Stupid HTML Email Design Mistakes

Ben Chestnut make focus of web Designers at silly design mistakes when they try to create HTML emails.

Mistake #1: Not designing for preview panes
Mistake #2: Assuming images will work
Mistake #3: Too many images, not enough text
Mistake #4: Not testing in different email programs
Mistake #5: Neglecting your footer
Mistake #6: Too fancy-schmancy

He also give Tips to deal with these Design mistakes.
Read at HTML Email Design Mistakes. Web designer need to pay special attention to the tips Ben gives to avoid each of these mistakes.

17 New Rules / Tips for Successful E-Commerce Websites

E-commerce has, for the most part, evolved far beyond the late 1990's cliches of hair-wrenching, sanity-shattering slogs through yet another "clever" designer's take on how shopping on the web should be. Standards prevailed, usability won out, and we're now free to spend our collective $107 billion (Census.gov e-commerce stats) per annum.

That said... It can still get better. Online shopping is in, if not infancy, at least a toddler stage. The advances that brought us here have made the process simpler and easier than ever, but some sites still haven't caught on.

Since I've been doing an inordinate amount of online shopping recently (thanks to the theft last weekend and my upcoming lengthy trip to China), I feel uniquely qualified to share a few e-commerce site design tips - 17 tips, actually.
_

_

#1 - Tell Me Where I Am

Whenever a user is navigating inside a store with more than 1 sub-level of navigation, it's critical to show them where in the site structure they are. This should be accomplished with headlines, sub-headers (when necessary) and breadcrumbs (e.g. Home > Category > Sub-cat > Product).

#2 - Let Me Remove Narrowing Options

When a user starts to "narrow" their navigation inside a particular category (in this case by selecting the designer "Ted Baker"), it's only right to allow them to remove those navigation selections rather than forcing the use of repetitive "back button" clicks.

#3 - Allow Me to Sort Every Which Way

The standards are "Price - low to high," "Price - high to low," "Popularity," aka "Best Selling," "Featured," "User Rating" (or "Editor Rating" if you don't have users rate products), and "New" or "Latest." You can eliminate "Featured" if you've got nothing to push, but all the other sorting options must exist (assuming it's possible to do so).

#4 - Show Me the Products

Unless you've got more than 200 products total in a sub-category, it's only right to offer the user the option of seeing every product on one page. Broadband has rendered the load time argument nearly irrelevant and I personally (along with Mystery Guest) can't stand sites lacking the feature.

#5 - Refining Options Bring Joy

If you can provide the user with a useful refinement option, you've made their experience better. In the instance of sizing, this is particularly important, as users loathe finding that "perfect" piece of apparel, only to discover you don't carry it in their size.

#6 - The More Specifics, the Better

Rule #6 is so worthwhile, I'm repeating it. Actually, #7 serves to illustrate a substantive difference between refining your browsing in a section (as #6 shows) vs. navigating to a new sub-category. Offering the latter as an option where relevant and valuable (and when the number of items warrants it) is a wise decision.

#7 - Tell Me What it Costs & What I'm Saving

Some product category pages shows items without the detail users are craving. It's particularly important for discount sites (anything off MSRP helps conversions) to show pricing, but nearly every website can benefit from providing an extra bit of detail before the click to the product page. Tell them materials, give a tiny description or list the sizes/colors/options you have in stock.
_

_

#8 - Keep the Search Bar in Easy Reach
When a search has been performed, don't just show the search and the results, do like the engines and make the search bar front and center, while maintaining the user's query in the box for potential modification.

#9 - Give Me Search Refinement Options

If you have an advanced searching system, or can allow users to select prices, options, colors, sizes, models, etc, do it. Your bottom line will thank you - users often rate "search" as the most frustrating part of many e-commerce sites (apologies for not having the study to cite here).

#10 - Get as Close As You Can Get (while staying relevant)

In the example above, eBay has done a masterful job showing which queries would have produced results. This advanced technique should be a wake-up call to others.
_

_

#11 - Share the Critical "Fit" Information

Many products are designed to "fit" certain criteria, whether it's a laptop (in this case) or a human body (with clothes) or another piece of equipment (when compatibility matters). In every instance of potential matches, show the critical information in the product details. I can't tell you how many laptop bag sites I browsed before finding this one that actually showed which laptop sizes it was intended for.

#12 - Tell Me If You've Got It

There are still sites out there that let you click "add to cart" or even "checkout" before discovering the awful truth - no more of your SKU in stock. It's the kind of experience that will lead you to permanently switch e-tailers.

#13 - You Can Never Have Too Many Photos

Since you don't get to see the item in real life, photos, reviews, videos and even fancy, 3D interfaces (where appropriate) are invaluable to helping the user feel like they've "experienced" the product prior to purchase. One photo, from one angle, sent by the manufacturer to every online store doesn't cut it. Go above and beyond the call of visual duty and conversions will skyrocket - links might, too.
_

_

#14 - Let Me See Delivery Options

There is a certain subset of users that has to see the delivery options before they start shopping. Older generations often fit this stereotype, but those baby boomers still have a lot of online spending years to go, so don't ignore them. It's best to make the link obvious in the permanent navigation (it's most customarily at the bottom of each page).

# 15 - If You Won't Send it To Me, Tell Me Who Will

In the example, Ted Baker is refusing to sell me the $200 dress shoes I want, but what's worse is that he won't tell me who will ship them to his old colony. I ended up finding them on Amazon.com, eventually, but Ted's losing out on his commission with them by not providing the link (and if I wasn't so dedicated to the brand, he'd probably lose the sale, too).
_

_

#16 - Reassure Me With Email
I panicked earlier tonight when I realized the replacement laptop I ordered may not have been shipped quickly enough to arrive in time for my trip to China (and no one wants to spend 28 hours on planes without a lappy). Luckily, Dell's order confirmation proved that I'd chosen wisely. Replicate this experience for your own customers, rather than leaving them in the dark (or, worse, crowding up your customer service dept. with e-mails that could have been answered in an automated fashion).

#17 - Give All the Order Details ASAP

When you send out order confirmations, make sure to include all of the product details to re-assure the buyer that they've selected properly. If I accidentally ordered the size 9 instead of size 8, I want to be able to fix it before the package arrives.

Hopefully, these techniques will find their way to your e-commerce sites, and when they don't, you'll grab the project manager and point them to this blog post. Together, we'll make the Internet an even better place to shop.

Source : http://www.seomoz.org/blog/17-new-rules-for-successful-ecommerce-websites

7 Website Design Mistakes to Avoid

1. Not planning your website

Before you start creating your website design, you must know, and be very clear about your purposes and goals for your website.

* Who your website is intended for
* What benefits can your website give to the intended group
* What you want the intended group to do as a result of visiting your website

Only with a well-defined purposes and goals, then you can clearly and directly convey your message to your intended group through your website.

2. Using too many colors and font styles

Keep your website design to no more than 3 colors and font styles. Using too many colors and font styles confuse your website visitors.

Think through these:

* How long would a confuse visitor stay in your website?
* What is the chance of this visitor returning to your website?
* Will this visitor recommend your website to his friends?

Your website design has to be pleasant to the eyes of your visitors to keep them surfing in your website.

3. Contact information not placed in an easily seen location

The 100% safe way is to use a ‘contact us’ button. The ‘contact us’ button is used so commonly that hardly any visitor can miss it. Place the ‘contact us’ button on all your web pages. If you are selling, offer your visitors multiple ways to connect to connect to you at their convenience.

* Through phone
* Through email
* Through on-line support
* Your office address


4. Information out of date

When your visitors see any out of date information in your website, it reflects poorly on you. Your website is a direct reflection of you and your credibility. When they see your website as good, they are inclined to trust your website.
Every single bit of information counts. Always update your website promptly whenever information changes. Do not run the risk of losing the trust of your visitors unnecessary.

5. Broken Links

Broken links is a hyperlink that leads to web page that does not exist. In most cases when you click a broken link you will see the Error 404 page.

Test-run your website and fix-up any broken links. When you do an update to your website, test-check your website to ensure all links works.

6. Orphan Pages

Orphan pages are web pages with no links pointing to them.
One quick and easy way to solve this problem is to put a link to ‘Home’ on all your web pages.

7. Slow loading times

Do not overload your website with images and applets. Not only does it slow down your web pages loading time, it turns away your visitors.

Source : Tips & Tricks: Website Design tips & mistakes

The top 10 top 10 tips for ecommerce web site design

1 Think about design

Make sure all aspects of your design matches your customers expectations, not just how it looks.

Ten Top Tips for a good Web Site .. has the wisdom

Red On Blue Isn't Good
I Don't Like Your Java Clock
Popup Window? I'm Leaving!

..but they then split the advice onto two pages, making it impossible to print. They also use blue text for headers which look a little too much like links for my liking.

10 Most Important Web Design Tips
.. contains tips such as..

Simple navigation.
Helpful and useful information.
Good quality content and images.

.. which I agree with but they then go on to use arbitrary animations and sound in their web page. I'm not so sure about those design choices. Because "simple navigation" is actually very subjective it can be extremely hard to acheive. Designing "simplicity" takes real skill and artistry.

Top 10 Tips For Web Sites

I like the tips from this site because the tips are easily measured and can be implemented. Anybody can validate their site's HTML or check the 404 page. A simple "tick the box" checklist that will genuinely help.

Ensure Your Web Site Complies With HTML Standards
Make Use Of CSS - And Ensure The CSS Is Compliant
Provide A Search Facility For Your Web Site
Ensure Your 404 Error Page Is Tailored

Top Ten Digital Photography Tips

One of the most common problems with small to medium sites is overlooking the use of imagery. Bad cropping, poor photography can all be helped by spending a little time playing with your camera and learning what it can and can't do.

Warm Up Those Tones
Sunglasses Polarizer
Outdoor Portraits That Shine

2. Use the best technology

Understanding what the technology is capable of will help you make the best technology choice. Make sure you find a partner who can leave the jargon at the door and can clearly explain their technology choices.

10 Important Tips for a fast loading web site

Again, these tips could be more explicit, maybe showing examples of how to optimize code.

Optimize your HTML code:
Effective Table design
At the OTHER media we would recommend that any site should not contain tables, ironically, to make you page faster to load and meet all accessibility guidelines.

10 Tips for CM Success

Focus on the content, not the delivery mechanism. Create a system that can be flexible and can change over time.
Remember that not everybody is technically inclined - make the site easy to use.

3. Plan your marketing

There is more than one way to promote your site and a lot of common sense advice on things you may have missed.

Top Ten Small Business Web Site Marketing Tips

These tips contain some wisdom that contradicts the tips many SEO companies will happily recommend.

Content is key
Keep it current
Don't try to outsmart the Search Engines - Eventually you'll loose
Links both in and our must be relevent

Ten marketing tips to help promote your small business

Because ten is such a small number, finding one Top Ten that has all you need to know isn't possible. You many have to shop around a bit.

Word of mouth is the most cost-effective, powerful form of promotion.
Business cards need to stand out from the crowd.
Testimonials support your credibility.

2 useful hints about affiliate/referral associate programs

I was attracted to this Top Ten because it contains "Harness Your Passion". It also suggests that you ......

Select your target
Become interested in a hot topic
You need lots of traffic
Rule number 1: Go for quality
Things You can Do to Increase Visitor Response

Getting people to your site is only half the battle, if that. This site has some challenging tips you may or may not agree with.

Whatever you are selling for retail online, "Lifestyle graphics" work best!
Most people come to a Web page in search of information.
Let your mind think outside of what is already being done or what has been done before.

The use of humor at times is very powerful.

4. Plan your SEO and marketing carefully

There are probably more tips on SEO than anything else on the web. Search Engine Optimization if of course very important, but it has to tie-in to other aspects of your business. Read the tips with a pinch of salt handy.

Google website optimization tips for top 10 ranking

There are good tips that everybody should be aware of and bad tips that can get you banned by Google.

Ten Tips to the Top of the Search Engines

Do not purchase a new domain unless you have to.
Optimize your site for your target audience, not for the search engines.
Research your keyword phrases extensively.
Design and categorize your site architecture and navigation based on your keyword research.

Essential Tips to Ensure Your Press Release Makes the News

Make sure the information is newsworthy.
Tell the audience that the information is intended for them and why they should continue to read it.
Start with a brief description of the news, then distinguish who announced it, and not the other way around.
Ask yourself, "How are people going to relate to this and will they be able to connect? "

5. Design the copy you use

The text you use on your web site will impact on the sales you make, the number of visitors and the perception of your brand. If you have a team of people adding to the site, how are they supported to work effectively?

Ten Tips for Effective Internet Article Writing

In the first paragraph clearly state what the article is about.
Explain your points in short paragraphs.
Don’t be afraid to spill all the beans! Tell your trade secrets!

6. Anti-tips, what not to do

Of course sometimes it's easier to tell people how not to do things rather how to do things. It can be easier to learn from others' mistakes than make your own.

10 Web Site Sins

Slow Download Times
Poor Choice of Background and Text Colors

Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes

No Author Biographies
No Author Photo
Nondescript Posting Titles
Links Don't Say Where They Go

10 Easy Steps to a Horrible Ecommerce Site

Use your Ecommerce Software's Default Layout
Don't use Thumbnails
Don't optimize your Images in Photoshop
Don't smooth the Checkout Process

Ten Tips To Keep Your Website Unnoticed on the Internet

• Choose an obscure domain name.


• Never add fresh content or pages to your website.


• Avoid reading anything about how to promote traffic to your website


• Set up your website and then just leave it.

7. Take usability very seriously

Ten ways to improve the usability of your ecommerce site

Normally I'd recommend that you buy 10 books on usability, including Steve Krug's excellent book "Don't Make Me Think", but there a few common sense tips in this, including...

• Identify users with their e-mail address


• Break up the ordering process into bite size chunks


• Tell users where they are and where they're going


• Don't make the ordering process harder than it needs to be

8. Be accessible to all

Being accessible to all is both a legal requirement and the right thing to do. Make sure you research what the current best practice is and hopefully go beyond it.

Make your web site more accessible - ten tips that also goes for mobile access

Avoid using tables to format text columns.
Validate the HTML & CSS of your site.

More than 10 tips from Dive in Accessibility

9. Think about your business and legalities

When working with some design or technology companies, you would be forgiven for imagining that it's all about the technology. Make sure you find an agency that wants to hear and understand about your business.

Top 10 Tips When Buying Your Web Site

* Be clear about how you will measure the success of the web site.
* Who are your audiences?
* What do you expect visitors to gain from your site?


Ten Tips to Profit From Traffic to Your Website

* Join relevant affiliate programs
* Sell Advertising on your site
* Increase sales 5-15% with an exit pop-up

10 Tips to Save You Time and Money When Planning Your Professional Website

Make a list of sites you like /dislike
Evaluate your competitor’s websites

Advice for New Coaches: 10 Ways to Attract Your First Paying Client and Receive Endless Referrals

Lead an online forum or discussion board.
Focus on a niche market.
Have a provable track record
Ten Legal Tips for Web Site Operators
* Use a Written Website Contract
* Watch Your Exposure
* Consider a Privacy Policy
* Respect Trademarks
* Protect Your Own Intellectual Property
* Abide by Advertising Laws

10. Pay attention to who is giving you advice

Yes, I've been guilty of writing "top ten" articles (see 10 Top Self-Test Usability Tips).

I'm pretty sure that most useful knowledge can't be condensed into just ten tips, but they can be a really useful way to see how your priorities match a potential company.

See Tom's blog: theOTHERblog.com
See Tom's Shopping site:http://www.burningahole.co.uk

Original Written By : Tom Smith

Current trends in graphic design

People are changing the way that they consume online information so nature of the Website brings with it an expectation of interaction with information and modern Web design are become work of web designer

Current trends in graphic design include using fonts of different sizes in headlines and pull quotes or using a very small font in the margins of magazine articles. You see this especially in magazines where designers have broken many rules in order to achieve “innovative” design. These trends then trickle down to marketing design where they are seen in ads, direct mailers, on web sites, etc.

Such design elements are eye catching and nice to look at, but they can also be difficult to read, lowering reader comprehension. Which means, if people aren't reading your expensively designed marketing collateral, they probably aren't going to respond to it either. If you are putting together an ad, web site or a direct mail piece, consider these following time-tested design rules:


1. Use alternate forms of navigation including the ability to browse by user, tag clouds, tabbed navigation etc

1. In the US, serif typefaces are the easiest to read. In Europe though, people find sans serif easiest to read.

2. Make your web site easy to read by using typefaces that were designed to be easy to read on a computer screen. Some examples are: Georgia (serif) and Trebuchet or Verdana (sans serif).

3. Reverse type (white type on a black background) is much harder to read. Rather than not using this design devise, which can be attention getting, you can assist the reader by keeping the amount of text short and/or the point size large.

4. Engage the attention of Web users by drawing their eye to what is important, rather than trying to provide them with everything under the sun.

Source : http://enricodesign.com/newsletters/type.html

Hot multimedia tips

Some of Howwired's best web developers and graphic designers have converged to share their techniques to create effective audio, video and animation in the web. Here are excerpts from the pool's tips, tricks and wizardry to help you optimize your multimedia efforts.

· Use layers as often as you want to. Using a liberal dose of layers will make it much easier later when it's time to re-edit and animate. In addition, it doesn't add much to the overall file size.

· Save copies of the file as you work when using Flash. This is especially helpful when you're using a Mac. This will come in handy when you suddenly experience problems in opening a Flash file you've been slaving your days with.

· Use color outline layers and guide layers liberally. Both are found under the layer pulldown menu. The color outline layers show a layer in its outline form--- great for getting quick and precise positioning particularly with scanned drawings. Guide layers are for positioning bitmap guides or for testing layers you may want to remove from your final version. They allow you to keep a layer from exporting.

· Mix and match programs and media to get better results. Experiment and try combinations such as flat color vectors with photographic bitmaps for an interesting and rich output.

· For additional depth and color to vector images, use gradients; but don't overuse so as to avoid adding to the file size and speeds.

· Don't overdo your media. Your audience will definitely get indigestion from your web site.

· Never make your audience wait. Downloading an image that takes millions of years to finish will definitely make your audience cranky. They'd probably clicked to another site even before your banner finished downloading itself. "If people have to wait, be sure it's really worth their while," says HotWired's resident interface designer.

· Design delays that cover the loading process. Flash features full attributes that helps in keeping the audience occupied while that giant sound file is loading in the background. Flash's Bandwidth Profiler is said to provide a big help on this.

· Use the knowledge and wisdom of your friends and colleagues. A good multimedia comes from a diverse source of skills found in people. The adage that two minds are better than one definitely applies here. Talk to other multimedia designers or join groups and mailing lists to share ideas and knowledge. What you think is trash for you might be a goldmine for another artist.

Written by Sally

Source : Creative graphic designs

The Importance Of Sound Website Design & Search Spiders To Internet Marketers

When designing your website you must incorporate structural website design principals that elicit search engine friendliness.

An astute marketer should also desire to see how search engines see his or her site. This may be accomplished by a Lynx Viewer which is a text-mode web browser. Additionally, a Lynx Viewer can help you determine if your web pages are accessible to the vision impaired. A quick search in Google for "Lynx Viewer" will yield numerous sources from which you can download this important tool for your use.

Even though you must design your website with your visitors in mind first, it is crucial that you accord the search engines top level priority too, since the vast majority of these visitors will arrive via search engines. Practice good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) but not at the expense of your visitors' experience -- it is a balancing act that must be accomplished with prudence.

Web browser standards are not yet fully harmonized. A web page that looks great in Internet Explorer might look atrocious in a Mozilla based browser like Firefox or Netscape. A marketer must therefore be conversant with the intricacies of cross-browser design -- designing for one browser (IE) is no longer ideal, as the Google backed FireFox is eating up Microsoft's browser turf at an alarming rate.

Anybody can "whip up" a web page in FrontPage without sufficient knowledge of HTML, but may not be able detect and correct the messy code that FrontPage generates underneath the page, some of which is proprietary to Microsoft. Consequently a website that looks superb in Microsoft Internet Explorer may look and load dreadfully in Opera and/or some other browser, denying you visitor traffic.

Never use a Word Processor to design your website. Word Processing software generate tremendous amounts of code that is not search engine friendly. If you cannot hand-code using a text editor then it is necessary that you use authentic and industry standard web design software that incorporate the most up to date design principles. Macromedia's Dreamweaver and the latest version of Microsoft FrontPage are good candidates with Dreamweaver getting my partisan nod.

A first-rate design strategy should include the use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and valid XHTML, the most current in the HTML generation of standards. Websites designed in strict W3C standards tend to be lighter, faster and cross-browser compatible. This is not to insinuate that table based design is going anywhere anytime soon, for it is my humble disputation that if strict W3C standards were to be enforced in browsers, 95% percent of websites would go out of business, furthermore the lack of inter-browser synchronization just worsens things.

Read more at The Importance Of Sound Website Design & Search Spiders To Internet Marketers

Details Rule tips in Website Design

Written by Jamie Kiley

When it comes to websites, the details matter. Although many website owners believe the important thing is merely to get a website up, that's only a small part of the job. Effective sites take a lot of planning--and a lot of concentration on the details.


Is it crystal clear to visitors what they are supposed to do on your site? It's critical to ensure that you've provided straight-forward directions to visitors as to what they should do on your website.

Have you answered all the objections visitors might raise ? Visitors will have questions and hesitations at various points throughout the process of making a decision to buy. Are you answering those concerns at the points where they are likely to come up ?

Have you emphasized the benefits of your services, not just the features ?

Is your website organization clear and straightforward, and is it oriented around visitors' needs and priorities ? This is one question website owners continually fail to consider. Consider things from a visitor's point of view, and organize around your visitors' priorities, not your internal company structure. The same goes for individual page layouts, not just the website organization as a whole.

Do the graphics on your website visually emphasize the most important items on each page ? Take a long hard look at your pages and figure out which elements really stand out. Are you visually drawing attention to the important stuff?

Does your website draw along a path to an end goal ? Every website should be a process geared toward getting visitors to take certain actions. It's your responsibility as a website owner to figure out the details of how that process should work and which steps happen where.

Have you considered everything from a visitor's point of view, not just a website owner's point of view?

If you want to create an effective website, get intimately acquainted with your visitors' mindset. Learn to identify with your visitors' feelings all the way through from the very beginning of the process to the very end. Understand their specific needs, their concerns, and the benefits that speak to their hearts.

After you've done that, analyze the details of your site. The answers you've determined for the above questions will affect the fine points of your graphic design, of your page layouts, and of your overall site organization. Purposely evaluate why each element of the page is placed the way it is and identify what purpose every item serves.

It's not enough to just launch a website. You have to make the details count !

Does your site have the essential ingredients that make customers buy? Jamie Kiley can help you find out exactly how your site needs to be improved. Sign up for a site review today at http://www.kianta.com

Read more at :
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2004/05/21/the-details-rule-in-web-design

Tips on How to Redesign a Large (Dynamic) Website

Redesigning large dynamic websites can either be easy or problematic. Read how you can redesign your large website easily and efficiently.

Before you actually make any changes to a site know the several types of large sites:

1. large static sites using pages with .html extension
2. large sites with Server Side Includes without a CMS
3. sites with a content management system

-using templates for layout

-using built-in layout

These site types are different in terms of how easy it is to change the site look. Let's see how exactly it works for them.

Static sites

Large static sites, usually on HTML, are quite rare. If you want to change such a site easily, you'll have to use Server Side Includes and any programming, if needed.

To redesign your site with SSI to the site, you'll have to do the following:

1. Create a new layout, which includes all necessary design blocks and content
2. Divide the page into parts: the includes
3. Introduce the Server Side Includes code into every page on your site.It is required for the site to be edited easily.

You can always install a CMS for an often updated website: it'll require putting all the content in the database, though.

Sites without CMS

To change the site design, you just need to create a design and divide it between includes. Most likely, you'll need to create the includes from scratch and readjust the pages accordingly.

Large sites with CMS

Large sites require extensive efforts to maintain them. There are a lot of CMS's, but, generally, they can be divided into two groups: customizable and non-customizable.

Sites with customizable CMS

Some use templates (default visual layouts, used for different types of pages), some change the page look with the help of a user interface. Basically, it may be best to use a CMS on templates to be able to customize the layout. To redesign such a site, simply redesign the templates your CMS uses to change the site appearance.

Sites with non-customizable CMS

Steps on CMS that can not change visual layout should be best redesigned with the help of a better CMS, or, if the site is small enough, just with Server Side Includes. This simply means that the site layout needs to be designed from scratch and the site owner has gained a chance of setting up an easily-customizable back-end solution for his website.

Summing up

In short, how a large site can be redesigned depends on how it was built. If it is possible to adjust a template layout, so much the better. However, if a CMS can't change the site appearance, it'd be best to replace the CMS with an easily customizable CMS, which is also web standards compliant (on CSS).

Source : http://www.webpronews.com/expertarticles/2006/08/01/tips-on-how-to-redesign-a-large-dynamic-website

Top 7 Things I Wish I'd Known About Web Design

Written by Jamie Kiley

1. Reading is incredibly valuable

In my opinion, both books and online newsletters are very valuable. Books are more methodical than newsletters, but newsletters are free and can cover more up-to-date topics. Personally, I try to read on a variety of subjects.

2. It's imperative to understand the target audience and the primary goal
for every client.

In order to design a site that truly meets a client's needs, the designer must understand what the site is supposed to accomplish, and what kind of visitor they will be working with.

3. A basic understanding of search engine optimization and copywriting is imperative.

Although you can design a website without knowledge in these areas, it's pretty hard to design a GOOD site without knowing at least something about SEO and copywriting. Designers have to realize their craft revolves around their ability to communicate a message-and that is dependent on the site's copy and visibility. Without any content or traffic, a designer's work doesn't do any good.

4. It helps immensely to narrow your own target market as a designer.

It means restricting your focus to e-commerce sites, or single pages for sales letters, or B2B sites, or sites in a specific industry, focus is key. It allows you to become specialized in one area and to develop real expertise in that niche.

5. Web designers should be marketers, first and foremost.
If a web designer does not understand the mindset of a marketer or a salesperson, they won't understand the logic of how to create pages that sell.

6. The point of graphic design is to increase functionality, NOT to create something that looks pretty.

As soon as designers begin treating appearance (and graphic design) as an end in itself, functionality starts to suffer. Instead, graphic designers have to recognize that every line of text, every photo, every button, and every other element on the page should be designed to make the page more functional.

7. Knowing the rules is good, and knowing when to break them is better.

You learn the rules and principles that underlie good design, you're a step ahead of the crowd. But if you have skill in knowing how to apply (and when NOT to apply) those rules and principles, you're leaps and bounds ahead. Knowing (and following) the basic conventions of the web is very important, but it's even more important to be able to think through the logic of a given situation.

Want to Know in Detail then Read Top 7 Things I Wish I'd Known About Web Design

eCommerce Site Design: What do you Really Think?

Take some time to research your competitor's websites. What seems to work on their site? What have they done really well? How does this information stack up with your site? What have you learned ?

Many ecommerce sites will phase in new site designs every two years or so. There are always new techniques and software applications to assist in the development of something that catches attention and is highly functional.

Have friends and associates try a beta version of the site to bring to light any flaws in the design. There is nothing worse than pushing a new site design that is riddled with flaws and broken links.

Many sites have enjoyed using Flash design in site development only to discover search engines don't access the information in Flash. While the functionality of Flash is a positive for visitors it may be best to develop a Flash and Non-Flash version of your site so search engines can read your site content.

Want to read more eCommerce Site Design: What do you Really Think ?

News Article Design: 20 Tips For Good Web Copy

Submitted by Jason Lee Miller


Clean is better. Eye-tracking studies say so.Web copy should be bulleted,concise,easy. Photos should be informative, not decorative. White space is good. And guys like looking at George Brett's protective cup.

For more Click at News Article Design: 20 Tips For Good Web Copy

How C.R.A.P is Your Site Design ?

Author : Mike Rundle
9Rules

The four golden rules of site design. Simply follow them and watch the accolades come flooding in.

Eons ago when I was taking the Freshman web design course in college (okay, it was only 4 years ago) I was taught about the acronym of all acronyms, the one by which all other web design acronyms were judged. We learned that good design is based on the C.R.A.P. principles where C.R.A.P. stands for Contrast Repetition Alignment Proximity, and when Creative Directors tell you that your design is crap, they’re actually giving you positive reinforcement. Okay, that last part was made up, sorry. “Crappy work” is probably not a term of endearment but rather an indication that your pixels smell.

There are various examples of what C.R.A.P. means on the web (Robin Williams first coined the acronym), but for me it’s this:

Contrast

Elements that aren’t the same should be very different so they stand out, making them “slightly different” confuses the user into seeing a relation that doesn’t exist. Strong contrast between page elements allows the user’s eye to flow from one to another down the page instead of creating a sea of similarity that’s boring and not communicative.

Repetition

Repeat styles down the page for a cohesive feel — if you style related elements the same way in one area, continue that trend for other areas for consistency.

Alignment

Everything on the page needs to be visually connected to something else, nothing should be out of place or distinct from all other design elements.

Proximity

Proximity creates related meaning: elements that are related should be grouped together, whereas separate design elements should have enough space in between to communicate they are different.

In this article I’ll go into further depth about each specific principle, and show examples of design that are either C.R.A.P. or just crap. Let’s go!

Contrast

Good contrast can make sites appear crisp and organized, whereas poor contrast blends it all into an incoherent mass of RGB values. Contrasting elements allow for the user to figure out which page areas are related and which are totally separate, so make sure to differentiate your elements and page sections.

One of my favorite designers, Jason Csizmadi, runs the killer design weblog Dangergraphics.com and his blog is a great example of what good contrast can do for the layout of a page. Here’s a screenshot:




and links to other sites. The stark contrast between the left and right columns really brings cohesion to the similar areas while defining the boundaries between different types of content.

Good contrast separates main areas on a page and allows readers not to be distracted by similar elements on other sections. In my opinion poor contrast on a site makes for poor design. And example of this is Northrop Grumman’s Capabilities page.




This screenshot is a good example of bad contrast on the web. They had the right idea with the shaded right column background, however the light yellow doesn’t separate it enough visually, and using the exact same typeface for all body copy and headings within the two columns compounds the problem. The main section headers are merely emboldened versions of the text underneath, and this slight change doesn’t separate the sections enough. I think that if Grumman changed their section headings to a larger size (with more padding), and made the right column background more distinct, better visual contrast would be achieved.

Repetition

If you’ve ever designed a weblog before, you know about repetition. Typical weblogs have all the same page elements: a header graphic, a main column with multiple weblog entries (each entry having a title, date & comment headings, and content), and a sidebar with archive/category navigation. At Business Logs, I happen to design a lot of weblogs since that’s basically what my firm specializes in, so once you’ve put together half a dozen blog designs you start to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

The repeating nature of weblog entries down a page lets you control how the user’s eye is guided down the layout of your site, and the correct spacing and design is crucial or else entries will cram into each other (poor Contrast), users won’t be able to find key elements (poor Repetition), or in the worst consequence, readers won’t be able to read and comprehend your writing as well as they should. The repetition of design elements down a page reinforces their meaning to the user, as well as letting the designer organize the layout in a cohesive manner.





At the 9rules Blog, our layout represents a typical blog layout with two columns that provide normal blog functionality. Across both columns, I use similar design metaphors to keep the reader on track with what is being presented:

. Body copy and regular text is set in Lucida Grande (Verdana for Windows users).
. Section headings within blog entries and in the right column are Trebuchet MS
with a dotted separation line on the bottom.
. Links have a bold font-weight, and in blog entries they are bright green to match
the entry title link.
. All sections in the right column have a 7px grey border around them.

The goals for having the same typographical choices for both body copy and headings are 1) reinforcing their meaning within their context (headings in blog entries vs. headings above link lists), and 2) it’s cleaner and more visually consistent with the rest of the site. By repeating styles with similar significance/meaning across various areas of the site, I’m allowing the user get acclimated to this meaning which lets them browse the site more easily.

Alignment

In my opinion, quality alignment and spacing is the hallmark of good web design. Friends often ask me how I produce my design work, and honestly, I just line things up and make sure the padding around design elements is symmetrical and relative to their sizing. Here are some rules regarding alignment on the web:

. Either left-align, or right-align text, but don’t do both. Right-aligned text in a
right sidebar creates rivers of white space between the two columns and looks
awful. If you left-align your body copy, then left-align your sidebar text as
well.

. Centered headlines are classy, centered body copy isn’t. Two examples of centered
headlines with left-aligned body copy are McSweeney’s and A List Apart.

. Use existing hard edges to line up other elements. If your header graphic is 5px
from the left edge, then have your body copy be 5px from the left as well. Be
precise: 5px is not 7px — good design is all about the details.


Bryan Veloso’s SXSW Bowling site is a great example of how to align various elements on a diverse page. Let’s take a look at his cool header graphic:




Bryan has 4 different visual areas in the header, and all are aligned for maximum effect and message communication. He uses the left and right edges of the graphic to align the text and phoenix illustration, and then keeps the spacing around all 4 elements the same for symmetry, a technique that should definitely be emulated.






Repetitive alignment and symmetrical spacing are two techniques that can be used extensively in blog-based interface design, simply because there are so many opportunities to group elements together in some type of designed widget or box-like area. Further down on Bryan’s bowling site we see the Bowling Teams section and pictures of the bowlers. Bryan has a small padding around each image, and then keeps that same padding size to separate each image in the row horizontally. Good stuff.

Proximity

The principle of proximity allows similar or related elements to be grouped together to form a cohesive whole. Items that aren’t related should be kept visually separate from those which are. This enables the viewer to glance at a page and immediately know which page elements are grouped together and which are separate.

Matt Brett’s personal site looks great, and he uses a technique on his section headings that I find extremely valuable and useful:




For every section title, he has a sub-heading underneath it that provides a bit more explanation for what that area is about. He has tightly spaced the sub-heading with the larger title, and in doing so created a cohesive visual element that is the fusion of two smaller elements. If the sub-heading was 10px lower, the effect would be gone because the spacing between the two wouldn’t group the two elements together correctly.

This technique is very useful in weblog design, because too many blogs don’t put their sub-headings close enough to the paragraph they’re attached to, and without the correct spacing the elements appear separated instead of attached. Here’s an example of correct (left) vs. incorrect spacing (right) in this image:





The title and comment headings on the left are spaced evenly and form a cohesive whole, whereas on the right the haphazard and unsymmetrical padding causes the section to appear separated and jagged. Headings should appear close to the paragraph they apply to, same with images and their captions, comments and their author’s names, etc.

Oh C.R.A.P.

The C.R.A.P. principles (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity) are good ways to double-check your design work. Just like with a pre-shot routine in golf, if you constantly question and nitpick the details of your design work, good design habits will form and you’ll no longer have to think about if your padding is off or elements aren’t aligned, you’ll just do it correctly from the start.

Source : http://www.thinkvitamin.com/features/design/how-crap-is-your-site-design

10 Tips on designing a fast loading web site

Tips and tricks on effective web design

The Number 1 rule that every web designer should follow is to create a fast loading web site. You might have a great design but very few people are going to see it if it takes a long time to load. While designing a web site always think about how long it will take to load. Try out our tips to build a great looking web site that also loads fast

1. Minimize the use of images - The key to a fast loading web site is to minimize the use of images. Images do enhance a page but don't make 80% of your web site only images. Instead break it down as much as possible to simple HTML. Notice the popular sites like Yahoo, Google, Ebay, Amazon etc., they have very few images because the load time is more important. Very often simple designs are the best.


2. Optimize images for the web - Once you have decided on the images that you need on your site, make sure that it is optimized for the web. They should be in the gif or jpeg format. You can also minimize the size of the image by choosing the number of colors you need, from the color palette. The less the colors you choose, the less the size of the image. You can also use online tools like Gif Wizard to optimize your images or to get a recommendation on how to cut down the size of an image.


3. Use Tables creatively - You can get some great looking designs by using tables creatively . Tables load very fast because it is just HTML code. Tables can be used in the homepage, menus or anywhere you like.
Read more on Using HTML Tables Creatively


4. Cut down the use of animated gifs - Don't use animated gifs unless it is necessary. Animated gifs take a long time to load and can also be very irritating. But since they catch your attention you could use small animated gifs to draw a visitor's attention to a particular section of your site.


5. Design simple icons - Instead of using big, bulky images use simple and small icons that add a little color and draw the attention of a visitor.

6. Use background images instead of big images whenever possible - Use background images whenever possible. This is usually a very useful tip for headers and footers. Instead of using an image of width 580 which is a uniform design you can use just a part of that as a background fill. This reduces the size of the web page as the image is small. The code will look like this :


7. Try out CSS Styles - Have fun with CSS styles to get some cool text effects. Again, a CSS Style is simple HTML code so it loads very fast. You can create cool rollovers using CSS Styles.
Check out our CSS Styles tutorial for more cool tips on CSS Styles


8. Use Flash sparingly - There seems to be a lot of hype about Flash but I recommend that you minimize the use of Flash on a site. Don't make entire sites using Flash. It may look great but it takes hours to load and can really put off visitors. If you do want to use Flash use it within an HTML site and make sure it loads fast.


9. Design most of your site in HTML - As much as possible try to design your site using HTML. You can create great designs by just using HTML code. Use tables, CSS Styles and simple fonts to design your site. Minimize the use of animated gifs, Flash, bulky images etc.


10. Keep checking your load time - Last but not least, before you decide on the final design of your web site, check its load time on NetMechanic. This site gives you a free analysis of your web site which is extremely useful.

How to Avoid the 12 Common Web Design Mistakes

Are people visiting your web site but not buying? This may be a
sign and the time to do some redesign of your web site. Often
you are so close to what you have created, that you can’t see
obvious design mistakes. I often do the same when writing an
article – everything looks fine when I have finished, yet when I
review it the next day and I’m amazed at how many mistakes I
have made.

Let’s look at some of the most common Web Design mistakes:

1. Sloppy Web Site Copy – your heading and first paragraph should
clearly indicate the purpose of your web site. “Content is King”
on the Net, so make sure there is plenty of focused information
for your visitors. The content should draw the visitor through
the site to take action in the end. Include contact information
on every page in case people have questions.

2. Bad Color Coordination – avoid using dark text on a dark
background. Use dark text on a light background, such as black
on white. Use colors that blend well together – observe nature
or look at paintings to get some idea of good color
combinations.

3. Pages Load Too Slowly – using too many images or inserting
large images on a web page, slow down the loading time of your
web page. Optimize your images (reduce their size) before you
insert them on your site, otherwise your visitors will leave
before your site is loaded.

4. Poor Navigation – this means visitors can’t easily find the
information. They experience broken links, error pages or
discover too many moving objects (animations, flash, scrolling
text, marquees) – all these will annoy the visitor and cause him
to click elsewhere. Keep your navigation simple by creating
clear links on all web pages.

5. Orphan Pages – these are pages other than your homepage, where
the visitor has no idea how it fits in with the overall
structure of your web site. You should always have a link to the
homepage, so visitors know where they are on your web site.

6. Long Scrolling – the visitor has to scroll horizontally, or
many pages vertically to view the whole web page. Create the
width of your web page to fit on one screen, to avoid horizontal
scrolling and have a maximum of 3 pages to be scrolled
vertically.

7. Meta Tags Missing – without optimizing your web page with a
description or keywords, people can’t find you on the search
engines. Research key words or phrases relevant to your site
content. Include them in your title, description and Web Site
copy.

8. Lack of Marketing Strategy – a beautiful lawn without sun or
water will soon die. A Web Site without visitors will soon die
also. They are the life blood for your website. Create numerous
marketing strategies to attract visitors to your web site – you
never know which one will be the most effective.

9. Poor Layout and Design – create an aesthetically pleasing
design to keep the visitors on your site. Create enough white
space between your text and images by using margins. Don’t
overlap text and images and avoid capitalizing all text – it
gives the impression you are shouting at your visitors. Use
font type such as Arial or Verdana to make it easier to read on
your computer screen.

10. Avoid Using Frames – frames don’t allow you to bookmark the
page or return to it and sometimes the URLS stop working.

11. No Cross Browser Compatibility – you may be losing many
customers if your Web Site is not compatible to the browsers
most people are using. Internet Explorer (IE 4, 5, 6) is
currently the dominant browser, and most users are displaying
800x600 pixels or more, with a color depth of at least 65K
colors. (http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp) .
Therefore check your design with these statistics in mind.

12. Outdated Information – your web site is like a garden. If you
allow weeds to block out the sun and take over your garden, it
will be destroyed. Attracting and keeping web site visitors,
means continually adding new information (i.e. latest news),
deleting irrelevant, outdated information and removing broken
links.

Continuous maintenance of your web site is crucial to
attracting and retaining visitors. If you don’t have time to do
it yourself, hire a Web Gardener (Web Designer), to keep your
site looking fresh, clean and fast loading.

==============================================================



Herman Drost is a Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of iSiteBuild.com
Low Cost Hosting and Site Design

Subscribe to the “Marketing Tips” newsletter for more original
articles. subscribe@isitebuild.com

Annoying Website Design

Have you ever considered that your website may be annoying? When it’s comes to website design, knowing what visitors hate most is a must, unless you don’t want them to visit you again. This article describes what you should exclude from your website. If you know about an annoying website, feel free to send this article to its webmaster.

A few weeks ago I received an email from a colleague asking me to check one of the website he had developed. He is a web designer and his client wanted a nice attractive flash header. The flash header was great. You can’t miss it at all. Some nice graphics elements were flying in while sound effects created just the right atmosphere. However, after starting to explore the website, the header became very annoying because every time you clicked on the website the header restarted. What was pleasant initially became very annoying very quickly, disturbing your concentration and making it difficult to read what was on the page.

He is not the first to create what I like to call – "annoying website design". Many webmasters, especially new webmasters are totally “in love” with their ideas and tend to go overboard with their design in one way or another. It’s nice to have an attractive header, but is it really necessary to assault the visitor’s mind with it? In my opinion, absolutely not!

Webmasters sometimes forget that their website design should send a message to the visitor that should reflect the website topic and not the programmer’s skill level.

Is Your Website Design Annoying ?

Well…. It’s not that hard to be annoying. However, some webmasters are much better than others at annoying their visitors. Check my top 5 list and decide for yourself whether you have been annoying your visitors.

Background music – Unless you are operating an online internet radio station or sell music CDs, why play a midi/wav file in the background continuously on every page?

Huge font size – If you are designing a website for people with a disability then you are doing the right thing, but if not then you are shouting. People don’t like it when someone shouts at them.

Small font size – Do you want to be heard? Keep a normal tone, don’t shout but "speak" in a reasonable volume.

Overlapping layers – Layers can be very useful up to the point. But not when they are being used to put an annoying message in the visitor’s face. Don’t try to force your visitor to read your messages. Try persuasion instead of brute force.

Popup windows – Even though popup windows are now blocked by many add on tools, webmasters keep using them. The annoying part of popups is sometimes we actually miss important information because of those anti popup tools. Haven't you heard the old phrase "if you can’t beat him, join him”? Don’t use pop up windows. Put your important messages in a central place on your website.

Most likely each one of us has our own private top five lists. You probably have many more annoying design cases in mind. Well, you’re right, the list is much longer then that. I just wanted to describe some of the highlights in order to bring this important subject your attention.

Some of you are probably reading those lines and smiling while some others have a feeling a deja-vu. Keep in your mind that as a webmaster the last thing you want to do is put lots of effort into your website and then find out that your visitors hate it. It's not a matter of taste, it's more about being the same polite person we all try to be when we go to a party.

I tried to point out a few things that might be useful to some web designers and webmasters. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to send this article to my friend, hopefully he’ll send it to his client :)

About the Author:

Warren Baker is an Internet business consultant for WebDesigners123.
WebDesigners123 connects the Freelance Web Designer with Webmasters who need their services.

The 7 Deadly Sins Of Web Design

Sin 1 - Starfield backgrounds

You know the sort – zillions of tiny white pixels glinting back at you from behind the text. Beautiful. Not! In a galaxy far, far away, in a time long, long ago people thought this was cool. It’s not. It sucks and people who use it should be shot.


Sin 2 - Anything that moves.

Okay, that’s maybe a little bit harsh – let me zero in on something more specific - animated cursors. I know 12 year-old kids that think they’re crap. Wise up and lose the Homer Simpson cursor that leaves a wake of donut crumbs behind it as it moves across the screen. Please, I beg you, destroy them all!

Sin 3 - Fading Page Changes.

You’ve not seen these? Oh honestly – they’re wonderful. You click on a link to get to your chosen section and then suddenly the whole ass of the website morphs up into itself before re-appearing like a re-constituting Captain Kirk being beamed back into existence. Supreme. Whoever invented this deserves a medal. Ideally a medal that is extremely heavy, irremovable and is presented during a mid-ocean ceremony..

Sin 4 - Wide Load Websites.

You know the ones. You’re just getting into a sentence and then suddenly you realise that the last quarter of the sentence is not on your monitor – it’s extended into your kitchen somewhere and you need scrollbar shenanigans of Herculean proportions just to get to it. Wide load websites? Give them a wide berth.

Sin 5 - Designed By The Criminally Insane.

Words escape me:
http://www.chipotle.com

Sin 6 - Reflective Ripple Effects.

Absolute classic this one, I would be doing the Internet world a disservice if I left it out. You must have seen these in action – you come across a website (usually a personal one on free webspace) and there’s a picture depicting a tranquil scene, normally, though not always, containing a river or lake in it. And then the really tacky bit – the owner has lifted a bit of code from somewhere that makes the lower portion of the image appear as if it is rippling. The effect makes you feel like you’re having a water cannon loaded with chocolate ice-cream fired down your throat – it’s quite amusing and good fun for the first 2 seconds but you soon start to feel sick and dizzy wondering if there’s an off-button within reach…

Sin 7 - “Catch-Me-If-You-Can” Navigation.

Truly an invention of the devil this one. You can’t make head nor tail of what the little blobs on the navigation bar are supposed to be so you hover your mouse over them. But oh no – getting a description or hover-over clue now would be too easy. So instead the whole navigation bar starts scrolling past your mouse.
The more you move your cursor to catch up with the section you wanted to click on the faster everything starts spinning. Before you know it you’ve got a migraine, a sore wrist from moving your mouse too much and one less hour of your life left. If you’ve never witnessed scrolling, moving, “Catch-Me-If-You-Can” navigation just thank your lucky starfield backgrounds..

So remember people – don’t have nightmares and don’t commit any of the above cardinal sins!

Author : Matt Frenk
Source : http://www.e-articles.info/e/a/title/The-7-Deadly-Sins-Of-Web-Design/

Affordable Website Design

How do we know if a web design is affordable? Affordable website design is when there will be an obvious return on investment, over a set term. But the costs do not just stop at the website build itself. One has to look at whole expected life cycle of the website. Here are some ways that you can have a more affordable web site design development at the initial purchase stage.

The initial meetings usually get drafted into the cost of the website. Traveling to a client takes time and money so preparation is the key here. Find someone local, and get a minimum of three quotes. It may take more than one meeting to decide who to choose so here is where your preparation pays off. Know what you want, know how it should be achieved and reduce the number of meetings needed.

The actual design of a website can be very costly or very affordable, if you know what you want then it is more affordable. There are plenty of templates out there and even more websites, so if you leave it to a designer to build from scratch it will cost. The current trend is for simplistic design and since you have your own logo it should not be too hard to sketch together a style of your liking, simplistic design should not cost a lot of money. The important part for us is the content of the website so make sure that the design does not crowd this content.

The website has to be hosted somewhere and web hosting comes in various forms. Make sure that it suits what you need. If you have a ten page website which you aim to grow to a hundred page website, and one page averages at 110KB, then you should be looking at a web space of around 11MB. Take into account additional or larger images so triple it to be safe to start with at around 35MB. ? Do not pay for a 500MB website hosting when you only need 35MB.

Are they building the site from scratch or are they using open source software. If they build it from scratch, it is highly likely that the costs will be very high due to testing and development. Also, the support costs will be high as it is bespoke. Open source software is developed by the community and supported by the community. More than one web Design Company can take over a website built from open source software and support it without problem. If you use open source then there will probably also be pre built training packages on how to use it. Again reducing the cost and making the website more affordable.

Open source software is free software which web design companies can use and manipulate to suit their needs. The web designers still put in a lot of effort to make it look and behave as you like it but the engine of the website is normally already been and can be adapted to various situations.

So, as a starting point to a more affordable website design, have a good idea of the design you want. Try and opt for open source software. Have a guess at your web hosting needs and question if you think it is too much.

Neil MacLeod runs http://www.web-studio.co.uk providing web site and web marketing services in Buckinghamshire, UK.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Neil_MacLeod

Web Site Design - Easy Steps to Web Site Designing

One of the widely used ways to advertise a business or a product is through a personalized web site that tells all the stories about their product. It is indeed a powerful form of advertisement but a lot of web site owners fail in this aspect. What can be wrong? Its design. Yes, the site design can also bring horrifying failures to your business. So what are the key components that you must remember in web site designing ?

• Do not overload your site with information. Remember, the reason why online users go into the net is because they do not have the luxury of time. Now if you drown them with a novel-like advertisement on a site, then your site design is ruined.

• Go direct. In consonance with the short information, make sure that even when they are short, it gives what consumers want. Place information that answers the questions of consumers. In short, make your information relevant and direct.

• When you put information, make sure that it gives answers to the 4w’s and 1 H’s. The what, when, who, where, and how are all questions that most consumers have in mind. Make sure that the site concisely answers all.

• Follow coherence. It is not good to be reading about an article that does not show logical sequence. Make sure that your paragraphs are coherently done.

• Make a solid format. Learn what you are writing. Do not incorporate things that are out of bound.

• If your site is a menu based one, come up with detailed menu headings. Make sure that menu title is not too generalized. It makes it difficult for consumers to actually determine what choices it gives.

• Lastly, when a visitor logs in, make a follow up. This gives an air of importance to consumers. Knowing that their visit is given an importance makes a lot of difference.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to generating massive traffic ‘Triple Your Traffic Fast'

Raymond Nesa is an experienced web marketer specializing in article marketing, traffic generation, and list building.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Raymond_Nesa