6 Best Practices for Web Design

Your website is one of your company's most powerful marketing vehicles, so make sure you are maximizing its returns by observing some best practices: 1) The simpler, the better - In today's day and age, a lot of website home pages are littered with too much information. People get bombarded the second the page loads, and they have no clue where to look first. Make the experience as simple and friendly for people as possible by utilizing clean, white space, having a clear and easy-to-navigate architecture, and minimizing text wherever possible. 2) Make it easy - Make the experience as easy as possible. Know your audience, and cater to them. Even if that audience happens to be a very tech-savvy audience, you should still design the site in an intuitive and pain-free way. For example, don't make users log-in to make purchases or to read content. You can have that as an option, but give users the choice. 3) Keep it dynamic - A website is not the end point. It is the beginning. Give people a reason to keep coming back. Update your banners, add fresh content at least weekly. Incorporate social media into your site - this will engage people and keep you fresh in their minds. 4) Be original - It's important to check out competitors, but don't mimic them. This undermines your credibility and confuses your audience. Be sure to always put your original spin on things. After all, that's the reason your customers come to you in the first place. 5) Use analytics - This is a must. Google Analytics is free and super easy to install. There is no excuse to not use it. This is one of the most powerful tools available to you, and the main way, aside from direct customer feedback, that you will be able to assess how visitors are perceiving your website. 6) Get help - Don't be too proud or afraid to call in the experts if the need arises. There are people who do design and site building for a living and can ease you through the process. There are even companies that will teach you "how to fish" so you can learn the basics for yourself and reduce co-dependency. Shameless plug: LevelTen Drupal Training coming up in 2 weeks in Dallas and Houston!