Good web design is an important part of developing a successful web page.  Operating a web site can be a difficult and trying experience if you neglect this area, so if your site is having issues, taking a look at your underlying design can help resolve a lot of problems.  By correcting common usability errors you can help your customers, your search engine performance, and your advertising revenue, all while making the process of maintaining and updating your site easier.

            First and foremost, the style sheet for your page is a perfect starting point.  You need to pick a color scheme and stay with it.  Figure out what backgrounds you want and what fonts look good with them and don’t deviate.  In the same vein, use only specific colors for links, active and already clicked, and don’t use those colors for other text.  It is even advisable not to underline any non-hyperlink text, as this confuses visitors.  Choose commonly used font families to avoid display issues, and only use fonts that scale well.  Take a look at your site and think about the style sheet from a customer’s point of view, if anything seems gaudy or wrong, don’t hesitate to make a change.

            Layout is equally important in terms of page design, as many sites lack good organization and contain such pointless distractions as splash pages.  A splash page is usually an annoyance to visitors, and more importantly, helps your site lose search engine performance, since the index page is the most important one for SEO.  Your site should be laid out logically, each page having a specific purpose, and no page trying to do too much.  Do not put too much text or content in one place, keep the design simple, that way your customer can access what they want without having to read through unrelated text.

            While font, color, and layout are all extremely important, the most important part of proper usability is making sure the user can intuitively access ever part of the site they need.  This may involve a menu with dropdowns or a more simple means of navigation, but without this important aspect of site design users will lose interest because they do not wish to search the site for what you should have made easy to access.  More important links should be first or easiest to access, and hopefully your users will be able to find what they need.

            With these changes, your site can become much more effective at drawing in customers and serving their needs.  Without, your site won’t attract return visits and your customers will be confused and unlikely to use you.  Once your site is functioning properly, it is time to move on to more detail oriented changes, like search engine optimization and targeted marketing, but you cannot reach these steps until you cover this basic one.

Posted by Ian Logsdon.
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