The Birth of a Successful Internet
Business Part six of ten -- Designing Your Website
By Shelley Lowery
When preparing to design your website, you must first
decide on your website's focus.
If you're designing a mini-site, your website should focus
on one particular product. However, content sites are a
bit different. If you're developing a content site, your
site should focus on a subject on which you have a great
deal of knowledge. And, should relate to your products or
services. In addition, your images, ezine and content
should also relate.
Designing Your Site
When you begin designing your site, your top priority must
be your products. If your potential customers can't find
your products, you're not going to make any sales. It's
that simple. Every part of your website should have one
specific purpose -- to lead your potential customers to
your products.
For example, if you will be providing your visitors with
tutorials, these tutorials should relate to your products
or services. They should identify a problem, provide
instruction to assist your visitors, and promote your
products as the solution.
Your Storefront
The main page of your website is your storefront. It
should load quickly and provide your visitors with a
complete overview of everything your website offers.
Instead of trying to cram all of your information into
your main page, consider creating sections. These sections
can contain highlights of your information with a link to
further information. You can divide your page into
sections by using tables. These tables can contain colored
heading sections for information such as news, articles,
products or whatever you'd like.
It's much better to keep your main page down to the most
essential elements. You can then use links to additional
pages to provide the detailed information. A good rule of
thumb is "less is more." In other words, keep your main
page as small as possible, while at the same time, include
your most important elements.
Load Time
According to two surveys conducted by Forrester Research
and Gartner Group, ecommerce sites are losing $1.1 to $1.3
billion in revenue each year due to customer click-away
caused by slow loading websites.
The main page of your website should load within 8 seconds
or less with a 56K modem.
There are many things that can cause a web page to load
slowly including:
=> Large graphics
=> Too many graphics
=> Animated graphics
=> Too many banners
=> Special Effects
=> Large pages
Optimization
You can significantly decrease your site's load time
simply by optimizing your graphics. This process will
decrease your graphic's file size without sacrificing the
graphic's quality.
You can optimize your images right online. Visit GifWorks
for further information.
http://www.gifworks.com/
Enhancing Your Site
There are a number of ways you can enhance your site
without using a lot of graphics. For example, if you can
use the same small images such as bullets or arrows, it
will give the illusion that you're using a lot of
graphics. However, your graphic will only have to load one
time. This will enable you to "recycle" your images to
keep your page's load time down, while at the same time,
enhancing your site's appearance.
In addition, you can enhance your site by using tables
with colored backgrounds instead of images.
If an image doesn't enhance your page in some way, you'll
be better off to just leave it out.
Tables
If you'd like to set up your web page using tables, try to
place your Heading text above your table code. If this
isn't possible, make sure you include your most relevant
keyword phrase within your top left table cell. This will
assist you in ranking higher in the Search Engines.
Screen Resolutions
When designing your site, keep in mind, your visitors will
have many different screen resolutions.
The resolution of a monitor refers to the total number of
pixels. The higher the resolution, the greater the number
of pixels. Higher resolutions present higher quality
images.
To accommodate the majority of your visitors, use a
standard screen resolution of 800x600 pixels.
Another way to ensure that your web page will look great
to all of your visitors is to set it up using tables.
Instead of using a fixed width within your table code, use
a percentage. This will enable your web page to span a
certain percentage of your visitors' screen size. For
example, if you set your table width at 90%, your web page
will automatically resize and span 90% of your visitors'
screen size, no matter what screen resolution they're
using.
Colors
Although there are an unlimited number of background and
text colors you could use for your web page, a white
background with black text will be your best option.
You must be very cautious when selecting your background
and text colors, as reading on a computer screen is much
more difficult than paper. You must make your web page as
easy to read as possible.
You can add color to your pages using tables with colored
cells.
Web Browsers
Before you begin the actual design process, I highly
recommend that you download and install two web browsers
-- Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. These are the
two most widely used browsers on the Internet. Why
download and install both browsers? So you can view your
pages through both browsers, as they are not created
equally. Your page might look great when viewed through
Internet Explorer, but may not display well when viewed
through Navigator.
Internet Explorer
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.asp
Netscape Navigator
http://home.netscape.com/computing/download/index.html
It is very important that you take the time to design your
web pages to accommodate both browsers.
In addition, you can also visit AnyBrowser to view how
your site will look through different browsers and screen
resolutions.
http://www.anybrowser.com
Above all else, your product must be your main focus. Your
product should be displayed above the fold of your web
page. This is the top portion of your web page that is
visible when your page is first loaded, without scrolling.
This is the most important part of your entire page -- use
it wisely.
Take your time and plan your website very carefully. There
is much more to web design than meets the eye. Do your
homework and learn how to design a website that sells. It
will be well worth your time and effort.
Copyright © Shelley Lowery
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design
course, Web Design Mastery.
http://www.webdesignmastery.com And, Ebook Starter -
Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a REAL book.
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