Professional website design is very important for your business. It’s even more important if you’re a webmaster or have an internet business, because you market your products and services directly on the web. If your website doesn’t look attractive and doesn’t grab visitor’s attention, then your sales will crash and you will easily lose your potential customers.A pleasant website design will be appreciated by your visitors and customers.
Plan Your Website
This is the first step in web design process. A good plan will make it easier to develop and maintain your site in the future. Start with these questions:
- What is the theme of your website?
- What is the purpose of your website?
- Who is your target audience?
Think about the future growth of your website as it's not difficult to maintain 10 pages of your website, but as the website grows to 100 or 1000 pages, it will be tough and time taking.
Important points to remember
Loading Time
If your visitors have to wait 20 seconds for a page to load, you'll lose half of your audience and limit your sales as well.
Consider the following tips to optimize your website and increase the loading time.
- Graphics increase loading time, so try to use no more than 6 in a page. Also, keep the file size down to minimum.
- Put your cascading style sheet into one external file and link it to all pages.
- Try to use relative links instead of full URL.
- Don't use fancy images as background
This is another web development issue - computer and browser incompatibility. Do not forget to check your website in various OS and Browsers as there are lot of people using different OS (Windows, MAC), different screen resolutions (1024x768 or 800x600), different browsers (Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Opera, Mozilla, Chrome) and different browser versions.
Paragraphs
Use a lot of white space in your pages. It will be easier to read, because visitors will have time to rest their eyes.
Navigation Menu
Make it readable and easy to find. Use a navigation bar on all your pages.
Consistent Page Design
It happens that people change the design from page to page. Keep your design consistent on all pages.
Font Size
Use large fonts for headlines. But use normal font sizes for a main text. eg. 10px , 12 px.
Frames
Try not to use frames. Don't use horizontal scroll.
Order Button
If you sell something, put the order information in visible place. Use order button on every page of your site.
Thus a good website design should be clear, simple, easy to navigate and good looking. It should be subtle and concentrate on your visitor's needs. A good website design makes you stay longer and come back to the site later. A great looking and functional website should be your key to online success.
