DO'S
1. Know Your Product.
It may sound odd, but many visitors know when a web site offers products or services that they themselves know little about. If you are letting someone else write the content for your site it is important that your content writer (designer) understands your business. Anticipate questions from customers and answer them before they are asked. At Thinq Web Design, we work closely with our clients to understand their business
2. Know Your Target and Visitors.
Your site should be designed to fit their needs and wants. If you're selling, know the demographics of the people you're selling to. If you're just providing information, know who you are targeting. The rule of thumb is to know more about your audience than they know about you.
3. Make Your Site Visually Pleasing.
Just because bright red and yellow are your favorite colors doesn't mean that they should be the dominant colors on your site. You want to make viewers feel welcome, comfortable, and that they are able to trust you. Although it's important to incorporate existing design elements that are identified with your business (such as logo colors), part of the job of a designer is to enhance the visual aspects for the web. Print colors and design methods are a very different science than web related colors and design.
4. Outline the Concept of the Site Before It is Created.
Know the answers to these questions: who, what, when, where, why and how. While these questions apply to your demographics they are also helpful in deciding what information is truly important and what isn't. A good web designer will spend the time gathering comprehensive information that will lead to a site that meets it's mark. Be cautious of any company or designer that promises to produce a quality web site with little or no information from you. At Thinq Web Design, our first question for our clients is, "What do you want to accomplish by having a web site?" We will understand your goals before we begin the job.
5. Keep Your Web Site Credible.
Back up what you say with statistics or links to articles that support your claim. If you have experts in your company, highlight them. Show the customer that there are real (and accessible) people running the business. Update the content as often as possible. Updating site content involves work, or adds a bit of cost, but the return on the investment is well worth it. If you plan on updating your content "in-house," make sure you discuss a method of site management with your chosen web designer. At Thinq Web Design, we offer our clients a number of site management options to suit their needs. We will also train our clients in the use of the content management software of their choosing. We can also provide on-going maintenance as part of our service.
6. Ask for Input from People Who Know Nothing About Your Product/ Service/ Business.
This is the best way to get true feedback. People who know nothing about what you are doing can find the smallest mistake and ask the best questions. They can give you a fresh perspective on your site and sometimes your business. They don't know what you know, and they often see what you don't. At Thinq Web Design, part of the process of building a web site involves gathering impartial feedback.
7. Use Images that Portray Confidence.
You want the customer to trust you right? Then show them that you believe enough in yourself and your product that there is no doubt that you are trustworthy. Dress for success. Don't let your site wear images that could make you look cheap and untrustworthy.
8. Be Consistent Throughout the Site: Design, Structure and Content.
Making each page of your site different can perhaps be entertaining to teenagers and new internet users, but most of your potential customers aren't new to the internet. If a viewer feels as though they're on a different site each time they click a link on your site, they are likely to go to another site. Consistency counts in site design, and your customers will expect it. At Thinq Web Design, we ensure a consistant design and feel to each web site we create. We can also go beyond the web, by providing our clients with a consistant design for all of their printed media such as business cards and advertising to pull together their professional identity.
DON'TS
1. Don't Guess at Who You're Trying to Reach With Your Site.
Simple guessing is not a good element when designing an effective web site. If you don't know your demographics, then you might as well have thrown your site together. At Thinq Web Design, we believe that research and market identification is the backbone of any well done business web site.
2. Don't Get Too Technical.
Your customers are the ones reading your site, so it should be written for them. Sure, your competition might read your site as well, but they already know the business jargon. Remember, other business owners may browse, but your customers are your buyers. It is important to remember that search engines and directories will also be visiting your site, and it's critical that the design and content be structured so as to gain solid rankings.
3. Don't Give Your Customers A Headache.
There are 256 colors available for site design. 216 of those are browser 'safe.' Just because there are an abundance of colors does not mean that they all should be used at once. Warm colors shouldn't be used with cool colors because of the conflicting hues. Further, some bright colors make the eyes work harder to focus and after a few minutes will likely give your viewers a headache.
4. Don't Keep Content That Isn't Being Read.
Keeping track of what your customers are actually reading is very helpful. You want a customer to peruse your site as completely as possible. The more they know, the better your chances are that they will make a purchase or sign-up for your service. If a page isn't being read then try something else. Rewrite the content, add psychological triggers, rephrase. It's vitally important to make sure that every page in a web site is an "important page."
5. Don't Repeat the Same Information on Every Page.
The viewer doesn't want to read the same material over and over. Give them new, fresh information on each page. If they want to go back and read the previous page, give them that option. Repeating content on multiple pages (word for word) is an old trick that was once used to make a web site appear to search engines as being "dense" and worthy of good rankings -- not any more. In today's competitive world of search engine rankings, this is only a way to get your web site penalized, or even worse, banned from certain engines.
6. Don't Hide Contact Information.
You'll find conflicting information on this topic. Some designers will tell you to put your contact information on every page, but customers tend to find that redundant. One page with multiple ways to contact you is more effective even if the customer never visits the page. Just having the page there tells them that you can be reached and that you really are there for their convenience. All in all, there is no absolute, and your contact information should be thought out and structured as part of the web site design.
7. DO NOT Use Animations.
Some would say use animations to draw attention to your ad, product, 'new' idea, etc. By following that suggestion you will only serve to frustrate the potential customer. Flashing, moving objects distract the eyes from your content and message. A customer is looking for information, if their eyes are distracted while reading, their comprehension decreases while their frustration increases. The use of bright colors that fit your site can help direct a visitors eye while not overwhelming them. Special font treatments such as bolding or italicizing words is another way to emphasize phrases, or items you want the customer to notice.
We often get requests for the use of "Flash" in a web site. Flash is a wonderful tool when used appropriately, but must be incorporated to be friendly to search engines; it can often be a sticking point that may look nice, but harm your objective to be "found" on the web.
8. Don't Use Multiple Fonts.
It only takes the eye seconds to adjust to a new font, but those seconds are distracting to the mind. Different sizes, styles, and colors are confusing. Choose one font and stick with it. Consistency is more important than creativity when it comes to text. There are a number of appropriate fonts for different elements of a web site. At Thinq Web Design, the font choices that we present as part of a web site design are considered as important as the color choices.
9. Don't Take Control Away From the Viewer.
Creative cursors, full screen browsers, and other 'entertaining' aspects of site design are great, if your target audience understands they are visiting a web site that is meant to be entertaining, but for a professional website "tricks" just give the appearance of being cheap, second rate, tacky, and amateurish.
10. Don't 'Bunch Up' the Text.
Add spaces between paragraphs so customers don't feel overwhelmed with information. Text being read in a web browser should be served in "short bursts" and not in huge blocks. Incorporating small pictures pertaining to the content gives the eyes time to relax before reading further, and helps to convey the message of your content.
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