Why Website Templates Are Worth I
Why Website Templates Are Worth It
Introduction
Website Templates can be a life saver if you are just starting out in the world -wide -web. Templates can save you big money and time. It is common knowledge that
Website Accessibility Proper Navigation
Website Accessibility - Proper Navigation
A very important point to consider while designing a website is proper navigation. You must ensure that potential clients or customers are able to find the information they are looking for without too many clicks. As a quick rule of thumb, visitors to your site should be able to visit all your pages by using, at most, 3 clicks. This is also important when considering search engine optimization (SEO) because search engines will only spider (or index) pages that are 3 clicks deep into your site. Not only does proper navigation allow users to find information they are looking for, but it also allows search engines to spider (or index) the information they are looking for. This is essential if you want high quality search engine traffic directed to your website.
Different types of websites employ different navigation styles, so it is probably best to visit websites similar to your own to see which navigation structure they have chosen. The most common locations for your navigation menu are either on the left side of the page or at the top of the page. When internet users view a website, they do so using what is termed as a
Web Designers Beware
Web Designers Beware!
As a web designer, I have a personal interest in a new trend which threatens to put me and my kind out of business. That
Website design the perfect home page
Website design - the perfect home page
Congratulations! By purchasing your own piece of cyberspace you have confirmed yourself as a serious internet marketer.
Before you delve into the joys of your cpanel it is time to sit down with a piece of paper and plan your online shop window.
What exactly is your site about? Who is your target visitor? What will they be looking for that you can supply? Write these fundamentals down at the top of the page.
If you were looking for your site, what would you do? It is likely you would start with a search engine such as Google or Yahoo so I suggest you do just that. Type your keywords in and do some research on your competition. What do you like about their site? What made you want to leave in a hurry? This is a valuable yet free education into what makes a successful website.
Some sites look like a parking place for ads. It can be very hard to find what the site can offer as any content is burried under advertising. First impressions are vital - one click of the back button and your visitor is gone for good. If all that fills your browser window is a large header graphic and some ads then would you bother scrolling down to see more? Worse still, imagine one of those ads offers just what you were looking for - you would click away without even remembering the rest of the site was there.
I’m all for adding income streams such as Adsense to your site but limit the advertising on your home page to some discreet links near the bottom of the page. If your website visitor has read down to the bottom of the page and not found what they were looking for then certainly offer them some alternatives but don’t hurry their departure.
It may seem pessamistic to think about your visitor leaving when they have only just found your site but don’t miss any opportunity to encourage them to return. Make sure you have a simple signup form on your home page and offer visitors something useful. This may be a newletter to keep them informed of your latest offers or an ecourse, for example. This is the only circumstance when a pop-up may be appropriate on your home page.
What is your target visitor looking for? If they are shopping around for the best price on something then they could probably care less ‘about me’. If you are offering a service or a business proposition however then this is a critical area for your consideration. You will want a welcoming head and shoulder photo of yourself with your name and contact details in plain view. If your visitor wants a good deal then your hottest offer will take this pride of place.
Is a picture worth a thousand words? If you are offering a graphic design service then by all means knock yourself out. If not then carefully consider how hard every image is working for you. Graphics are great for window dressing a site and making it more appealing. Graphics can also slow down your page’s load time. Have you ever given up when a page was too slow to show? Do you care that there may well have been a fantastic visual feast if you had waited longer?
Back to your piece of paper and work out where you want your visitor to go next. Try and keep the links from your main page at 5-10 only. There is such a thing as too much choice and too many options can give the impression that little of your site will offer what your visitor really wants. Would you spend time reading through lots of options when it is easier to click away and start again with another of the 8 billion sites competing for your attention? Not only are fewer links less confusing for your visitor but again less links mean a faster load time for your page. Work out the logical groups for your site’s information then link to these group menus from your home page.
What is the colour scheme for your site? Do you want something vibrant to inspire action? Are calming pastels that instill confidence closer to your goal? You will want to keep within a simple palette of colours thoroughout your site so it does not seem disjointed so consider your site livery carefully.
Does your shop window invite customers in off the street? Does it look like a classy establishment or a flea market? Keep your homepage clean, clear and simple and it will welcome website visitors into your site.
Web Site Navigation
Web Site Navigation
Once a visitor gets to your web site, you want to make sure they can find what they are looking for quickly and easily, or they will just go elsewhere. If a web site is easy to use and understand, visitors will come back time and time again.
Using intuitive navigation techniques will greatly improve the usability of your web site, and therefore user satisfaction and return rates. By intuitive navigation, I mean some sort of menu, map or list that is instantly understandable to most visitors to your web site.
One of the first points to making a site easy to navigate is to have a consistent menu that is on every page. By having a menu that is on every page of your site, users can move from each section from any other section, with out having to go back to a home page or menu page.
Keeping the menu in the same location, and in the same style throughout your site ensures that visitors quickly recognize how to navigate your site. If you have a different style menu on every page, users may get confused and not as easily comprehend how to navigate your site.
Another useful tool a Webmaster can include for visitors is a site map. A site map is a page containing an organized list of all the pages or sections of the site. Instead of moving through the site’s menu system and down through categories by clicking on links on different pages, a visitor has the option of going to the site map and clicking directly to the page they are seeking.
Though there are many fancy buttons, graphics and rollovers that can be used for your navigation menu, sometimes simple text links are the best bet. For one, text link navigation menus are fast loading. Many web surfers are on slow connections and do not want to wait for a complex navigation system to download. Text navigation menus also can add relevant text to search engine results, whereas image navigation bars cannot. Text navigation also helps ensure your users understand what the links mean.
If you do opt to use graphic navigation menus, you may wish to consider adding a redundant text navigation menu at the bottom of the page to ensure viewability and search engine spidering.
Many new Webmasters are tempted to use frames to create a navigation menu that will appear on all the site’s pages. The benefit is that the navigation will stay in sight even when the rest of the page is scrolled. But because frames piece pages together from other pages a Webmaster cannot be sure that a web page using frames will be viewed correctly. If a visitor comes to a page through a search engine that was designed to have a navigation menu added with a frame, the user will see not see the menu. Because of this, it is important to add a link to your home page on every page, so viewers can see your site as it was intended.
Even if you are not using frames, it would be helpful to have a link to the home page of your website on every page, to ensure users can find the “beginning” of your site.
Keeping the navigation menu near the top of the web pages ensures that surfers will be able to see the menu as soon as the page loads. If a user has to scroll to navigate to other pages of your site, they will be less inclined to do so.
In closing, it is important to keep in mind that when it comes to site navigation, simplicity is key. If a user does not immediately see what they need, they will not spend much time trying to find it, but will rather move on to the next site.