A good website can’t be too easy to make, or more people would have them. Know the feeling of clicking upon a website that makes you go “wow!”? We want your customers to have that feeling every time they click on one of your links.
Here’s some help in that direction.
In this busy age, people do not spend time on confusing, hard-to-read, poorly laid out, or otherwise offensive websites. A good website has each of the following four areas covered beautifully: navigation; colors; font; content. We’ll help you avoid common pitfalls and present the site that is your “online waiting room” well.
Navigation
Ideabook.com discusses idea architecture – the structure into which your ideas ought to flow. If you’re unsure whether your website has intuitive navigation, have a friend or two try it out. If they are interested in what you do and not yet expert at it, they’ll quickly become frustrated at unintuitive navigation – ask for their feedback and adjust. Each time you introduce an idea to your reader, there should be a link to guide them easily to the next action item.
Colors
Ideabook.com goes on to explore color palate for a website. It turns out that some of the top websites in the world – Apple, New York Times, and Yahoo – use extremely basic color schemes. This allows them to keep the reader focused on content rather than bells and whistles. For those of us who are not yet giants, some bells and whistles can help get readers’ attention.
Tips:
- Keep content readable, no matter what the design and colors are up to
- The colors should not be too distracting – for instance, if they clash greatly or are too bright, they will make the site unpleasant
- Consider the color scheme of your website to be the upholstery in your showroom – choose colors appropriate for your industry
Font
Use fonts that are welcoming and easy to read. As DIY Themes reports in its highly useful Nonverbal Website Intelligence e-book, studies show that using difficult fonts gives the impression of a more difficult product or service – not what one generally wants to convey during marketing. The only exception is specialty products, where one may want the customer to believe a product was difficult to make in order to justify higher prices. In this way, a difficult-to-read font on imported chocolate can help customers feel better about paying more for it.
Content
Give people enough information to understand what you wish to convey, and reason to ask you for a meeting. People’s time is valuable! Say just what needs to be said, and not a character more.
