Webupon

Web site design is very important if you want to increase your website traffic. Very few web pages on the internet that clearly state what is good web site design and what is not good web site design. That’s because it’s completely subjective, like what is beautiful and what is not beautiful is in the eyes of the beholder.

In order to identify a poor web design, the following will be present:

• The text will be hard to read. This includes the use of tiny fonts against black backgrounds and illegible fonts against picturesque backgrounds.
• Slow page upload. Website visitors are are impatient and they will exit out of any site where pages take too long to download or have plug-ins that have to be downloaded in order simply in order to view your page.
• The website lacks a clear “Mission Statement” on the home page. Web surfers want to know immediately what a web site is about. They don’t want to have to read several pages to get it and then decide the time spent wasn’t worth it.
• There is absence of clear instructions on the home page explaining how to get essential information from the site. Web surfers want to surf with speed, not study in a library. A web site that takes up to 20 clicks before a visitor will get to the information he or she requires will have poor visitor satisfaction.
• A home page that requires you to click on something to enter the site (that’s called a portal page). What’s the point? You’ve already entered. Why in the world would you care to enter twice? Would an architect design two doors you’d have to go through to get into a bathroom? Would a sane contractor ever build it that way?
• Confusing site organization which are difficult to understand by visitors. This makes it difficult to have an easy navigation. The presence of dead links could also make it difficult to for visitors to develop interest in your site.
• Poor Content – Content that does not add value to a site visitor will not yield any positive result from such a visitor. In fact, in such cases, the visitor will quickly click the “Back” button to go to the next available site. Creative writing isn’t available from a web site designer at any price. If they were creative writers they wouldn’t be doing web site design.

These are some of the issues to avoid. There may be many more depending on your type of business and the type of visitors you are targeting.

On the contrary, good web design includes the following qualities:

1. Text that is easy to read. If the visitor is able to read your content, he will likely stay in your site and respond to your suggested actions. Examples of good text fonts are Arial and Verdana. Also, you may want to use a large bold font against a light colored background.
2. The fastest downloading speed possible. Perhaps you have many photos to display on your site, it is advisable to group them into one photo section so that people will expect that portion of your site to download slowly. You should avoid making people download a plug-in just so that they can view your page.
3. A clear mission statement on the home page that explains what the site is all about. This may be disclosed in the “About Us” page.
4. A home page that does not a home page that requires you to enter your name and email address before you can enter.
5. A well organized site that is easy to navigate by your visitors. It should not require expertise in web browsing to be able to interact with your site.
6. Entertainment value. You should display good writing skills here and write content that is interesting to your visitors. A content of interest makes visitors even bookmark your page, recommending your site to others and people keep coming directly to your site without the aid of the search engines.

A good web design involves balancing the key elements that appeal to search engines and your viewers. The web pages should flow together, with good navigation structure and content that adds value to your visitors. Not content specifically written for search engines. With frequent site update, you keep your visitors coming for more, developing loyalty and reducing your web site bounce rate. With this, you are guaranteed and increased traffic, increased sales and a popular brand name.