Web Design Considerations

If you are designing a website there are many things to consider. It is important that it is well designed, easy to use, and gives the visitors what they want.

The main thing that needs to be taken into consideration when designing a web site is the purpose of the site. You need to decide what the site is for and then design it accordingly. You need to work out what the visitor will want from the site, and what you want your visitors to do. It is always a good idea to put yourself in the visitor’s shoes. There is no point designing a flashy website that you think looks great if it is of no use to your visitors. Remember the site is for the visitor, not the designer. You need to work out who is going to use the site. Do your research on who the audience are and what they will be looking for.

The look of your website is important. It needs to be eye catching without being over complicated. If it is too bland the visitor’s are likely to leave immediately. You need a hook that makes them want to stay and investigate further. If it is too complicated though, the visitor may find the site too much work and leave for that reason. The visitor needs to be able to find what they are looking for. Once you know what this is, design the site so it is easy to find. Internet users are usually reluctant to work too hard for the information or products they are seeking. They don’t want to search for it for a lengthy period of time; if they can’t find it they will soon look elsewhere.

Usability is an extremely important factor in the design of your website. The site must be easy to navigate around. The last thing you want is for the visitor to leave the site because they feel they can’t use the site, despite the fact that the site may have what they are seeking. If you are selling a product, the visitor must be able to find the product and purchase it easily. If it is information you are providing, then it should be easily accessible. Creating a simple site may sound boring, but it is often what the visitor wants. There is nothing more frustrating to a visitor than a messy site, with too much content on each page so they can’t find what they want.

Of course you will want graphics on your site. They do add something, and without them the site will be very bland and look unprofessional. Any graphics you have, though, should have a purpose. Don’t overload the site with graphics, think about what purpose they serve and put them in the right place. They should fit naturally into the site. Only use animations, such as flash, if necessary. You may think they look good, but they can be very frustrating to the visitor, especially if on a splash page before they even get to the home page. They are also bad for SEO purposes, meaning you are less likely to appear high in the search engine results pages. Graphics, and more so animations, are fine in the right place if they serve a purpose, but if used in the wrong way they can frustrate the visitor.

Something that may be useful before designing a site is to look at the competition within you niche. Look at the things that they have done well and see if you can do something similar. You can also look at what they have done badly, and therefore prevent yourself from making the same mistakes. By looking at your competition’s website you can work out ways to provide your visitors with what they are looking for in a better way than anyone else.

Andrew Marshall ©

Web Design London

Using the right Keywords

Using the right Keywords is crucial to any website. If you use the wrong keywords you may get few visitors, if any, or if you do, they might not be the right visitors. It is therefore very important that you know which keywords you want to use before you begin you SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Your keywords are the terms that your potential visitors will use to find your website. Therefore using the keywords that give a clear idea of what you site is about is crucial.

First of all you need to make sure you know which keywords are searched for in relation to a site like yours. You don’t want to pick keywords that nobody searches for, or else you’ll end up getting little traffic. There are several tools that you can use to find out roughly the number of search there are for different terms. These include Google’s tool at adwords.google.com and wordtracker.com. You shouldn’t try to second guess which terms people use; just because you would use a particular term doesn’t mean that other will. It is not just about finding terms that generate a lot of searches; you need to make sure they are terms used by people who are looking for the service you are offering. In other words you need the right type of visitors. If you run a web design agency, you want visitors who are looking for a website to be designed for them. If they don’t want a website then they are of no good to you. You need to make sure the keywords you choose describe your services.

The most common searches are not always the best though. A very competitive term that many Internet users search for will be difficult to rank highly for. A less competitive term, which is still searched for in decent number, could be much more useful. It is better to get 20% of 1 million visitors, than 1% of 10 million.

Long tail keywords can be very useful. Long tail keywords are terms of more the two words. Research shows that those using long tail keywords are more likely to purchase something. They are looking for something specific, because it is something specific they are looking to buy. For example if someone types into Google ‘Ford Couga’, they are probably searching for this model of car because they are looking to purchase one. Therefore long tail keywords that match you services, but are searched for, could be of use.

Keywords relating to geographical location are something else that could be useful. People often search for services within their local area. This of course is dependant on what type of service you offer. When people search for restaurants for example, they are probably looking for a restaurant in a certain area. Therefore optimising for the term ‘Indian Restaurant Salisbury’ would be more beneficial than simply ‘Indian Restaurant’.

There are many things to take into consideration when choosing your keywords. You need to research your keywords very carefully, making sure the terms you choose are searched for, and could bring you the type of visitors you want.

Andrew Marshall ©