Have you always wanted to design a website but never knew where to start? Do you want to get your business online, but can’t afford to hire someone to help? This article will be a great start for you, as it contains many great ideas to aid you in creating the website of your dreams!
To help make your site more interactive incorporate games into your site. Having games on your site makes it a lot of fun for the visitor. If your visitors are not having a good time on your site, then they will leave and go look for something else to do.
Never place pop-up ads on your website. A big part of web design is definitely integrating PPC ads to earn a few bucks, but having ads that pop-up and obstruct your visitors’ view is just annoying. It will result in people not wanting to visit your site at all. Keep your ads simple; there’s no need for wild pop-ups.
It is important to contact references when hiring a company to take care of your web design needs. There are some companies that are not delivering the quality work they claim to be able to deliver. Simply calling their references will give you the ability to be sure that they are capable of living up to their claims, and that you will be satisfied with the end result
To help you design a website that is free of clutter, do not include any scrolling text on your site. Websites that have things constantly moving back and forth on the screen is really distracting to the visitor. Not only is this distracting and annoying, it screams unprofessional and will cause your visitors to leave quickly.
If your website requires a professional feel, you should utilize standard fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman. While fancier fonts may look appealing to you at first glance, more often than not, they will make your visitors feel that your website is less than professional. This is true for font colors as well. Stick to black text as much as possible. Do not color the text in random colors such as green or orange.
White space is an important part of web design, so don’t be afraid to use it. Cluttering up your web pages with too many images or too much text, or using a distracting background, will only irritate your visitors. White space can make the important elements of your page more visible.
A good tip for all web designers is to choose whatever development platform you use, extremely carefully. All development platforms are not created equal and there are some, such as WYSIWYG, that are not nearly as reliable as other platforms. Make sure you do your research before deciding what to use.
Use custom error pages to make your site more informative. For instance, if you want people to report dead links on your site, either put a server-side script on your 404 page or have a form or email address that visitors can use to report the error. You should have custom pages for 403, 404, and 500 errors, at the very least.
While you might be inclined to add a lot of bells and whistles to your website, flashing graphics, loud music and neon colors will just distract from the purpose of your website. Visitors who are bombarded by too many sights and sounds might be inclined to leave your website before they even start browsing. Keep the colors simple and the content relevant and your website design will be a winner.
Use images wisely. Bitmap images do not tend to fare well for internet use, and some GIFs do not work well with lots of color. Image size is important as well, as larger images may make your viewers have to wait for them to download. Choose smaller images, and use them sparingly to make your site more manageable.
Include a links page for your site and use it to provide a variety of resources related to the site’s purpose. You should also include a variety of links, including links to sites that are offering backlinks to your site. If related sites link back to your site, your site ranking will move up in the rankings on search results pages.
Organize your website architecture before beginning your design. Think of your web design like building a house, you need a blueprint to be effective and efficient with your time. Before any design begins, build a wire frame or site map of how your site will flow. You’ll find that your sites become much more innovative in terms of relating pages with this simple step.
If you believe your site may be accessed via mobile devices, you will want to keep your designs simple. The use of flash, excessive images, and complicated menus will not translate well to a mobile platform. Keep your page clean and simple, or create a specific mobile site for your users.
Web designers who are trying to choose a web hosting service should be wary of any service that claims you have unlimited bandwidth. There is not such thing as unlimited bandwidth and they could just be trying to scam you into signing with them. Make sure you read all the fine print!
Putting the tips in this article into practice will result in a website which brings you closer to your goals. Whether you want to promote yourself or a product, a website is the best strategy for marketing yourself online. Good luck!