Web Design Development Articles

Hosting a site is the easy part. Designing the site and, subsequently developing it, is the hard part. Hate to break the news to you, but this is a major pitfall for most people. What they wind up designing is as much a detriment to their potential customers as if they’d never attempted to offer the service in the first place.

Seeking Zen

What I’m going to outline might seem simple until you start to apply it. That’s when you’ll realize why the professionals exist. There are some really effective methods for delivering a usable website design.

• Intuitive Flow
• Purpose Clarity
• Efficiency
• Simplicity
• Being Memorable

Intuitive Flow

In the Western and European World, the human eye is automatically drawn to the top left portion of the screen. That’s where we begin to read. We’re taught this practically from the time we first take a breath so it pretty much becomes intuition. It is no different with your site design. Your customers are going to dart their little peepers right up to that focal point and from there, you’ve got to draw their attention to the right. Why? Because it is the natural flow of things, and the more natural you make something, the more likely it is to take place.

From there you need to refocus their attention on the left side of the screen and start the process over again until they’ve worked their way down the page. Graphics, content weight, movement…all of these will help you with this process, and once you’ve mastered this you can work at drawing their attention to the calls to action you’ve placed on the page. Now that’s effective design.

Purpose Clarity

You’d be surprised at how many times people visit a site only to spend longer than necessary in determining what it is about. Make sure you clarify what your purpose is in the first sentence of your site content, in your domain name, in your graphics, everything. Content is the meat of your site, don’t serve up less than Grade A meat.

Efficiency

Don’t fluff. Plain and simple. Don’t take up valuable real estate with items that don’t pertain to your site’s purpose. It distracts. It degrades the value of your site. It’s poor etiquette.

Simplicity

You may have a PhD in English, but that doesn’t mean that your customers will. If they have to look up a word you’ve lost them. Simplicity also applies to the navigation of your site, the layout, the features, etc. If you make it too complicated people will give up and go to your competitor. Don’t be patronizing, but keep in mind that not everyone is an expert in your offering and you’ll do just fine.

Being Memorable

There are hundreds and hundreds of millions of sites available to Internet users. You’ve got to do something that makes it stand out. This begins with the domain name(s) you choose and carries through the design to the features and content of your site. You’ve got to do something to set yourself apart from the crowd. Yes, this is the time you want to be the one everyone points at and whispers about. So find that marketable uniqueness and run with it!

Over all, you need to approach your site as though you weren’t the owner of it. A good test would be to have your parents navigate it. If they can do so without problem, you’ve likely done a decent job.

Thanks for the chat. Now go out and visit my list of top ten ranked hosting companies so you can get started!