Web Design Tips and Tricks

We have put together this list for you San Diego Do-It-Yourselfers in hopes of guiding you through the process of setting up, or maintaining your current website. These tips come straight from our designers and developers.

• Don’t use crafty site names- Crafty confuses people, make the site name informative. Something that grabs their attention.

• Don’t have slow load times- Most people are impatient on the net since the doing away of Dial Up. Not to mention the search engines will ding you for it.

• Don’t use Pop-ups- Nothing more frustrating.

• DO make your navigation easy or they will get flustered and find an easily navigable website.

• DO make your search work- if it doesn’t people are apt to go else ware.

• Don’t go homemade-The homemade look and feel is okay if you are selling to a specific clientele, but for the most part people want to see professional.

• Don’t use 15 billion different fonts- It huts their eyes and becomes cluttered.

• Don’t place irrelevant ads all over your website.

• DO Use a variety of colors is good- but make sure they contrast together and do not use too many.

• DO Use Paragraphs

• Don’t over stuff your page with keywords- doing it once or twice per page, okay. But not 30 or 40 times. Google isn’t stupid and they will make you pay for it!

• Don’t use page counters- they make you look like you are new to the internet, and you don’t want that!

• Don’t use Blinking text- It irritates people. Enough said.

• Don’t set up your site so that people have to download anything to see it. They won’t and will go find your competitor.

• Don’t use all Caps unless it is to emphasize a paragraph title or page name.

• DO keep your structure consistent.

• Don’t use background music, you have no idea what kind of music they like!

• DO avoid saying “click here” or “check this link”. Better to use your skills at writing and add a URL to the natural words.

• Always update your pages- and show the update date on your site.

• DO always have a site map and a what’s new page.

• DO provide an email address in the form of info @ yourbusinessnamehere. Com.

• Don’t use the terminology “Best viewed with my favorite browser” tend to drive people away.

Keep in mind that there is no written bible on web design, so we are just offering you a few of our tips and tricks. What are your thoughts?

Do you have any questions or need any clarification? Ask Away! Our San Diego Web Design Team is always here to answer your questions.