A good webmaster knows that the best website design in the world are the one that achieves maximum performance under all circumstances. One very common occurrence in many websites owned by amateurs is the use of fancy graphic works that need a very long time to load them.
Here are five basic website design rules to help you in your quest to achieve maximum web performance for maximum results.
1) Do not use splash pages
The first pages of a website that consists of dazzling fancy displays are the splash pages. These pages use elaborate designs created with the purpose to entertain the visitor with fancy animations, brilliant photos and include welcoming words such as ‘hello’ ‘welcome’ or ‘click here to enter our website’. The unfortunate thing is splash pages actually takes away attention from the real purpose of the website, and often frustrates users with their slow loading time. This page serves a good purpose to entertain but if website conversion is your goal, it can be a big barrier for you to achieve your goals.
2) Be careful when adding banners
The most common place for these large advertising banners to be placed is close to the page header but the bottom of the page is also quite popular too. Adding banner ads are actually futile efforts to maximize the use of your website as space research shows that people tend to ignore such advertisements. Instead, provide more valuable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, and let your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being coerced.
3) Keep it simple
You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered drop down menus. If your visitors don’t know how to navigate, they will leave your site. It is good in any website design to include a sitemap to help them find what they are looking for.
4) Make it easy for the user to know exactly where he is on the site
You will want to help your users feel in control by giving them a clear view of where they are at your website. This map will help them get to where they want to be without wasting too much time. Make sure that every page has its own title and that some form of breadcrumb trail is used to track the visitors step throughout the entire website. Never confuse your visitors because you will lose them very quickly as they become frustrated.
5) Achieve all your goals without the use of audio
Avoid the use of music if you can. Whenever you decide to use sound, be sure not to let it loop continuously because this a huge cause of irritation to people browsing sites. If adding audios seems like a good idea to you, do make sure you provide some form of control such as muting or volume control so that your visitors can adapt to their surroundings. By applying all these website design tips we share, you can expect to reap long term benefits from continuous traffic from returning visitors to your website.
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