Web Development - Top 20 Dos And Don'ts To Build Successful Sites

By Author: Daljeet Sidhu
Total Articles: 4762
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Good web design is vital to your website's success. An effective design can expand your client base and increase profitability. Conversely, a bad design can discourage website usage despite exceptional products and service. Keep in mind the following points while you design your site if you want it to be successful:

Top 10 Dos of Website Design

1. Do simplify onsite search and navigation. It should be easy to search information on you site. Each web page must have all relevant links to enhance customer visiting experience and satisfaction. Any useful information should not be more that two or three clicks away else you risk losing the user. The faster your customers can navigate through your website and find what they are looking for, the more likely you are to get repeat visits from them.

2. Do keep your website content simple and easy to understand. All content on the site must be clear and easy to comprehend else you risk losing the user's attention. Your content should address customer problems and suggest competent solutions for them.

3. Do give your site a consistent look and feel. Creating ...
... a consistent look and feel for your whole website through the use of similar fonts, colors and layouts is a must to give it a professional look. Linked pages especially should use consistent font styles, graphics and colors.

4. Do make your site available on multiple browsers. Users may visit your website using many different web browsers like Firefox, Internet Explorer or Chrome. Increasingly large number of users are accessing web sites on the mobile phones. It may make sense to test the site for access on mobile web browsers.

5. Do include your contact information on every page.
Though you can put your address on the 'Contact Us' page, be sure to put your phone number and email address on every page to give a mature and professional look to your site.

6. Do ensure that each page has the most relevant information at the top of the page so that the user knows precisely what the page is about and if they want to scroll down or not.

7. Do use high-quality pictures and graphics. Images on your website, including your logo, should be of high-quality to attract the customer and create interest but should not take too much time to load.

8. Do use headlines, italicized words, bold face, pleasant colors, bullet points and icons to draw customer attention to vital segments of your content.

9. Do understand that security of the web site is important and develops confidence. Make your website secure for visitors. Privacy policy also needs to be readily available to the users.

10. Do use clear and concise page titles. Website visitors see web page title in search results and clear effective titles can considerably increase the traffic coming to your website.

Top 10 Don'ts of Website Design

1. Don't clutter up your web pages with an excessive amount of information or they become difficult to read and navigate. Create a new page for each separate topic, product or product category. Any advertisement on the web pages must be non intrusive else the visitors would leave and most likely not come back for a repeat visit.

2. Don't make unnecessary use of bandwidth consuming audio and video features, such as graphics, animations and photos. These may be slow to download and are bothersome if the customer has to wait too long for them.

3. Don't use text and color combination that makes content tough to read. Also limit the number of distracting visual on the site.

4. Don't add any information or features to the site that do not serve the expected purpose of the site. Adding content and features on your website that don't carry any meaning for visitors is a waste of time and bandwidth.

5. Don't let the content of the links get stale. Frequently refresh the content and update the links to relevant information. Outdated links are annoying and can seriously affect your business reputation.

6. Don't use jargon or overly technical terms on your pages unless your website is designed for a small segment of technical people. Additionally, avoid using conflicting information in your web pages. In addition to confusing customers, such information gives a highly negative and unprofessional image to your website.

7. Don't use flashing icons and text as that can distract browsers and may be detrimental to the popularity of your website.

8. Don't clutter the web pages with advertisements. Also, keep a check on pop-ups as they can annoy prospects.

9. Don't include introductory advertisements on the first page before your web content appears. Such advertisements put customers in a sore mood even before they see your content.

10. Don't just brag about your company's achievements. Offer your clients easy to digest information and back it up with references and customer testimonials to enable them to judge your performance.
Follow the dos and steer clear of the don'ts to create an effective website, and greatly increase the probability of successful web entrepreneurship.
About Author:
Daljeet Sidhu.