Essential Design Checklist for A Business Website

In business, even the smallest details can make a big difference. Your company’s website design is a public presentation of your enterprise to the world. Here are five urgent guidelines to check to assure that your business website performs in the way that it should.

1) Don’t even think about using splash pages

Always remember that we attract our site’s visitors for a purpose, and we want nothing to stand in the way of achieving that goal as efficiently as possible. A splash page, which you probably have come across at some time, is a landing page that is nothing but decoration. Usually, splash pages are meant to be visually attractive. The only meaningful content they have is a phrase such as “click here to enter this site.” Why add the frustration of one additional click between your landing page and the desired outcome on the part of the site visitor? Get those visitors through that virtual door immediately.

2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements

Eye tracking studies indicate that, while such banners might distract visitors to a website, modern visitors are accomplished at not noticing the content that the banners contain. Unless your business plan is advertising, the last thing you want to do with your visitors’ time on your site is to direct their attention away from your content (and the action that the content is designed to achieve).

3) Make sure your site navigation is intuitive

Your navigation menu should mimic what your site visitors have used many times before. Make it evident that your links to other pages are just that; they should be like directional sign posts on a highway. If you insist upon an animated, dynamic menu or a multi-level dropdown, also provide a tradition, text-based static menu in one of the traditional menu locations, such as along the left panel of the site. Besides, the static menu will contribute toward your search engine optimization efforts.

4) Provide a clear indication of where the user is

When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don’t confuse your visitors because confusion means “abandon ship”!

5) Avoid using audio on your site

If you are determined to have sound automatically load, be sure that it a) makes a meaningful contribution toward meeting your objectives, b) allows the site visitors to control and volume levels and c) is not on a page on which all of their attention should be focused upon reading the exquisite copy. If your audio does not meet all of these guidelines, err on the side of caution and disable it.

Your http://www.99sites.us/>online business will benefit from attention to details such as these.

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