Websites are something most businesses are told to have, but having a great website that will attract and engage current and potential customers and clients is not always easy to figure out. Luckily, here are some tips to help improve the design and development of any website.
Consider the audience for the website
In order to make a website that people are going to love and want to visit (again and again), it is important to consider who will be viewing the website (both current users and potential users). The average person wants his or her experience with a website to be seamless and easy. In fact, the easier it is for a person to navigate a website, the better and more likely a person will be to return to the website.
A few things a website designer can do to make any website easier to use are to design it with intuitive navigation that includes menus and to use easy to read text and graphics.
Consider the computer platform and internet browser: a website should be designed and developed to look good on any computer platform or internet browser
Just as it is important to consider who will be viewing a website, it is also important for a website to consider how and what platform people will be viewing it on. In recent years, tablet and smartphone sales have been on the rise. A website that is not designed to be viewed optimally on traditional desktop and laptop computers as well as on tablet and mobile devices is seriously alienating a large portion of the marketplace. A company will want to make sure that their website is designed to look great no matter what computer platform or internet browser a person uses.
Consider the visuals
A business might have a lot of information that they want to relay on their website, but before they post a huge chunk of text they need to consider how the text looks. It is important to use contrast between text and background (the easiest to see is black text against a white background). Use photos, graphics, sub headers, block quotes, and general white space to provide visual interest on a website.
Consider the branding of the website
Branding is an important aspect of marketing that many traditional businesses are familiar with (whether it is a logo on the outside of a building or having a business card), but branding also expands to include a business’s website.
Along with the business name, it is also important that a business has an online logo for marketing purposes. The brand logo needs to be unique for that business, and should be eye catching but simple (a loud and brash looking logo could cause confusion for viewers), this way anyone will be able to easily recognize and identify the business’s brand. This branding and logo should not only be used on the business website, but on all of the business’s social media, email, and other online marketing sections, too.
Consider what is behind the scenes of the website
Most people consider website design just to be what they see on a website, and while that is an important part of a website design, it is not the only part.
On the backend of a website there is coding and script that serves several functions. One, of course, is to allow the website to have the look it does, and the other function is to allow the website to operate properly. A good website design is able not only to look good, but also to increase the functionality of the website.
The average person, and perhaps many business owners, will not know what HTML, PHP, CSS and other coding languages are or how they work. A professional website designer and developer will know this, and they will be able to design as website to not only look good, but to function as best as possible.
When it comes to website design and development for your business you do not want to take any chances; trust the professionals instead.
Jenny Sawyer, is an expert in web designing and developing job, writes various articles and blogs on her profession. She shares various ideas and necessary tips via her writings.
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