A big mistake that many new internet marketers make is not learning anything about website design. Even if the website’s main page will be a blog, it helps to learn a bit about design. After all, your website represents you. If it fails to make a good impression then you fail to make a good impression. That’s why it important to know enough about design to make sure your website is user friendly.
Designing a Pleasant Website
Make sure your website is easy to navigate. The menu should be clearly displayed on the left or right side of the page. You can also put it across the top of the page beneath the header. Some people put the menu at the bottom beneath the content, but that’s not a good idea. Putting your menu at the bottom makes it harder to spot, and your visitors may get annoyed and leave.
Your website should also be easy to read. One fault of many blog designs is that the text is too small to read. A pretty design is useless if people need a magnifying glass to read the content. So always put usability above looks. Use reasonably sized fonts and adequate line spacing.
People sometimes forget that it’s hard to read text when it’s too close together. This is why you should always check the line spacing between words, lines of text, and paragraphs. Better yet, make your fonts adjustable so readers can resize the fonts to their liking. You can find blog templates with this feature already built-in. And of course, it’s easy enough to adjust a traditional website’s text.
Pay Attention to Graphics
Graphics are a major concern. Very few people will stick around waiting for slow graphics to load. And with the popularity of Web 2.0, people are loading their pages with even more graphics than before. Web 2.0 graphics look good, but that doesn’t mean your website or blog should be overloaded with images. If you must use them, then at least make sure they’re optimized for faster loading times.
And last, but not least, make sure your website looks good in various browsers. Don’t take the lazy way out and tell your visitors to use either Internet Explorer or Firefox. It’s your job to design, or have designed, a website that visitors can use no matter which browser they’re using.
So to recap:
- Make navigation easy
- Use good sized fonts or make fonts adjustable
- Use enough line spacing
- Don’t overdo it with graphics
- Test your website with various browsers
You’d be surprised how many people fail to do these five simple things. Please keep these steps in mind when designing your next website. Also check your current website to make sure it measures up.
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