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Home >> Knowledge Base >>Elements of a good website
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Elements of a Good Website Design
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Are you about to build your
website design? Are
you planning to hire a
website designer or a
developer to do it for you? Whatever
the case, there are certain details to
consider before
website design or develope.
Numerous books and websites offer a
ton of tips and rules, but we have managed
to narrow them down to an essential list of
15 elements of a good website
design. Keep them in mind when creating
your website design and
you’re sure to have a strong online
presence:
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1. Make your website design the apple of
your visitor’s eye
Chefs always say that “you eat with the eyes first”. The same is true with
websites design. A visually appealing
website design helps make visitors stay.
There are tons of websites with very good
visual website design, and most often than
not, they’re the simplest-looking
ones. Always remember to make a very
good first impression, and one great way to
do that is through attention-grabbing visual
design.
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2. Sensible user interface
Good visual website design
goes hand in hand with good user interface
for it is the foundation of any good
functional website design. Always
consider who your visitors are and be
sensible to their needs. Make sure
that they’ll find everything they need on
your website and make your navigation easy
to spot and consistent throughout the entire
website.
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3. Keep navigation on top of the page...
Major website links (or sections found at
the first level of your site map) should
always be found on
top of your page along with your logo or
brand. For example, put “Home |
About | Services | FAQ | Contact” in
an easy to find location on top of the page.
Sub-pages and sublinks can be placed
elsewhere in the page or on the side bar.
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4. ...and place another navigation on
the Footer
This is very important when you use flash or
images on your main navigation. It
might sound repetitive, but it helps your
visitors to find the content they are
looking for.
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5. Relevant and meaningful content
It is crucial to provide helpful,
knowledgeable information about your
company, products and services. Blog
owners should always churn out articles that
inform readers about areas of expertise.
Never oversell and over embellish.
Again, less is more and write in a
conversational tone. Keep in mind that
visitors are always out to find information
and is not interested in “praise
release”.
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6. It’s all about the ABOUT page
It is one of the most visited page of any
website, and crafting content for it must be
taken with extra care. Visitors are
interested to find out information about
what the company is about, who runs or owns
it, where it is located. Through an
informative about page, they develop a sense
of bond and they’ll be able to relate to you
on a more personal level.
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7. Keep your visitors close with Contact
Us
Visitors get turned off when they’re
interested in your product or service only
to find out that there is no way to reach
you. Always make sure to provide an
email address at the very least, but for
visitors to feel more secure about your
website, include your telephone number and
mailing address.
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8. Search and you shall find
This is applicable for websites dealing with
large information or a blog. This lets
your visitors access the information they
want quickly. Keep in mind that going
through pages of information is a turn off.
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9. Sign up / Subscribe
Ideal feature to have when you constantly
update your content (such as a blog) or you
offer subscriptions to an email newsletter.
Having this feature is an easy way of
keeping your website top of mind.
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10. Guide users with a Sitemap
A sitemap is an ideal tool to aid your
visitors in finding the information they
need quickly. It is a clickable list
of your pages and sub pages and is usually
found on the footer of the website.
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11. Content and design should be
separated
Most efficient well designed websites today
use CSS and XHTML which separates design
from content. CSS basically assigns
design features to your website in a
separate section from your code, leaving it
lighter and more streamlined. You can
also update your CSS file and implement a
site-wide change without having to change
your code.
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12. Never forget to validate your
codes
You must make sure that your website is
written in the correct code. This
ensures that your website will look good on
various browsers and makes it easier for
search engines to find you.
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13. Make your website browser
compatible
Not everyone uses the same browser. It
is a must to make your website display
correctly not just in one browser but in all
available browsers if possible. There
are a number of websites that check your
website code’s browser compatibility, use
them to your advantage.
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14. Optimize images for the web
What makes browsing experience a bore is
having to download a very large image.
Avert this mistake by having your
images optimized for the website. The
standard resolution for web images is set at
72dpi (dots per inch).
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15. Statistics, Tracking, Analytics
As a website owner, it is important that you
know how much traffic goes through your
website. Google offers analytics services
for free so you can get essential
information to help you know your progress
and improve your website.
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