Websites need a solid base so it can hold anything added to it later. Unfortunately, many small e-business owners get sidetracked by what they believe should be on their websites. They start forgetting - even ignoring - what years of research, experience and knowledge have revealed. Bottom line: get the web design basics wrong now and you risk encountering issues tomorrow.
What are the ABCs of web site design? Well, these refer to the elements that most or all of today's Internet sites share. They are items that need to be developed properly for websites to succeed.
Sites that have a good web design and are set up correctly functions well for search engines, users and e-businesses they promote. Sound web design foundation makes room for further site development and improvement as newer technologies become available.
Below are several handy practices and key standards. Aside from being fairly basic, they are must-dos when building the foundation for websites.
Avoid pre-designed templates for e-business websites - Go for custom-designed architecture and layout that conveys a professional business impression, suits your particular branding, and affords you full ownership and control of all individual web files.
Follow the standard web rules or conventions - These include navigation across a page's top or down its left side, logo at each page top linking back to its homepage, and blue underlined texts for links.
Use CSS- or text-based navigation - Using images for navigation elements would be a mistake.
Add an XML sitemap in the site root directory - This allows search engines to seek and crawl over the site's pages.
Employ actual text in web design- This beats putting in mere images of text.
Opt for standard, sans-serif web fonts - These include Verdana, Arial and Helvetica. Such web fonts make text more readable and visually clear.
No visitor counters please - Get rid of visitor counters and just use the server-based web statistics.
Never build entire websites with Flash - Flash-heavy sites are “hidden” from search engines and often frustrating to users. Such sites seldom conform to accessibility standards and make in-house maintenance and updating almost impossible. Keep your website designs simple.
Store critical info above the fold - This includes company logos, value propositions and navigation.
Maintain navigation consistency - Keep navigation reliable for all pages on the site - from the subpages to the homepage.
Use CSS-based or tables-based page layouts - Never use pages with just a single huge image - or one with tinier ones.
Add a robots.txt file in the website's root directory - This gives search engines instructions on proper webpage indexing- like which directories to leave out, to index and more.
Subpages within two homepage clicks - Don't make it hard for users to find pages and return to where they started.
Put in a Contact Us page - The page should contain info on how the company can be reached - phone numbers, map links, email addresses and physical address. It would also help to provide a comment form where visitors can place further inquiries. Also include options for mailing list subscription for when you send out an email newsletter.
Websites with a sound web page design foundation are easy to use and navigate for visitors. Users who find what they want quicker are more likely to come back for repeat visits and/or recommend the site to colleagues and pals. Web design that has the fundamentals in place also has more success with search engines.
Search engine marketing services need to read as well as index a website's pages prior to including its data in the database or search results. Disregarding the web design basics can stop search engines from even being aware of a particular site. A strong and solid foundation always trumps whatever you personally think and feel search engines and users want to see.
For a really strong site design, you might consider using a professional web design company to create a template and marketing plan for you. A Google search for “web design Melbourne” or “web design Sydney” etc should give you plenty of listings, so you can choose the best website developers for your purposes. You could also look for a good search engine optimisation company to strengthen your online presence.