Author: freshdes

To design and build an effective website is a challenge that many businesses face as they start out and even though the content of the site is important the whole experience that a visitor to the site has depends on you and your design.

Distinct web design elements can have an effect on the attitude of the viewer and so should be carefully thought about at the outset. Research has been carried out on the effects of colours, font and spacing on the website reviews and it makes interesting reading therefore what are the key elements that make for a successful website design?

Firstly, the content of your site should be clear, organised and easily navigated. Visitors do not want to be inundated with irrelevant content and pages of text. Links between pages should work properly to avoid irritation.

Secondly, the way that the pages are set out needs to be uncluttered with little text and only a few images. Too many flashing, scrolling images and banners can make the visitor feel uneasy and will result in them leaving the site.

Colour and typefaces should be adapted to fit your website and ultimately your business. Blue is a colour traditionally used to convey trust and is used frequently by financial institutions for this reason.

When it comes to websites, rankings are very important. You need to know how well your website is preforming in terms of the search engine rankings on Google and Bing for example. When someone types in a keyword or a phrase for a product or service you offer you want to appear as close to the top of the search results as possible. The further down the pages you appear, the less likely you are to receive a click through to your site. You can manually type in your phrases and see where you appear, but this can not only be time consuming but also not accurate as Google may show you different results to the general public as often it promotes sites you have visited on your personalised search results. There is software out there that will find this information for you. Depending on how many terms you want to track and how in depth of an analysis you want should influence your choice on which software to go with. The cost of the software varied quite a bit and it is worth asking to see if they will give you a free trial before you commit to an on going subscription.

Some great marketing companies have even created their own ranking software that often works better than many off the shelf ones and allows them the control to add in additional features if there is the call for it.

Having a website created or updating can be exciting. You will often sit down with your programmer / designer and talk about what you want. They will usually then go away and either create visuals for how the website will look and function or they will give you a detailed description of exactly what will be included on the site.

You may feel that once you have agreed on the specifics you no longer need to keep in contact with them unless you need to ask them something, but losing contact with your designer / programmer can lead to a number of issues later on down the line.  It may be that you have your website built, it goes live and is just left to tick over for a few years. After this time you may want to make some changes to the site, but find that you can no longer get in touch with them. This can cause a number of issues as if you do not have access to the hosting / domain names you may struggle to get control  

Often a web developer will need FTP access to your site in order for them to make changes to it and the only person that will be able to give them this is the developer who is hosting the site.

When you are browsing the internet either for information or to purchase a product or services you will see that many sites use colour to influence their visitors in some way so when developing your own website which colours should you avoid and which should you choose and how might this affect your business?

Research has been carried out into colour psychology and its effect it on people’s perceptions of a brand and their behaviour and even though not everyone agrees it does seem to have some credibility.

The colours you choose for your home page should say something about your business. For instance, if your website is promoting a business which is mainly outdoors, green and other natural colours would be a good choice whereas if your company provides activities for children a vibrant colour scheme would be more appropriate. Be aware that too many primary colours together can give an unprofessional impression so choosing two colours is probably a sensible choice.

If your website is going to be aimed at a particular gender, then some colour schemes are thought to be more successful at promoting your business. If you want to appeal to male clients black, blue and green are thought to achieve results whereas female clients prefer colour schemes based on blue, purple and green.