Monday, February 10, 2014

Web Design Suggestions To Increase Your Visitor Engagement

By Clarinda Klocek


There is a multitude of things that a website can be used for. It can be used as an information hub, a social network for communication, or a simple entertainment portal. No matter what its use, all websites require a knowledgeable webmaster so they can be designed properly. Here are a few web design tips to help you create your own website for any purpose.

When you are designing a website, it is important to have proper spelling and grammar. In addition to running spell-check on your content, ask a friend or co-worker to proofread everything. Having good spelling and grammar on your website will help give it a professional feel and your visitor will be more likely to return.

It may look pretty, but stay away from having too many animations on your site. Having your sales splash page rotate, spin and blink may look cool to you, but it will likely drive potential viewers away. When you add too many flashy splashes like that, it makes your site look amateurish which is not the message you want to convey.

Before you publish any web page, check it carefully for broken links. Nothing is more frustrating to a visitor than clicking on a link and being taken to an error page. You can check your links manually, or there are programs that will scan your site for you and report any broken links.

Make sure that you use the right anchor text. The anchor text of a link should clearly describe what the visitor should expect to see when he clicks on the link. For instance, if a link leads to your widget ordering page, the anchor text might read "Order widgets." Specifically avoid using "click here" as anchor text.

Always ensure you are giving meaningful feedback, as this is what creates the communication between a website and its visitors. For example, if an action taken by a visitor results in an error, do not simply display "error occurred."? Instead, provide a message that explains what happened and how the visitor can correct the error by taking a different action. Without this feedback, visitors are more likely to grow frustrated and just give up by leaving your website.

Make sure your website content is both interesting and compelling. While the look of the design is important, the content is what keeps visitors returning to your site. When your content provides useful and valuable information that addresses the needs of your site visitors, those visitors are more likely to come back to your site in the future.

If you expect many people to contribute to the content of the website, incorporating a content management system (CMS) into the design of the website might be a good idea. A CMS will make it easier for everyone to add to and update the content without needing a high level of technical knowledge. These systems are easy to use, and can make publishing content on the website much more efficient.

Remember to use what you've learned here to your advantage so that you can build a beautiful, flawless website.




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