Your website is your window to the world and for many people will be the first impression that they get. You had better make it a good one during the second or two it usually takes for them to form their all-important opinion. First impressions will definitely matter and you must place additional emphasis on the composition and quality of your home page design, as it does not matter what gems you have lurking within if you cannot convince the surfer to stay and explore all your other pages. It doesn’t have to be rocket science and these days web design is more accessible to the layman. While you may not be a qualified web designer, if you pay attention to key design points you should still be able to compose a site worthy of your brand and organization.
Keep it simple
It may be tempting to incorporate multiple pieces of JavaScript code and enable all kinds of flash animation. This kind of stuff sure makes your site look pretty and dynamic, but if it slows down the load time of your page drastically you are in trouble. You should be aiming for a load time of only a second or so. Many people have broadband access these days, but there are still those out there who use dial-up access. More especially for these people, make sure that your site design is straightforward and avoid too many “bells and whistles.”
Get to the point
Do take time to plan out the structure and architecture of your site on paper before you start work. Everything should flow in a logical progression. Try and remove yourself from the project for a second and put yourself in the shoes of a first-time visitor. They know nothing about your organization and you need to bring them up to speed promptly. How you structure your site is very important, as if an element of confusion arises during navigation, your bounce rate is going to rise.
Easy on the ads
If your focus is on selling your own goods and services, avoid littering your pages with pay per click ads and banners for products that are not critical to your goals. You may have a good amount of traffic to your site and be tempted by adsense revenues, but unless this is a focus of your business plan, you risk distracting your visitors who may click away to some other site. Inevitably this will result in a much lower revenue for you.
Easy on the eyes
A vibrant color scheme may well make your site and be wholly appropriate for your particular line of business. If you operate within a more sensitive arena, color your creation appropriately. Your visitors will have a preconceived notion of how your site should look, within given parameters anyway and you should not scare them off by creating something akin to a Picasso creation. Always use colors that blend together well. You should only need a handful of different colors at maximum.
Get structured
Content management systems allow us to create webpages with a table-like structure. This allows you to create a number of different focal points, all relevant to one particular story that you are trying to get across. When we told you to “get to the point” above, you should have narrowed down your storylines to the bare minimum required to achieve your ultimate goal. Make it logical, applicable and workable. Never confuse your visitor!
Focused content
Content is everything. It should be educational and informative and not contain endless filler. Never stuff keywords in the 20th century hope that it will better your search engine placement. It makes your content unreadable and doesn’t fool the search engines. Do ensure that your content is entirely relevant and always on point. Well-written copy will simply make the difference between success and failure for you and you might like to employ a specialized content creator to really make the difference.
Break it up
You may have quite a lot to say when it comes to your products and services, but don’t think you have to say it all on your home page. Always keep your paragraphs short and try and break up your content with quotes or with an image placement. Not everything has to be “above the fold,” as people are very used to scrolling up and down. Just make sure that your overall design does not incorporate a large solid block of color at around the fold position, as this may optically confuse and suggest that that is the bottom of your page.
Test it out
Internet Explorer and Firefox are the most popular browsers and you must make sure that your creation loads and works well in each. Safari, Opera and Chrome also have their fans and remember that mobile devices are quickly gaining ground. This might be the time for you to consider a “dot mobi” version of your site for those iPhone browsers as well.
Please add your own tips, hints and suggestions…
Matthew Toren
