The first thing your visitors notice will be the design of your website. Because you want to give a good first impression, you want to make sure your website is designed correctly so that people do not leave as soon as they hit your site. Use these tips to avoid losing customers.
Do not underestimate the value of using a plain white for the background on your web presence. When you have a white background, your content will be easy to read, and it will also make your site appear more professional and trustworthy. Colors, patterns or other designs are distracting and don’t have a place on a website. With backgrounds the simpler, the better.
Internet Explorer
Don’t forget about Internet Explorer 7 and 8. There are many people on the Internet who still utilize Internet Explorer. Unfortunately, many aspects of your site may not be compatible or displayed properly due to outdated rendering standards, so you may have to create some fixes for the elements that do not work properly. Specifically, you should get up to date about an issue that plagued IE called “box model bug”.
Make sure that your user’s needs are a priority. As a web designer, it is your job to always keep your attention tuned to the needs of your user. These needs include usability, accessibility, user interaction and overall user experience. It is important to keep your focus attentive to all those different aspects. Always look at things through the eyes or screen of the viewer.
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Take care to differentiate your website design from others in the same genre as you. Go look at your competitors’ websites. If your website is too similar to your competitors, potential customers will not remember it. You risk becoming known as the generic version of your competitors.
You must focus on time management when you are building a website. There are many small, tedious tasks that are easily left for another day if you are not diligent. Sooner or later you will become overwhelmed with tiny tasks if you put them to the side. Try doing what comes up.
Once your site is published online, you don’t get to stop working on it’s design! It’s important to actively monitor, adjust and update your site. Regular updates are important as they show that you are bringing something new to your site. This goes double if your site covers fast-moving topics like politics or hosts videos. Maintaining your site is different from making an occasional post on your blog. It requires a great deal of time and effort.
Consider the security of your site. If you will be handling sensitive data on your website such as PayPal accounts or credit card numbers, you should purchase an SSL certificate. Your website host can also offer security features for your website.
If you are designing websites, you truly are an artist. Act like one. Take inspiration from all areas of your life, and allow it to shine through in your work. If you have a good idea for your site while you’re eating out, jot it down on a napkin. Even if you’re busy with something else, at your job, for example, you can preserve a new idea by calling yourself and leaving a reminder on your voice mail.
Search Box
Put your search box in an easy to find location, and make sure up to several words can be entered. Use the word ‘search’, rather than ‘submit.’ Taking these steps ensures that visitors can find and use the search box easily so that they can find whatever they are seeking.
Try not to utilize Flash when developing your website. Flash looks exciting and fun, but it will cause some peoples computers to lag, freeze, or reject the site altogether. There are many tablets and phones that are not Flash enabled, and if people are using them to view your site, it can ruin their experience, and make them not come back again.
Look at different websites for inspiration when you create your website. Great places to look are anywhere that presents visual material like mags, your favorite TV shows or displays in stores as these all may give a fresh idea. There are a lot of new ideas just waiting for you, and these can lead to a unique website that will have potential customers clamoring for your services.
People tend to notice site designs almost immediately, which can decide whether they leave or stay. Make sure the first impression people have of your site is a good one! We hope this article will help you do just that.
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