Kev Richardson's BizToolz Blog

There are many different styles of websites and so one of the best tips I can give about designing a good layout is to have a good look around at other websites. This is especially the case for your competitor’s websites, to see if you have a preference for a particular website design, layout and appearance. This is also very useful to see what your competitors are doing and seeing how you might be able to improve on them.

You may think you need to be original and make every site design unique. The motivation here is to differentiate yourself as a creative artist. This is a worthy goal, but this can also be deceiving. It leads many designs into failure.

The fundamental problem is that most truly new things (ideas, products, or genetic mutations) fail. That is the way of the world. So in your research have a good look around at websites that have a similar purpose as yours and learn from them. Many of the successful designers work exactly this way.

Ok so what are you looking for in a good website design. This is a difficult thing to answer in a definitive manner, however here are a couple of good pointers:-

· When looking at a website step back and see things through the eyes of your
customers. Your customers aren't interested in giving your design work marks out of
10. They just care about getting all the relevant information in as little time as possible
and then moving
on.
· Everything should be kept as simple as possible. Always remember that a website
is there to communicate not to look flashy. There really is nothing more irritating to
readers than flashy design just for design's sake. Simple web design delivers huge
benefits to designer, client and user. When a design doesn't seem to work, ask what
should be taken away before asking what's missing. Other reasons for keeping things
simple include:-

· People love simple things, most people do not like to do or learn difficult things. Make
your site simple so that it is easy for visitors to navigate your website.
· The webpages load faster - less waiting. On internet, speed is a critical factor. Many
people still use slow dialup connections. So the load time for webpage should be as
quick as possible. This is best achieved by making your webpage as light as possible
in terms of size and features.
· Usually clearer and easier to scan;
· Easier to navigate; and
· Are quicker to design, build & maintain (savings in cost).

· If visitors/customers can't find a sense and order from a website then they will soon
grow exasperated and give up and leave the site. Often the more elaborate the
design the greater the risk of confusion. This is another reason why it is a good idea to
steer clear of flashy or showy designs.
· We are all trained from the moment we start reading to scan from left to right, starting
from the top left of the page and working down to bottom right. We develop a natural
rhythm as we do it, with our eyes moving swiftly to the end of each line then skipping
back to the start of the next. Keep this in mind when designing a website.
· Avoid Complications - Animations and unnecessary sounds on your webpage can
divert attention of the visitor. As mentioned previously some users still have slow dial up
connections and they seldom like websites with these features because animations and
sound increase the loading time of webpage.
· Use Small Size Pictures - Webpage with pictures is a good idea. But large size pictures
increases the load time of webpage. There are graphic software applications which can
compress graphics files so that webpage take less time to load on your visitor’s web
browser. This will ensure that the visitor gets a fast website to look at and navigate
through. This can be quite a technical area so speak to your webmaster about this
matter is you are unsure about anything.
· Include Navigation - Navigation links on webpage helps the user to explore your site.
Try to have a clean, simple and most importantly CONSISTENT method of navigating
pages on your web site. The navigation menu should always remain in exactly the same
place on every page of your website, and as a general rule of thumb the closer it is to the
top of the page, the easier it is to both find and use, which will inspire confidence in
visitors to your website.
· Manage Webpage Width - The width of your webpage ideally should be around 770 to
800 pixels. This size is one that people are used to when reading a normal A4 page and it
also allows visitors having 15” monitor to easily see your webpage without scrolling left to
right. Try to manage the website content in such a way that it does not need to scroll left
or right.
· Easily identifiable links - When browsing your web site most people expect that link to
be blue and underlined, so it's often a good idea to format all of your links like this.
· A face behind the web site - If I buy something online I want to know that I'm buying
from a real person/people and not a faceless corporation. Whenever possible include
photos of you and your other staff members in your web site. If you're a little camera shy
then you can include photos of your office/warehouse instead – generally the more photos
you have of yourself and your company, the more credible you will appear thus resulting in
more trust from your visitors and more sales.
· Security is important when selling online - If you sell products online you should
use secure sockets layer (SSL) to securely accept your visitors credit card information.
This inspires confidence in your visitors, knowing that they can purchase from you
securely and wont have to worry about their credit card being used for fraud.

When all else fails - When you want to make your web site more useable but don't know what to do next, try copying the big guys like Microsoft, Amazon, etc. They spend millions of dollars on usability before launching their web sites, so you know.

In the next post I will discuss the most important part of your website and give reveal the most important tip, bar nothing that you must do for your business to be successful.

As always, wishing you every success for your business.

Kev Richardson
www.biztoolz.com.au

Labels: marketing on internet

# posted by Kev @ 2:42 PM