How To Build A lean And Effective Web Site
Many first time web designers discover that it can be a bit overwhelming at first. We have all of these ideas in our heads that we want to transfer to our online presence. The issue is that those ideas may be unnecessary and actually be harmful to your site traffic.
We often build sites based on what we want as opposed to what works for our visitors and the devices they are currently using to browse the web. This article will allow you to streamline your site for ease of use and make it more effective in generating the results you seek.
One of the ways we can make our sites user friendly is by building them to load quickly. This can be accomplished by avoiding splash screens, Flash based animations and large images that may need to be downsized for portable devices or simply use to much bandwidth to load.
We always need to be concerned about how our visitors not only view our sites but also how difficult they may be to access based on the tools we use to generate interest. We simply need to keep our sites basic yet professional with high quality content to garner attention and revenue.
Navigation has become an issue on many sites with links and buttons hidden at the bottom of the page or scattered around. We need to remember that customers need to navigate quickly and your navigational pane should be right in front of them the entire time.
If your niche audience primarily uses portable devices then you should have a mobile site as well to accommodate for the need of easy navigation on those devices. When it comes to your main domain, as standard as it may be, the navigational panel is best placed on the left side of the screen or tabbed on top of the page for the benefit of the visitor.
Another factor of importance is the need to make sure your site works in all browsers. People simply have different needs and preferences when it comes to their favorite web browser and your site needs to accessible on all. Operating systems vary and each has its own type of browser meaning what works for Windows and Linux based browsers will not in a Mac. Of everything listed in this article, this will be the most important one to note. If your site does not work in all browsers, you have severely limited accessibility and traffic to your site by alienating a huge portion of the people prowling around on the web.
The final issue that we often forget is to verify all links to ensure they are not broken on a regular basis. Nothing is worse than visiting a site only to become interested in more information and discovering the link is broken or an image link leads to nowhere. Site maintenance is important and part of your job to ensure your site functions efficiently.
These suggestions will lead to your site being streamlined and effective for the user which is where we make our revenue. We need to place the focus of the site on the consumer and less on our own desires. When we accomplish the suggestions noted in this article, we accomplish the goals that we initially had when the web site was nothing more than a idea in the back of our minds.
