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Five Crucial Components of Web Design
Professional website developers know the importance of web design
and the role it plays in making a website successful.
Designing a successful website is no easy task, especially for
someone who is new to the world of web development. With the help of
web development applications many people can and do create decent
websites. But decent in most cases is not good enough to make a site
successful from a traffic or financial standpoint.
There are five crucial components of web design that you must focus
on in order to make a site valuable to its visitors and successful
for you.
SEO
Getting free traffic to your site.
Usability
Ease of navigating around the site and finding desired information
quickly.
Aesthetics
Visual appeal.
Content
Valid, up to date, relevant information.
Graphics
Eye candy that relays relevant visual information to the visitor.
SEO
Before you ever lay down a byte of HTML code for a site you have to
know and understand at least the basics of SEO and how it fits into
the design. SEO is the art of designing a site in a fashion that
gives the site an advantage for obtaining free and abundant traffic.
The number one aspect of SEO is selecting keywords relevant to your
site. The keywords you select should be based on high usage, low
competition and relevancy to your topic. Once you select keywords
you can then begin the development of your site. Keep in mind
keywords are a critical aspect of the design. The keywords you
choose will be applied within the design in strategic fashion to
benefit the flow of traffic to your site. To understand more on how
to implement SEO you should read and learn more about this important
subject. If you don't, your website success will be difficult to
achieve.
Usability
Your website must be easy to navigate and designed in a way that
makes it easy to find information. Visitors will not stay long if it
takes more than one or two clicks to get the information they want
or if it takes brain power to figure out how to get the information
they want. One of the goals of your site design is to keep usability
easy, and simple. To do this, apply the following three fundamentals
of usability.
Provide a site search tool.
A visitor in a hurry can quickly find the info they desire then move
on to the action they desire.
Provide simple, intuitive and consistent
site navigation.
This provides visitors the tool they need to leisurely explore their
way through your site.
Provide logical and simple to follow
content.
The message of a site should start off in a simple and basic fashion
with well defined links pointing the way to more detailed
information or explanation as needed.
In the cases above the goal is to make it easy for your visitor to
find the information they want without frustration or difficulty.
Doing this well will have a positive effect on increasing the return
of your visitors.
Aesthetics
A website has to look clean, uncomplicated and strike a balance in
layout that is pleasant to the visitor. Pleasing aesthetics come
about when the colors of a site complement each other, the graphics
blend and lend continuation of the theme and the layout brings unity
and openness to the page.
Often overlooked by novice designers is the color palette of the
site. While you can select color in a willy-nilly fashion and still
provide a visually appealing site, a better idea for color selection
should be based on an understanding of the color wheel and proven
color strategies.
Many web designers often view a web page as an opportunity to blast
a visitor with lots of information in hopes this will convince the
visitor to take action. Usually this results in a quick exit due to
the overwhelming visual effect and complicated look. A better
approach is to provide less content and open space (referred to as
white space) to allow visitors eyes to scan and explore with ease.
Content
An important feature of any website is the quality of the text
content. Visitors come to a site expecting to find answers to their
questions, solutions to their problems or for entertainment value.
The content offered at your site must be well-written, without
grammatical or spelling errors. It also has to be relevant to the
theme of your site, with valid, up to date information for your
visitors. Content is King!
Graphics
You can have a functional and usable website without graphic
elements. However, if there are similar sites to yours that employ
graphics, guess which site will get the most traffic. The necessary
companions to any well-designed site are the images and
illustrations that grace its pages. The images can't be any
willy-nilly graphic that you might think is cool. Graphic imagery
has to support your branding, and communicate the message you are
trying to convey. Before you incorporate graphic elements into your
site, take some time to look around the web. Notice what looks good
and how elements are laid out. These same layouts techniques can be
used as models for your site.
The Internet is a highly competitive business arena. To be
successful with a commercial website, you have to keep these five
crucial web design elements in mind. Contrary to what many will tell
you, it is rarely possible to have commercial success without the
benefit of a professional website. This is not to say that you must
hire a professional, however you must implement professional design
elements to improve your chances for success. |
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