Best Website Design Tips – Our Top 5

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Most of you who read this probably already have a website. However, if you don’t have one yet, these tips can help create a new site the right way. If you’re already buzzing around the web, these points can help you condition an existing site. Lastly, these tips are not just about design, they also revolve around the focus of your site and better marketing. These are worth trying out on your next project.

1. Be simple.

Gone are the days when a lot of information on your site meant that you really, really knew what you were talking about. Now as we approach 2010, we all are more like scanners than readers, so write copy that is short. Avoid professional jargon and mumbo-jumbo, just get to the point. Tell your visitors exactly what you have to offer and clearly show them. Don’t add any fluff just to fill space, it’s no longer allowed. If there’s too much to read on your site, your visitors might miss the point. Then you lose.

2. If there has to be more depth, link it.

If you do have deserving content you want to expand upon: condense it, spice it up with graphics and place it into an external document, such as a PDF. This way if your site visitor does want to read more, they can choose when they would like to. In turn, this keeps your site clean, easy to read and no one gets lost. Note: Worried that more content means better SEO? Focus on your product/service/readers and your pages will rise up in the search engines in no time – no long stories necessary. Your visitors will do it for you by linking and talking.

3. Think like a frog.

We’re talking hops, not ribbits. Imagine each page of your site as one, green lily pad. How long does it take for your frog, er visitor, to hop through the homepage, content, and to the end result you want: an order page or a subscription button? Depending on the goal of your website, you want to have the least amount of lily pads as possible.

Visitors don’t keep their attention on you for very long, so you have to get them to the other side of the pond as soon as possible. We recommend breaking your site down into, at most, five sections. Make sure there is a clear, easy navigation to access each one.

4. Navigation, to the T.

What is the best way to link to all of the sections on your website? The answer lies in three words that begin with T: text, top and tailor. For SEO purposes, your menu/navigation should always be in text and never in a graphic. Sometimes you might think a graphic looks better, but there is always a way to get the best of both worlds. (We’ll talk about that in another post.)

The next factor in a great navigation is simply putting it at the top of your site – not on the right or left. Even though monitors and screen real estate are growing in size, the top of the screen is always a sure thing and a familiar place to get clicking. Submenus are usually better right underneath the top menu and not on other parts of the page below. If you keep your visitor clicking at the top, their eyes don’t have to move around so much while reading your site itself. It’s all about attention (and there are a lot of t’s in that).

Finally, your navigation has to be tailored. If you have too many links and not sure where to put them, something is wrong with your goal and focus. You should be able to tailor your site down into five to seven categories and have submenus underneath them.

5. Be personal.

In the beginning, there were shadows. Now, let there be light! Since everyone has a digital camera these days, the “About” section has really bloomed. The people behind websites are no longer mysterious and unapproachable. Include a photo and tell your visitors about yourself. It’s your time to shine and let them know why they should work with you.