7 Tips for Unbelievable Website Design

How do you create website design that looks great? Here are the key points from the article “Principles of Effective Web Design”:

1. Make it Obvious

Make your website design self-explanatory so that users can almost unconsciously navigate your site without feeling like they’re trying to figure out a puzzle. A visually obvious website design structure and easily recognizable links can help you achieve this.

2. Make it Quick

Make your website design easy for your user to take action. The easier it is for a visitor to do so, the more will do so. For example, a long form for a free e-book? Many will quit part way through. If it can’t be done in less than 30 seconds in an unobtrusive way, it probably won’t work as well as it could.

3. Focus Attention

In your website design, assign values to what is most important for your users to see on your site. Then focus your users on those items with color, video, or the word “free”, for example, to capture attention.

4. Easy as 1-2-3

Think about the 1-2-3 step approaches you have seen on websites, where you were guided through a process with large button and visual effects. Easy, wasn’t it? Felt good, didn’t it?

5. Writing Style

Lots of text won’t be read. All caps won’t be read. Avoid these in your website design. Use bold, underline, bullet points. Get to the point and convey the basics. Users will not be reading. They will be skimming, or ignoring if it isn’t short and sweet.

6. Keep it Simple

KISS.

7. Use White Space Effectively

White space helps fight cognitive overload. If you want to focus your users, you need to counterbalance it with white space so they can effectively scan and take in your website design.

To read the entire article, visit
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/01/31/10-principles-of-effective-web-design/.

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Comment by Philip Muhammad on June 5, 2009 at 11:10am: This is good advise. I've been a webmaster for over 10 years and I second these remarks. For more advise, and print ad ideas or services feel free to contact me.

Comment by Dwayne Ferrell on March 26, 2009 at 5:17pm: These are very helpful tips for those who are just getting started.

Comment by SUp.biz, CEO on March 21, 2009 at 1:26pm: W.T., I agree. There are multiple elements of the sale cycle and these days, I'll take it one step further an even say that if you aren't able to educate the potential client on your website, it is an anomaly.

Comment by W.T. Boykin Jr., "Chip" on March 19, 2009 at 3:06pm: Natalie,

I agree with a number of the things that you have mentioned let me just add something else. An analysis of your business model should be your first endeavor as you set out to build your website. Understanding what it takes for you to sell a customer is critical to the building of your website because in the end isn't that what you are creating a website for? You are investing time and money into a technology that you believe will increase your opportunities for new sales. Once you understand your business sales model then the idea is to try and duplicate as much of that as you can online. Yes, the showing of your work is a critical element of the sales cycle but it is not the only element. Things like your experience, your history, your ability to take credit cards, type of equipment you use are subjects that are often discussed during the course of selling a client. By already having that information available to the client via the web you now have a much more informed and educated potential client.

Comment by Karen on March 9, 2009 at 8:01am: Is there a nice website development application tool available for free where you can build your own website? If so, are there free hosting options available too?

Comment by Anton on February 25, 2009 at 12:13am: Thank you for the tips, it will certainly help me in my current endeavours to set up my site.

Comment by Rob Easley on February 15, 2009 at 1:24pm: Very good advice! This does follow the 15 second rule for any advertising: You have 15 seconds to get the attention of a visitor to decide if they want to continue in your store or shop somewhere else. Your words are key to your success. That is such a short time to gain trust with a client. I still fall into the trap of putting too many images on the front page, and possibly lose sales, but we take the risk of many customers maybe browsing with older, slow loading computers to focus attention on our advertising, because this site is targeted for our potential clients, and not retail product. Any thoughts?

Comment by Jonathan Sibaja on February 3, 2009 at 10:44am: Good advice, thanks a lot
Jonathan
www.balancecostarica.com

Comment by Greg Hancock on February 1, 2009 at 12:05am: This is an excellent article. Keep websites simple and to the point.

Comment by Oscar on January 27, 2009 at 2:23pm: Great summary! Good for me. When I started a few years ago, I did all of the wrong things. I was able to get traffic, but my conversion was very, very low. I have been cleaning up my site and I am expecting to see a change in sales.
Thanks again,
O