| The best websites balance visual appeal and | | | | mind. Local weather conditions, for example, |
| functionality. This means that if you want people | | | | would not work for the business that has clients |
| to use your site (and enjoy using it); it needs to | | | | internationally. |
| look nice and have navigation features that even | | | | Pay Special Attention to the Text |
| an Internet newbie can use easily. | | | | If you are putting effort into keeping the content |
| Remember, you have just seconds to either | | | | fresh and interesting, you want to make sure |
| attract or turn off an average visitor. If you | | | | your visitors can read it. Avoid text that is too |
| make your site hard to look at and use, you could | | | | close in color to the background. The easiest to |
| lose sales and business opportunities for your | | | | read text is black on white. Choose size carefully. |
| company. | | | | Too small text is difficult to read, but so is text |
| Different types of businesses can get away with | | | | that is so big it is jarring. Pay attention to font |
| different website design styles, but there are | | | | choice and pick one that scale well across |
| some general points to keep in mind if you want | | | | browsers.Keep pages short since no one wants to |
| your site to look good and work well. | | | | wait as a page loads and no one wants to scroll |
| Avoid the Flashy Intros | | | | through pages of content. |
| Flashy intro or media-rich pages look good, but | | | | Choose Colors Wisely and Patterns Sparingly |
| they tend to download slower. This can be a | | | | To balance visual appeal and functionality in your |
| turnoff for the visitor who simply wants to find | | | | web design, it is important to choose colors that |
| information about your business and the products | | | | are not going to give your visitor a headache. You |
| and services you are promoting. These types of | | | | may think that fluorescent or bright colors and |
| pages are also harder for search engines to index | | | | busy backgrounds will make your site stand out, |
| which reduces the chance of your target | | | | but the truth is that they make it difficult for |
| consumer finding you through search engines. | | | | your visitor to read what you are trying to tell |
| Keep the Content Fresh | | | | them. And most visitors would not stick around to |
| Static websites, the kind that do not change, | | | | find out what you have to say, no matter how |
| work well as online resumes. But if you are selling | | | | good it may be, if your site causes them eye |
| products, you can make the site more interesting | | | | strain. |
| to look by regularly providing updated, fresh | | | | Watch the Graphic Size |
| content. This will give visitors another reason to | | | | Size refers to the obvious as in how the graphic |
| come back to your site, even if it is just to get | | | | looks in relation to the site. But most importantly, |
| the most updated local weather conditions or an | | | | it also means the image resolution. Graphics on |
| interesting quote. Choose your updates carefully | | | | websites should be low resolution so they upload |
| keeping your target market and target location in | | | | quicker. |