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Getting someone to design your website is expensive. As a newcomer to building a business online, you will save valuable costs by doing your own site design. That said, it has to be done right. Put the following tips to use and create a professional site.
If you are designing a website, choose proper graphics. Many people no longer use use bitmap graphics because the files are large and take longer to load. Try GIF, PNG or JPEG files instead. For images that are not photographs, use PNG format for over 256 colors. If under 256 colors, use GIF format. JPEGs are good to use for photographs.
Use fixed-position navigation. This technique involves locking a site’s navigation panel in place as the visitor scrolls down the page. This is good for visitors, but also for internet marketing professionals, because it helps facilitate the desired action.
Make sure that a tagline is prominently displayed on your website. A good tagline is a central motto or exclamation that lets a reader know what your website is focused on. You only have about 10 seconds to gain and keep hold of your visitors’ attention from the time they first hit your site.
Do not go overboard with graphics. Graphics are indeed important to make your website look well-designed and professional, but if you use too many, it just looks cluttered. Never use graphics just to decorate, but only to improve. Having the right amount of graphics that does not impede on the overall website design is key to how well the site looks.
Avoid using pop-up advertising. There is nothing worse than visiting a website and getting assaulted by tons of pop-up ads. Many people will close a site immediately if it uses pop-ups, even if it’s a site run by a well-known brand or company. Therefore, you should keep annoying ads off your website, in order to avoid irritating your visitors. If you have a host that requires the use of pop-ups, then look for a new one.
Search Box
Always implement powerful site-searching capabilities when designing a large website. The best place to put your search box is on the top of your homepage. Shoot for the upper right corner. Users often expect to see a search box in this area and may want to search your site for the information they are looking for. You can get free search boxes from Google or FreeFind.
Make sure you have enough details on your company page to allow your visitors to know more about who you are and what you can offer them. Often, a website will contain a boring, half thought-out page to cover this. Crank it up a bit! Aim to give visitors a small glimpse of your personal background. Demonstrate how you began web design, the people who inspired you to do this, and what your business goals are.
Broken Links
Review your site for broken links regularly. The best time to do this is just before you FTP the page over to the server. Visitors who encounter broken links and errors will not stay on your site long enough to view your product. To prevent this from happening, do a quick check to ensure everything is working properly.
When putting together the pages of a new website, resist the feeling that you have to take advantage of every single bit of available space. You will make your visitors feel overwhelmed if you use all the space available. Allow for good spacing between elements, which will in turn, make the experience more pleasant for your visitors. Sometimes, empty space is underrated.
Having a website and designing it yourself means, you need an office space. Eliminate distractions and maximize efficiency of the work space, so you are always ready to work. Keep your supplies and tools where you can get to them easily, and be certain that you have as much space as you need for effectively design your websites.
Limit the amount of content you start out with on a given page to small amounts when you first start out. You don’t need a lot of stuff that will overwhelm you and confuse visitors when they arrive on your site.
Avoid the use of CAPTCHAs whenever you can. While captchas may be useful in some cases, forcing them to do so for mundane tasks, will make them leave your site quickly. Only the most dedicated and interested visitors will continue through an unnecessary captchas; many will simply abandon the page.
The design of your website should not look anything like other websites selling similar products. Check out your competitors’ websites. If your website is too similar to your competitors, potential customers will not remember it. You will end up being the generic version of whatever niche you are in.
Ask your web host what is and isn’t allowed when it comes to streaming video through your site. Some hosts do not permit videos to be hosted on their servers. FLV videos take up a lot of space on many public servers, so check before wasting effort.
If you intend to design and create more websites in the future, it will be beneficial to learn how to work with multiple platforms. Skills in Java, PHP, MySQL and others will enable you to build many different kinds of websites. Regardless of whether you intend to create websites for yourself or for others, being skilled in multiple areas will make you a better designer.
The trek from amateur to web design expert is not a short path. Do not be discouraged if you see mistakes in the beginning. But if you use what you’ve learned here, you can make a website that will really do its job well.