The Birth of a Successful
Internet Business
Part six of ten -- Designing Your Website
By Shelley Lowery
When preparing to design your website, you must first decide on your website's focus.
If you're designing a mini-site, your website should focus on one particular product.
However, content sites are a bit different. If you're developing a content site, your site
should focus on a subject on which you have a great deal of knowledge. And, should relate
to your products or services. In addition, your images, ezine and content should also
relate.
Designing Your Site
When you begin designing your site, your top priority must be your products. If your
potential customers can't find your products, you're not going to make any sales. It's
that simple. Every part of your website should have one specific purpose -- to lead your
potential customers to your products.
For example, if you will be providing your visitors with tutorials, these tutorials should
relate to your products or services. They should identify a problem, provide instruction
to assist your visitors, and promote your products as the solution.
Your Storefront
The main page of your website is your storefront. It should load quickly and provide your
visitors with a complete overview of everything your website offers.
Instead of trying to cram all of your information into your main page, consider creating
sections. These sections can contain highlights of your information with a link to further
information. You can divide your page into sections by using tables. These tables can
contain colored heading sections for information such as news, articles, products or
whatever you'd like.
It's much better to keep your main page down to the most essential elements. You can then
use links to additional pages to provide the detailed information. A good rule of thumb is
"less is more." In other words, keep your main page as small as possible, while
at the same time, include your most important elements.
Load Time
According to two surveys conducted by Forrester Research and Gartner Group, ecommerce
sites are losing $1.1 to $1.3 billion in revenue each year due to customer click-away
caused by slow loading websites.
The main page of your website should load within 8 seconds or less with a 56K modem.
There are many things that can cause a web page to load slowly including:
=> Large graphics
=> Too many graphics
=> Animated graphics
=> Too many banners
=> Special Effects
=> Large pages
Optimization
You can significantly decrease your site's load time simply by optimizing your graphics.
This process will decrease your graphic's file size without sacrificing the graphic's
quality.
You can optimize your images right online. Visit GifWorks for further information. http://www.gifworks.com/
Enhancing Your Site
There are a number of ways you can enhance your site without using a lot of graphics. For
example, if you can use the same small images such as bullets or arrows, it will give the
illusion that you're using a lot of graphics. However, your graphic will only have to load
one time. This will enable you to "recycle" your images to keep your page's load
time down, while at the same time, enhancing your site's appearance.
In addition, you can enhance your site by using tables with colored backgrounds instead of
images.
If an image doesn't enhance your page in some way, you'll be better off to just leave it
out.
Tables
If you'd like to set up your web page using tables, try to place your Heading text above
your table code. If this isn't possible, make sure you include your most relevant keyword
phrase within your top left table cell. This will assist you in ranking higher in the
Search Engines.
Screen Resolutions
When designing your site, keep in mind, your visitors will have many different screen
resolutions.
The resolution of a monitor refers to the total number of pixels. The higher the
resolution, the greater the number of pixels. Higher resolutions present higher quality
images.
To accommodate the majority of your visitors, use a standard screen resolution of 800x600
pixels.
Another way to ensure that your web page will look great to all of your visitors is to set
it up using tables. Instead of using a fixed width within your table code, use a
percentage. This will enable your web page to span a certain percentage of your visitors'
screen size. For example, if you set your table width at 90%, your web page will
automatically resize and span 90% of your visitors' screen size, no matter what screen
resolution they're using.
Colors
Although there are an unlimited number of background and text colors you could use for
your web page, a white background with black text will be your best option.
You must be very cautious when selecting your background and text colors, as reading on a
computer screen is much more difficult than paper. You must make your web page as easy to
read as possible.
You can add color to your pages using tables with colored cells.
Web Browsers
Before you begin the actual design process, I highly recommend that you download and
install two web browsers -- Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. These are the two
most widely used browsers on the Internet. Why download and install both browsers? So you
can view your pages through both browsers, as they are not created equally. Your page
might look great when viewed through Internet Explorer, but may not display well when
viewed through Navigator.
Internet Explorer
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.asp
Netscape Navigator
http://home.netscape.com/computing/download/index.html
It is very important that you take the time to design your web pages to accommodate both
browsers.
In addition, you can also visit AnyBrowser to view how your site will look through
different browsers and screen resolutions. http://www.anybrowser.com
Above all else, your product must be your main focus. Your product should be displayed
above the fold of your web page. This is the top portion of your web page that is visible
when your page is first loaded, without scrolling. This is the most important part of your
entire page -- use it wisely.
Take your time and plan your website very carefully. There is much more to web design than
meets the eye. Do your homework and learn how to design a website that sells. It will be
well worth your time and effort.
Copyright © Shelley Lowery 2002. All Rights Reserved
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of several successful ebooks including Web Design Mastery -
An in-depth guide to professional web design. Ebook Starter - A Complete Ebook Design Kit,
and eZines: A Complete Guide to Publishing for Profit. Subscribe to Etips and receive a
free copy of her highly acclaimed ebook, "Killer Internet Marketing Strategies."
http://www.web-source.net
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