Web design is a great way to make money. Once you have developed the techniques required for website creation, you can start building pages for others. You make these sites on your time, then sit back and collect later.
Feature a prominent tagline on your site. Using a tagline simply means that you will need to come up with a quick statement that lets visitors know what your site is all about. Clear taglines are effective in potentially capturing the attention of a reader in the critical first few seconds they visit your site.
Broken Links
You should never go live before previewing the site and ensuring images load properly and all links work. Error pages only cause visitor frustration. You can manually check links or use a program that will find broken links for you.
Check your pages for broken links. The worst experience for a visitor is to have interest in learning more only to click the dreaded dead end link. You can do manual checks or seek out a program that will do a scan and give notice of broken links.
Use some pictures on your site to make your site attractive. Your own pictures will make your website more friendly and inviting. People like to look at pictures, so they will probably spend more time on your site.
Whatever your design is like aesthetically, be sure all your files are small. The size of the files making up your website is the direct cause of your site’s load times. You want your site to load as quickly as it can. You should remember also that some visitors may not use an Internet connection that is high speed. You want to perform a test to make sure your site performs well, even with dial-up modem connections.
Your website should be easy to scan. Through usability tests, it has been determined that many readers online do not read all content. Normally, most are just scanning for interesting parts. Using text that is emphasized to break it into sections that are easily scanned ensures your readers are more likely to return. Also, keep the important info at the top. This will make your visitor’s time on the site more satisfying because everything is quickly accessible.
Don’t allow pop-ups on your website. While you might see these as valuable in some form or another, most people find them rather annoying. It’s likely that many of your visitors can’t even see them due to browser settings, so keep them happy and stick to one window at a time.
Don’t use frames. While frames look nice, they do not help when it comes to search engines. If important site information isn’t seen by a search engine, then your ranking won’t be as high as it could be. You won’t get as many visitors.
If you plan to have multiple websites down the road, then consider reserving their domain names, now. Use your creativity in choosing a site name, but ensure you do now to keep the site for yourself. Other people may be thinking about the same thing you are thinking. We are all connected and think in similar ways.
Research your keywords. You definitely want to focus first on providing relevant content, but keywords should be planted appropriately to help you grow that customer base. To make sure that people find your website more easily, you’ll need to learn what keywords are and how to use them effectively.
Adobe Dreamweaver is a great program to try if you need to create a website. This simple software allows anyone to get a site up and running quickly. You can add features and use their various layouts and templates.
HTML5 is something that you’re going to have to be familiar with if you want to be truly successful with website creation. If HTML5 is something that is foreign to you, you have a learning curve ahead of you.
Photoshop can be a great resource for web page design. Many people are not familiarized with Dreamweaver software, so research this program to see what it can offer you and your website design.
Large sites should always have search capabilities. The best place to put your search box is on the top of your homepage. Shoot for the upper right corner. Users often expect to see a search box in this area and may want to search your site for the information they are looking for. Search functions for websites are available from FreeFind and Google.
Remember, just because your site is launched, doesn’t mean you are done with designing. Be prepared to keep active on your website. While there is no need to change things around every day, you must, nonetheless, update it regularly. This is especially true if you’re hosting videos or working with current events. Updating a website is much different than updating a blog. It’s going to take some hard work and attention to detail.
Keep in mind that not everyone visiting your website will have a fast Internet speed. You may feel that your videos look their best when you stream them out at 5,000 kb/s, but a user with a much slower connection is not going to enjoy the experience. This results in a slow load time for the video which causes is to continuously buffer every few seconds.
It is very important to always consider what types of security the website has. Purchase a SSL certificate if you handle payments or other person information. You might be able to pick up some other great security features through your web host.
No matter how flashy your website is, it is vital that you keep the sizes of your website’s files small. This is because the size of your website’s files directly affects its loading time. You always want your site to load as quickly as it can. You need to remember that not every person who visits the website will have a fast Internet connection. Run tests to ensure that even dial-up users report a smooth user experience.
Your computer’s copy/paste capabilities are some of your most powerful tools when you’re building a website with many very similar sub-pages. Rather than rewriting new code for each page, simply copy a main section of your code from the first page. You can then use this as the foundation for your next pages, making minor changes where needed. You can continuously work from that master copy.
Draw a favorites icon for your website. This tiny graphic can make your site more recognizable if visitors bookmark your site. When a visitor browses his bookmarks, a distinctive favicon will stand out. Besides being memorable, your favicon should be consistent with your business name and logo.
Use neutral background colors. Textured backgrounds can be unappealing to some people. Stick to a white background or another neutral color. Neutral colors are easier to read.
When creating pages that have links, be sure the links contain text content. Links with content are easier to view for your visitors and help them know exactly what they will be clicking on. When links do not have text content, the link could be accessed accidentally by keyboard shortcut.
Titles which are descriptive and full of keywords are great to use. Take a moment to plug the words “untitled document” into your favorite search engine. This mistake is too common. Do not fail to name your site. The title of your website is an important factor that search engines take into account when determining your search rank.
With everything you’ve learned here, you should now know more about web page design. Just be sure to make the most of what you have learned, and you will be a pro in no time.
