Design my own Website?
Sure! Here a Few Simple Tips from the Experts…
A website has become a "must-have" for many of today's small businesses. Whether your goal is to attract new customers or simply communicate with your existing client base, it is becoming more and more important to add the internet to your marketing and communications mix.
Because a professionally-designed site can be expensive to build and difficult to update and maintain, many businesses are electing to use one of a number of good Do-It-Yourself website creation and editing tools that are available at a fraction of the cost of hiring a designer. And while these solutions give you the ability to quickly and easily arrange and edit your site, they also can pose a daunting challenge to those of us that do not have any kind of artistic or design training.
How do you "learn" to be an artist? When you're faced with a blank page or an empty canvas, how do you even know where to start?
Below are a few ideas and guidelines to follow:
1. Don't Start from Scratch
Most website solutions contain at least some pre-designed templates and/or customizable, pre-built sites for you to select. Often you can search through these designs by type of business, style, and functionality. You can select one of these templates to work in, or you can simply get ideas by seeing what's possible. It is often much easier to determine what you want when you see it than when starting with a blank page.
2. Start with the End in Mind
A great-looking and easy-to-use website won't be worth much to you if it doesn't address your reasons for having a website in the first place. So before you spend too much time deciding how to arrange your site, it is important to first know what information, images, and other functionality (such as contact forms and maps) that you want to include. To gather ideas for this "content," use sources such as your existing (offline) sales & marketing collateral and websites from colleagues and competitors (just stay mindful of copyright ownership!). You will also want to think about the following questions:
- What do you want visitors to notice first about your site?
- What information do you want visitors to see and remember?
- Where do you want visitors to go in your site?
- Finally, what action would you like them to take after they have visited?
3. Less is More!
Many amateur website designers make the mistake of trying to fit too much content and information into their website on the whole and on each individual page. When making decisions about what to put on a given page, use the rule of economy-less is more.
Be clear and direct. Use only the words and images that are absolutely necessary to communicate your idea. Remove any elements that distract from your message. If there are more than one or two important items on a page, then consider spreading that information across two or more pages with easy, clear navigation (links) between them. This approach typically works much better than trying to fit everything into one page.
A great example of website simplicity is Google. Although they now offer dozens of services beyond search, all of which are available via easy-to-find links, their home page is still incredibly uncluttered. This is because they don't want anything on the page that distracts you from their brand and the search box.
4. Use Paper
Having thought about the points above, you're now ready to design your site. Successful designers say that the first place to start with website design is on the layout of each page. Initially, your viewers will see your page simply as areas of shape and color, so it can be helpful to start by thinking of your page in this way as well.
An easy way to get started with your layout is to draw the page elements on paper. You can redraw them until you find a pleasing arrangement. Starting with paper mock-ups of your site is the quickest (and possibly least intimidating) way to try out different designs without spending a lot of time. Use one sheet of paper to represent each webpage. Many designers will turn this page sideways to make sure that all of the key information will be viewable on the user's screen without requiring them to scroll down.
5. Don't Tip the Scale
In arranging your pages, you'll want to keep in mind that some elements have more visual "weight" than others. For example, a very dark photo on one side of your page against a light background can make your page appear unbalanced; the eye will naturally perceive the page to be "tipping" to that photo's side. Factors that give an element more visual weight include: value (lightness or darkness), contrast (the difference between the element and its background value & colors), movement (animation), and spacing (the distance between the elements).
You can use these concepts of weight and balance to lead your viewers' eye to the one or two most important areas of information on each page by arranging graphics, text blocks, buttons, lines, icons, and, especially, white space properly. Does the page seem balanced at quick glance? Do the shapes seem to fit well together? Are they arranged in a way that leads your viewer's eye to the information you want them to receive most?
Again, take a look at Google.com, and how different it is from Yahoo.com. Google, the leading search engine, uses white space effectively to focus the viewer's attention on its branding and the search box. Yahoo takes a different approach since it is interested in promoting a much wider array of products, services, and content. Yahoo does use some white spaces, but mainly the site is effective because of its balance and layout. Like Google, however, it doesn't try to pack too much information on the home page. Instead it offers a group of links and content that quickly guide the user's eye to find the appropriate information.
Follow these tips and you will be well on your way to having a simple, effective, and successful website design for your business!
For more information about website design, please visit www.homestead.com
About Homestead Technologies
Since 1998, Homestead Technologies has helped launch over 12 million websites for businesses. Every month, thousands more entrepreneurs like you choose to work with us to build, design and power your online presence, enable e-commerce, and deliver search engine marketing. We are dedicated to helping you build and grow your business online.
Copyright © 1998-2006 PrintingForLess.com. All Rights Reserved.
Please note that PrintingForLess.com's business methods and systems
functionality incorporated on this site are Patent Pending.
info@printingforless.com
1-800-930-6040
|
