Many people think that a flashy website looks great to the eye and thus attracts more visitors, however this is only if they have fast internet connections. Keep things short, sweet and to the point, like other successful sites do, if you want to appeal to the masses looking for easy access to the answers they seek. Keep reading for some useful advice you can use to keep your website spartan and effective.
On the Internet, few things are more important to users than speed and efficiency, especially where page loading times are concerned. If a visitor to your site has to wait minutes for pages to laod, they’ll get bored and go elsewhere.
No matter the audience you seek to target or the focus of your site, it is important to focus on load times that are under ten seconds. Sites that are well-made and efficient will open in a browser in moments. Many online users want instant gratification, so you should provide that.
Easy navigation is critical to keeping visitors on your site. Links should be displayed where users will find them easily. Menus render your website easier for users to surf. Visitors will also be able to get around better if every sub-page has links back to your site’s primary pages.
Do not use pop-ups on your site. Few things are worse than being overloaded with pop-ups. Many people leave any website immediately if pop-ups occur, even if they’re interested in the website. Just avoid these irritating ads, so your users will be happy. Any host which requires you to have pop-up ads is a host you don’t want to use!
Keep your topics separated. Each different topic should have a separate page on your website. This makes your website easier to understand for both visitors and search engine crawlers.
Regardless of your client or website purpose, you need to strive for loading times of less than ten seconds. A good site will come up within a few seconds. Many people browsing the web want instant gratification, so if you want to catch their attention, you need to provide that.
Do not go overboard in using lots of fonts when creating your website. You should also think about how different fonts will look and how readable they are. Verdana is a good font that is popular on the Internet.
Try pulling images into your post to maximize engagement. It makes you seem more friendly that way. People like to look at pictures, so they will probably spend more time on your site.
Be sure that your website has small files, no matter how aesthetically designed your site is. This is because the size of your website’s files directly affects its loading time. You should strive to make sure that your website loads as fast as it possibly can. Remember that there are still lots of people who do not have high speed Internet. Test your site to make sure that it loads up quickly, even when accessed on a dial up connection.
Always keep the end user in mind. As a web designer, you should always focus on the viewer’s needs. This includes the ease of interaction, level of usability, accessibility, and experience of the user. It is important to keep your focus attentive to all those different aspects. See things from the perspective of your visitor.
Keep things as simple as possible when setting up the design of your site. Your placement of navigation links on your pages will determine the length of your visitor’s stay. Your users must find the navigation of the website simple and consistent.
Meta Tags
Meta tags are key to your site if you want to attract people to your site for short and long periods of time. Make sure you include them. Properly used meta tags make it easier for search engines to classify your site correctly. If you use irrelevant meta tags, instead of tags that describe your website’s content appropriately, search engines will classify your site incorrectly and you won’t get a lot of traffic.
Optimize load times on your website. Visitors will leave your site quickly if they have to wait on something to load. When you reduce your graphics and other fancy elements, you will speed up access to your pages and retain your visitors.
Whatever file types you use for the graphics on your site go hand-in-hand with file size. This plays a major role in how fast your site loads. Ideally, graphics should be made from GIFs and JPEGs. Other files such as PNGs and BMPs use more disk space. To ensure your site is user friendly, these types of graphics should be converted to file types of manageable size.
Visitors enjoy knowing more about the webmasters of their favorite sites. Many sites use very boring, trite ideas on these pages. You can share personal information, education history and career choices that have lead you to this point in your life. Try giving people a tiny peek into your personal background. Try showing how you got into website design, who inspired you, and what you hope to accomplish with your business.
You have a wealth of information online you can refer to when you’re stuck in a site design jam. You can get inspiration for any one of the millions of sites already out there. Find a website that you like, identify what makes that website appealing, and determine if it is an idea that you can borrow and improve upon. However, don’t just take what you see and put it on your pages. You need to improve on them as well.
Learning new website design strategies is something that becomes simpler the more you practice doing it. Start with simple pages of HTML until you have a handle on the fundamentals. You have to begin practicing at some point, so it’s best to begin now rather than waiting until later.
Using the information shared here, you can create a great site. Remember to keep things clean and simple; that’s always the way to make a good looking website. The tips above can help you achieve that goal.
Don’t put pop-ups on your website. PPC ads are often necessary, but pop-up ads just tick visitors off. It will cause people not to want to come back. You don’t need pop-ups; just keep the ads simple.