The Birth of a Successful Internet
Business
Part six of ten -- Designing Your Website
By Shelley Lowery
When preparing to design your website, you must first decide
on your website's focus.
If you're designing a mini-site, your website should focus
on one particular product. However, content sites are a bit
different. If you're developing a content site, your site
should focus on a subject on which you have a great deal of
knowledge. And, should relate to your products or services. In
addition, your images, ezine and content should also relate.
Designing Your Site
When you begin designing your site, your top priority must
be your products. If your potential customers can't find your
products, you're not going to make any sales. It's that simple.
Every part of your website should have one specific purpose --
to lead your potential customers to your products.
For example, if you will be providing your visitors with
tutorials, these tutorials should relate to your products or
services. They should identify a problem, provide instruction
to assist your visitors, and promote your products as the
solution.
Your Storefront
The main page of your website is your storefront. It should
load quickly and provide your visitors with a complete overview
of everything your website offers.
Instead of trying to cram all of your information into your
main page, consider creating sections. These sections can
contain highlights of your information with a link to further
information. You can divide your page into sections by using
tables. These tables can contain colored heading sections for
information such as news, articles, products or whatever you'd
like.
It's much better to keep your main page down to the most
essential elements. You can then use links to additional pages
to provide the detailed information. A good rule of thumb is
"less is more." In other words, keep your main page
as small as possible, while at the same time, include your most
important elements.
Load Time
According to two surveys conducted by Forrester Research and
Gartner Group, ecommerce sites are losing $1.1 to $1.3 billion
in revenue each year due to customer click-away caused by slow
loading websites.
The main page of your website should load within 8 seconds
or less with a 56K modem.
There are many things that can cause a web page to load
slowly including:
=> Large graphics
=> Too many graphics
=> Animated graphics
=> Too many banners
=> Special Effects
=> Large pages
Optimization
You can significantly decrease your site's load time simply
by optimizing your graphics. This process will decrease your
graphic's file size without sacrificing the graphic's quality.
You can optimize your images right online. Visit GifWorks
for further information. http://www.gifworks.com/
Enhancing Your Site
There are a number of ways you can enhance your site without
using a lot of graphics. For example, if you can use the same
small images such as bullets or arrows, it will give the
illusion that you're using a lot of graphics. However, your
graphic will only have to load one time. This will enable you
to "recycle" your images to keep your page's load
time down, while at the same time, enhancing your site's
appearance.
In addition, you can enhance your site by using tables with
colored backgrounds instead of images.
If an image doesn't enhance your page in some way, you'll be
better off to just leave it out.
Tables
If you'd like to set up your web page using tables, try to
place your Heading text above your table code. If this isn't
possible, make sure you include your most relevant keyword
phrase within your top left table cell. This will assist you in
ranking higher in the Search Engines.
Screen Resolutions
When designing your site, keep in mind, your visitors will
have many different screen resolutions.
The resolution of a monitor refers to the total number of
pixels. The higher the resolution, the greater the number of
pixels. Higher resolutions present higher quality images.
To accommodate the majority of your visitors, use a standard
screen resolution of 800x600 pixels.
Another way to ensure that your web page will look great to
all of your visitors is to set it up using tables. Instead of
using a fixed width within your table code, use a percentage.
This will enable your web page to span a certain
percentage of your visitors' screen size. For example, if you
set your table width at 90%, your web page will automatically
resize and span 90% of your visitors' screen size, no matter
what screen resolution they're using.
Colors
Although there are an unlimited number of background and
text colors you could use for your web page, a white background
with black text will be your best option.
You must be very cautious when selecting your background and
text colors, as reading on a computer screen is much more
difficult than paper. You must make your web page as easy to
read as possible.
You can add color to your pages using tables with colored
cells.
Web Browsers
Before you begin the actual design process, I highly
recommend that you download and install two web browsers --
Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. These are the two
most widely used browsers on the Internet. Why download and
install both browsers? So you can view your pages through both
browsers, as they are not created equally. Your page might look
great when viewed through Internet Explorer, but may not
display well when viewed through Navigator.
Internet Explorer
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.asp
Netscape Navigator
http://home.netscape.com/computing/download/index.html
It is very important that you take the time to design your
web pages to accommodate both browsers.
In addition, you can also visit AnyBrowser to view how
yoursite will look through different browsers and screen
resolutions. http://www.anybrowser.com
Above all else, your product must be your main focus. Your
product should be displayed above the fold of your web page.
This is the top portion of your web page that is visible when
your page is first loaded, without scrolling. This is the most
important part of your entire page -- use it wisely.
Take your time and plan your website very carefully. There
is much more to web design than meets the eye. Do your homework
and learn how to design a website that sells. It will be well
worth your time and effort.
Copyright © Shelley Lowery 2002.
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the highly acclaimed ebook
series, Web Design Mastery -- an in-depth guide to
professional web design that is rapidly becoming known as
the "Bible" for professional web design.
http://www.webdesignmastery.com
