Tips for Great Website Design

Website Design Plays an Important Role in Making a Good First Impression

Beau Brendler, Director of Consumer Web Watch states, “visitors first evaluate a site’s overall design, including the use of multimedia.  While consumers say they judge on substance, studies demonstrate that consumers judge on aesthetics, and get distracted by bells and whistles.  A Stanford study notes, “the visual design may be the first test of a site’s credibility.  If it fails on this criterion, Web visitors are likely to abandon the site and see other sources of information and services”.

You as a visitor don’t need these guys to tell you that how a website is designed is important.  How often have you left a site in seconds based on its physical appearance and organization alone.  I rest my case.

Here are some tips for a great website design:

• Use color wisely.  Use the right colors for your audience and your brand.  Use color to draw attention to the important elements you want people to see.  Don’t try to make everything jump out.  The result will be just the opposite – nothing will stand out.  Also, avoid a chaotic mix of colors and instead pick two to four colors for your website and your marketing materials.
• Animation, gadgets and media.  Avoid anything unnecessary.  Using Flash animation because it looks cool is the wrong strategy.  It can increase your ‘bounce rates’ and drive people from your site before they’ve had a chance to look around.  In ALL CASES it’s best not to use animated backgrounds, background music or pop-up videos with sound.  Animations are by nature distracting, so make sure you are using it to get your message across.  Sound can be problematic also…someone may be checking out your site at work and get into trouble.  If you insist on sound, give people an option to hit ‘play’ or to turn the sound off quickly (make it easy to find the mute button!)
• Page Layout and navigation.  Create a simple and clear navigation structure and organize page sections in a grid, as opposed to randomly scattered.  Give each element white space.  Proper layout and use of space make it easy for the eye to travel the page.  Avoid clutter and structure your sections so the eye flows from one to the other easily.
• Typography and written copy.  Make sure your website is legible.  Use fonts, font sizes and colors that are easy to read.  Verdana is the easiest font to read in a small format on the web.  For easier page scanning, use bullet lists, section headers and short paragraphs.  Make sure information flows from the left to the right and top to bottom.  Put the most important content at the top left.  Most people work their way down from there, so it is more likely to be seen.

  The bottom line: once someone finds your website you want them to stay!  Focus on optimizing your website to direct people to the content you want them to see, easily…and visually pleasing.