By Taannia Flahmeri,
Taannia Flahmeri Marketing Services
Is your website presented in a professional manner – one that reflects your company’s image – or is it just a jumble of words and images that gets lost in the shuffle?
I’m sure that many of you have surfed the web for either a product or service and found some sites that totally captured your attention (“wow!”) and some that, well… put you to sleep (ZZzzz...)! As the timeless saying goes, “the first impression is the last impression”. And that's just as true for a website design.
Luckily, the basic ingredients for an exceptional website are relatively simple.
Clean, simple and consistent
If the website is visually pleasing and easy to navigate and understand, you’ll find people are more likely to stay on the site longer and view more of it. The layout, style and colour of the entire site should be consistent - each page must look like it belongs to the same website. Just as important is that it ties together, in both look and feel, with any other communication pieces your company uses.
Accessibility
Limiting the use of “plug-ins” required to view your site is recommended. Keeping your site simple and user-friendly is important, as people tend to avoid downloading unnecessary plug-ins for a variety of reasons. And with modern web techniques like dynamic CSS, an eye-catching, dynamic site can be created that doesn't require any special plug-ins to view.
Content is king
Capture your reader’s attention by creating a compelling headline focusing on one or two of your product's or service's benefits. Content should be written in a simple format - explaining the benefits, why a person should use your product or service, and what sets you apart from your competitors. As well, updating your site regularly with new information ensures that people will revisit your site. A regularly updated site also is more attractive to search engines and is more likely to increase your ranking.
A "blog" is one of the best ways to keep your site topped-up with fresh content. Blogs are now very much a standard means of building a site, whether corporate or personal. And readily accessible and free tools like WordPress make it easier than ever to get a site up and running.
Testimonials
Adding testimonials to your site is an exceptional way of adding third party credibility. Hearing what others have to say about your product or service is a great way to let prospective customers know how you’ve helped others.
Graphics
As much as a pictures says a thousand words, it’s always best to limit the number of graphics you use on your website, since even in this high-speed era, too many images may still cause your site experience to be sluggish. In addition, search engines do not index text in images. At the very least, make sure your graphics are optimized for the size they actually appear at on your site. A common error is to place a too-large graphic on a web page, scaling it down to the size it's displayed at by using HTML code. The result: an image that slowly crawls onto the screen when it should appear almost instantly.
These tips are just a starting point. Web design and usability is a subject that's well covered on the web itself. Here's some great articles to get you started if you'd like to learn more:
- Top 10 Web Design Mistakes (from 2005 but still very relevant)
- 10 Principles of Effective Web Design
Remember that these days, it's not enough just to have a web presence. Your site design and function will quite often determine people's all-important "first impression" of your entire company. Make sure that impression is a good one!
Taannia Flahmeri operates Taannia Flahmeri Marketing Services. She can be reached at info@flahmeri.com.