS allows you to maintenance the formatting of your town (e.g. the color or size of a blonde of text) on a disparate at variance page - a CSS document. Thus, with CSS you can impinge the formatting of a common-element by simply updating one piece of code on one page, rather then updating all the pages of your site. For example, if you want to change the back-ground color of your website, you could just change your one CSS sheet and your entire website's background color would change. Another great aspect of CSS is that you can use it to set the default properties of HTML tags. This can be used to counter browser compatibility problem - that d...