Creating a fabulous and effective website is the cornerstone of your online operations. Since you are competing with high-priced pros and seasoned designers, you need a basic idea of how to produce your best site. The following article will offer you an outline of what you need to put into your site, for the best possible outcome.
1. Establish your target audience. You need to know who your visitors are and as much about them as possible. Act as if you are speaking directly to a specific set of people, keeping in mind the tone and attitude you should take. A fine arts website should not be screaming neon, but perhaps a web business aimed at rappers or gamers would be. Know full well from the get go who you are making your site for and how to appeal to them.
2. Statistically quantify your audience. Once you know who they are, find out what their average age is, medium income, gender, time spent online and percentage of total shopping done over the Internet. Such statistics are available online, as are tracking measures for you to further narrow the specifics of your visitors.
3. Produce a rough draft of your site. Sketch out the details and layout of what you would like your site to cover and look like. Think like an end user as you create the schematics and visualize the final outcome. Make sure you include strategically placed information and icons, to lead visitors where you want them to go. Keep it simple and easy to navigate. You might even want to ask a few friends what they think of your rough draft before beginning to build.
4. Consider the use of keywords. You want to be prevalent to people searching for your type of site. Keywords will guide visitors directly to you, so you need to think about which words are most suitable and scatter them about your site. It would be a good idea to have a professional source of reference, as search engines can be fickle about your site and often change-up their criteria without warning.
5. Select a good color scheme and template. Try not to get too creative, unusual or flashy. Although the most beautiful and beaming colors may look great on curtain fabric, a computer monitor is an entirely different ballgame. Go easy on the eyes and select muted or neutral colors that do not take away from text and your navigational tactics. Keep in mind that your will also be viewed on mobile sites, so the less bells and whistles you have, the easier it will be for pages to load.
6. Use the right tools. Many sites offer free advice and templates you can take advantage of. Putting together a website can be quite simple with the use of these tools and nothing about your creativity will be stifled. Make sure you don’t get carried away, keeping in mind the fact that end-users are the ultimate judge and jury of your site’s attractiveness and functionality. Check out free forums for opinions and advice on the best design tools available.
A great website will grab the attention of visitors and keep them on the page. The right keywords will specifically invite the people your site is intended for and increase your chances of success. Use the above suggestions to develop an effective website that your audience will enjoy and keep coming back to.