Use A Web Site Template? – Make It Original!

A lot webmasters go for the ease and speed of using a web site template of some type to get a fast start. And a web site design template, whether you buy it or make it can be a big time saver. But you also always want to make sure that you customize each one enough to stand out from the original.

Especially when you use a professional template bought through the Internet. There are a lot of good designs out there that can fit multiple subject areas. The color and design are well thought out and have a lot of visual appeal. Even if you use a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor like FrontPage, a custom web site template can speed development.

One of the toughest things in creating a web site is to get a good clean design that has good navigation and attractive color schemes. And you don’t want to make any changes that have a negative impact on the user experience. Always keep user navigation in mind.

One of the must haves in any good design is for the user to easily find the information they want fast. Whether it’s details on your product and service or even how to buy, make it as simple and easy as you can for the customer. Many times I tone down the design by removing some illustrations or graphics that aren’t necessary.

I’m not particularly sold on things that make noise (audio is meant to be used sparingly and totally at the users discretion). There’s nothing more irritating to someone in a quiet environment (like an office cubicle or library) when they visit your web site than loud music or weird noises.

Many times I may like one particular element of the web site template and just use that for my current project. For example, a menu design, color combination, or maybe a specific layout. Your content should be the focus, not your design. Most web sites are designed to inform, sell, or communicate with the user.

If you look at the major web sites like Yahoo, Amazon, and Google they all have a very clean and easy to navigate layout and design. No fancy graphics, noises, or special effects like Flash. Now if you are designing a web site for a Multi-Media company, then it might be appropriate but other wise stick to the basics.

You can also use templates to help you come up with new ideas that fit a special design requirement. Position and layout are key factors in keeping the user interested and can help with the flow of information. You normally have about 5 seconds or less to engage the visitor so it’s necessary to grab their attention fast.

So your web site content should be the first thing a user sees, not some twirling illustration. And if you are selling, the headline is the element that will keep the visitor reading, not your design. Graphics are great to illustrate a point, establish a brand, or provide a visual of your product. But if over used, they can destract from your message.

If you want to see how a typical visitor views your website, check out the Google Adsense Heat Map. It shows the natural travel of any visitors eyes and where they often look first, second, and third. The heat map was developed to help Adsense users but the same principal applies to all information displayed. If you keep that in mind while designing the layout, you can increase the visibility of important elements of your message.

You can learn more about the Google Heat Map here: https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=17954

It’s also a good idea to change all the names of any graphics used from a template. There are two reasons, one is it’s a good SEO (search engine optimization) tactic to keep names within subject matter and use alt text feature too, and plus this also keeps your website looking like a duplicate to the search engine bots that review all web sites.

A good set of templates can help both with design ideas and speed up the development process. And this can help you give a client a better product in less time. Always try and add some changes and don’t copy a web site template exactly. Make enough changes to keep it original and insure that the content is the focus point.

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Until next time!
Arianna

Source: http://www.articledashboard.com
John Dow owns www.fptemplates.net, a website that sells a great set of FrontPage templates and web site tools package. Get 125 Templates and several web site utilities like Audio, Shopping Cart, and other useful scripts. Click here to learn more: www.fptemplates.net. , http://foxiedesign.blogspot.com , http://foxpromotions.blogspot.com

Easy Steps to a Useable Website

Building a useable website can seem daunting. Here is a quick guideline to help you on your way.

It's all about your content
To get your website listed appropriately the content of your website needs to be nested between the tags. This way it gets read by the search engines. Your content also needs to be unique and get your point across.

What is it about your product or service that is better and different from your competitions. This is called your usp or unique selling proposition and should be conveyed clearly and immediately upon hitting the page.

Make effective use of your title and description tags
These are your two most important tags when it comes to referencing your page content. Meta keywords rarely have any impact what so ever on your pages listings.

Make sure content is well formatted
It is very important to break up your content with italics, bold text, bulleted lists, etc. Well formatted content makes your pages more accessible to visitors but the search engines also. Visitors scan across your page rather than read it so it makes sense to format your page so it can be browsed yet still convey your message.

Proper code
Having proper progamming in place is quite simply a must. Web standards have changed substantially over the years and it is important to make sure your pages validate both html and css. Think of it this way. How effective could you get your point across if you were talking swahili. Your code is no different. Why make it difficult for the search bots to index your content.

Do not use Front Page, Dreamweaver, or any other WYSIWYG editor.
While accurate, MS Front Page, for example, makes it easy for just about anyone to throw up a web page it doesn't take W3C compliancy into account. Hence the code it outputs is an absolute train wreck. This is terminal for your website as you need a strong code base (foundation) or your site will never stand up to the competitions.

Don't design in Flash
Seemingly technical in nature or "neat" perhaps flash animation only serves to distract visitors from what they came to your site for in the first place, your product or service. Your services are what visitors are interested in not a blinking, noisy, website. Flash also creates major problems with getting it properly indexed. There is no way for the search engines to extract content from your website as it is all contained with in the swf. If you absolutely must have a flash page it is imparitive to offer an html version as well.

Easy on the eyes
Graphical elements play a huge role in a website design as well. You need to make sure you don't have any extreme contrasts between colors and that you don't use really bright colors as they are quite hard on the eyes. Your logo or brand should be clearly displayed on the home page and in more than one place.

Instill a sense of well being with ease of use
Make sure you have all legal documents in place such as privacy and return policies. It is also important to have all of your contact information pricing etc. displayed in a manner that conveys legitimacy. It should be very easy to contact you for any questions your visitors may have.

Include an opt-in newsletter
A great way to generate return customers is to offer an opt-in newsletter. This allows for direct marketing to people who you know are already interested in your product or service. What better way is there to keep customers abreast of new products or changes in the services you offer.

Recommended Sites:

IX Web Hosting (Click Here)
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Until Next Time!
Arianna


Andy MacDonald web design company usaaffordable web design company usa email: webmaster_soal@yahoo.com http://foxpromotions.blogspot.com, ttp://foxiedesign.blogspot.com