12 Tips For

Website Design

I'm not a web designer by any means. I've chosen my website builder, XsitePRO, primarily because it enables me to create information websites using just basic word processing skills. 

I'm sure that many PROS would be appalled by the visual simplicity of my sites and their overall website design...but if you want to know the truth, they actually work really well for my visitors (and customers). 

I provide information, my sites are glorified newsletters, paying little attention to ambience or a corporate feel. Notice, I don't even have a logo, just my name. That's very deliberate, the idea being that "this is me", no frills, no thrills, just me.

Now, that strong, austere branding isn't for everyone, of course. It would be difficult to create a Niche site e.g. about Amish furniture, without some visual cues like a header and/or supporting artwork. However if your time is too valuable and you just want a site created, perhaps you should read my article  Finding A Website Designer.  

Even if you do, though, I'd still strongly suggest that you design a basic version of your proposed website for yourself, using:

...Any of these will give you a clear idea of what you want on every page of your website and how the pages relate to each other. It's really unwise to go to a website designer without that clear understanding of what you want to achieve on every page of your site. 

With that schoolmasterly advice in mind, I give you my:

1   The Number 1 web design rule for me (and search engines) is good navigation. 

2   Choose your color-scheme wisely. Garish and high contrast colors don't make for good concentration. I'll frequently click away from a site because it has a black background, irrespective of the content.

Again, don't be afraid to splash out $20-$50 or so to have a website design PRO take a look. Be firm, because they'll probably pitch you to remodel your site...but my advice is to tell them that if they help you now, they can remodel your site when there's enough cash coming in. So, for a little cash you can get some really good advice...and build a relationship with a PRO from Elance  

3   Be aware that not all computers may not have the same fonts as you do, so keep to the well known ones and of course, ensure that the size is easily readable. Your website designer may try to tell you differently but don't believe them 

6   When needed, use photos to highlight the text. Be aware that you can't just pinch images off other sites the way people used to...and you'll save yourself a lot of bother by purchasing them for a moderate fee from Istockphoto.com.  

7   Use Flash sparingly. Mini-movie Flash intros are great once...and after that they are usually a drag. On the other hand, used subtly as part of a page e.g. to highlight a stomach in an Acid Reflux graphic, Flash is incredibly effective.  

8   Like Flash, consider your use of non-broadcast quality audio and video carefully. Site visitors can get very grumpy if you've suggested they watch 3 minutes of badly-made, rambling Youtube video...if it doesn't deliver  

9   By all means, have advertisements and affiliate links...but only if they're really relevant...and don't get in the way of the information that you're trying to convey, because you may turn off your site visitor.  

10   Ensure your site has a sitemap as search engines love them! Here's an interview with Vanessa Fox from Google's Sitemap team which may be difficult for non tech-heads to understand but I'm including it merely to indicate how important sitemaps are. Incidentally, the relevant part is about 5.00 minutes in.

The website builders that I recommend create a sitemap spontaneously and some online website builders that come with hosting packages do, as well

I saw one hosting company that offered it as an optional extra (one choice out of 3)...if you see it, grab it. Though "technical" it's a very important component of your overall website design! There is sitemap software that you can purchase...but I can't recommend any because I haven't used them. If possible also have your Google sitemap created

11   Oh boy, you're going to love this one and it's FREE! Just enter your site's URL and  Feng Gui.com uses Artificial Intelligence to simulate human visual responses, providing a heatmap of where your site's visitors will probably be looking. It's excellent for revisions once you've launched your site and is highly recommended.   

12   Lastly, and even though it's not technically about website design and is really more about site maintenance, you should check regularly for broken links. Most web hosting packages contain this as a feature and it must be done, both for your visitors and search engine spiders

Well, those are my web design tips. I'm sure that I'll be adding more in the future.

See also:

• Web Pages That Suck the most popular site examining poor or offensive website design

Incidentally, here's Matt Cutts, Google's unofficial spokesman on what buzzes Google about a site (0.45-3.15) Qualities Of A Good Site. He mentions:

• site architecture
• site maps
• great content
• social networking sites