Good Web Design
by Richard Lowe, Jr.
articles@internet-tips.net
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One of the primary keys to a successful website is a good
design. A poorly designed site actually discourages visitors
from even getting to your site, and to leave quickly when (and
if) they arrive. A well designed site encourages people to
visit and to remain once they find it. In fact, the best
designed sites encourage communication, which in turn causes
people to continue to visit time after time.
So what is this thing called a "well designed web
site"? In concept it can be summarized in a few words:
A well designed web site communicates and encourages
communication.
It's as simple as this statement implies. However, the
implications of this statement are far reaching and critical to
the success of your web site. For example, one of the critical
questions to ask yourself when you are designing your site is
"who and what are you communicating with?" Why is
this important? Because in addition to your visitors with their
complex requirements, you area also communicating with search
engine spiders, internet mapping routines and other automated
tools. These are critically important to the success of your
site.
Okay, so what do you need to do to make your site
communicate to everyone and everything possible? Some
suggestions are listed below.
Design Your Site
Before you do anything, sit down and think about your site.
Virtually all successful projects begin with good planning,
analysis and design work. Leave out these steps and you may
find yourself reimplementing your site over and over. Think it
takes too long? Well, I have a question for you: "why is
it everyone has time to do it over but over time to do it
right?"
http://www.internet-tips.net/Webmaster/gooddesign001.htm
Alt Tags
To make your site communicate better to those people (and
search engine spiders_ who do not view graphics, be sure and
include ALT tags with each image.
http://www.internet-tips.net/Webmaster/alt.htm
Metatags
You want to tell the search engines (and other spiders)
about your site? Include the proper Metatags on each page. This
helps improve your rankings on some search engines.
http://www.internet-tips.net/Webmaster/metatags.htm
Navigation
Be sure that your navigation makes sense. Help your visitors
get around on your site by making it easy for them to find
things.
http://www.internet-tips.net/Webmaster/navigation.htm
Linking
Ensure from the first day that all of the links within your
own site work perfectly. There is no excuse for broken internal
links - these are a sure sign of an amateur. As far as external
links go, accept the fact that these will break occasionally.
The web is a rapidly changing environment and you will
virtually never be notified when someone moves a page or closes
their site. Just check occasionally and update your links as
needed.
http://www.internet-tips.net/Webmaster/gooddesignexternallinks.htm
Site Map
A site map is similar in concept to a table of contents.
This is a great way to introduce your visitors to the whole
picture of your site in all of it's glory. It also helps drive
visitors (and spiders) to pages other than the few that they
happen to find via search engines.
http://www.internet-tips.net/Webmaster/gooddesignsitemap.htm
What's New
Keep your visitors coming back by including "What's
New" sections on your home page and in a special section.
http://www.internet-tips.net/Webmaster/gooddesignwhatsnew.htm
Frequently Asked Questions
Since the idea behind your web site is to communicate, why
not create a frequently asked questions section? This answers
the more common questions and helps prevent you from getting
overwhelmed with common, everyday requests for answers.
http://www.internet-tips.net/Webmaster/gooddesignfaq.htm
Provide A Guestbook
All good web sites provide a guestbook function for their
visitors. This gives people a way to communicate their feelings
about the site to the webmaster and the rest of the world.
http://www.internet-tips.net/Webmaster/maintguestbooks.htm
There are many, many other things you can do to create a
good web site design. Just remember your ultimate goal is to
communicate something. If you are selling a product, you are
trying to communicate about that product in such a way that
your visitor wants to purchase it. If your site is about your
cat, than that is what you are communicating. The better your
design, the better your message gets across.
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And
Secrets at http://www.internet-tips.net
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