What Do You Need to Consider When Designing a Website

700863There are a lot of things that web designers have to keep in mind when creating a new website or redesigning an old one. You need to make sure that the site targets the right people, allows your site to rank up properly, and functions in a good way that lets your visitors enjoy what you have to offer. If you do not keep these things in mind, you are likely going to lose visitors when they could have become customers.

The Audience

Ask yourself who you plan to reach through your website, and cater your design and content to this group. Make sure you look at the site as objectively as possible and imagine what information that group would need first. If they can find that information right away, they are more apt to stay on your site and see what else they can find that could help them.

The Search Engines

seo-and-reverse-engineering-search-enginesYou want your website to be SEO friendly, right? Well, some content and designs are difficult for the web crawlers put out by search engines to figure out. You want to make sure when designing your website that you have an easy to use site, from a visitor and a search engine standpoint. Links should easily connect, pages should be organized, the navigation should be self-explanatory, and all of your content should be properly optimized for anyone that comes across your website.

The Functionality

Probably the most important consideration you need to make when designing a website is how well it functions. A site that is confusing or disorganized is going to have fewer repeat visitors than websites that are easy to use and understand from the beginning. You want people to be able to find information at a glance, skim through your content for the specifics they require, and move around your website with ease. Errors, confusing links, or content that does not make sense to whatever your website is about all have the potential to cause visitors to leave and not return.

Creating a website is more than putting colors and content on a page. You need to be able to create something useful that people will want to return to for some reason or another. If you make sure to consider who will be using your website and how well your website functions, you will be more apt to have new visitors coming on a regular basis, and returning again in the future.

 

SOURCES:

http://www.dallaspartners.com/WebsiteDesign/TheDallasPartnersAdvantage/Top10DesignConsiderations.aspx

http://www.prosar.com/inbound_marketing_blog/bid/173111/4-Critical-Website-Design-Considerations

http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/web-page-create.htm