A quick review of the website design process.

A quick guide on how to build and design a website, efficiently. The following web site design process will ensure your website is a top your industry now and for years beyond.

Please note that there are an infinite amount of variables that can change how a web site is developed and delivered. Website design projects are never perfectly clear cut and therefore the process/sequence must vary from time to time based on requirements, changes, and customer expectations. Los Angeles web design clients who work in Hollywood may be far more critical than say someone from North Dakota who owns a small motel. A store with one product will have fewer website design needs than the Los Angeles Dodgers. This guide will get you started on the right path.

Step 1: Meet and Greet

One will want to start a website design project with a client meeting. Together, the website designer and the customer need to establish what needs to be done, who is responsible for what role (content, images, logo files, design approval), who are all points of contact on both sides, and other specific customer and developer expectations.

Step 2: Brainstorming

As part of the meet and greet, brainstorming is vital. What is the web site for? Who are the competitors? Who is the top competitor? Who are we trying to beat? Who is the target demographic? What is important and what is not? What needs to be on every page of the website? Is this a Website for Los Angeles Website customers only or do people from all over the world come to this site?

Tip: A flowchart is a great tool to use here. Create the home page and stem from that to create all pages you need. Include all features per page that you need such as customer login, clickable PDF files, interactive forms, photo gallery applications, etc.

Step 3: Wireframe or Hand Drawing

Many people have no idea what a wireframe is but in website design this is very important for a designer. A wireframe is a sketch or skeleton drawing of the website pages showing all of the elements and functions the web page should have once designed. A wireframe will include the header (with elements needed), the navigation with all of the buttons required, specific body/middle area sections of the page such as an area for flash animation or segmented seo Wichita boxes for different user types, and footer information.

A wireframe does not need to include graphic design elements. It is used to solve, at the get go, any problems or missing elements and acts as the blueprint for your design, content, and coding.

Step 4: Content Planning

With a wireframe and page breakdown it is now time to write the content that needs to go onto every web page. Generally, the client or an outside content writer will put together the content and send to the website design team. Writing content is the largest workload for the client during a website design project and can take a lot of time. ATAK Interactive suggests that you closely look at competitors to make sure you include everything they do best and then beat them.

Step 5: Initial Design

While the customer works on step 4, the website designer can work on the home page design which, once approved, will serve as the canvas/template for the rest of the site. It is best to design the home page first and once the client approves move on to the rest of the pages.

Step 6: Client Feedback

The customer must view the website design files (home page only) and approve or offer corrections. The customer needs to check that you are meeting expectations and headed in the right directions. This is the time for the customer to offer their expert industry opinion.

Step 7: Design Rework

A little back and forth is required here. A website designer should expect to do a few revisions to each page and the customer should expect an opportunity to provide feedback. Generally, a website design company is responsible for setting the ground rules on how many revisions will be included and at what point extra fees will be required.

Step 8: Client Approval

The client must approve the home page design once the necessary work and additional work after feedback is complete. The confirmation process in a main responsibility of the client.

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The presentation of your website says a lot about your business. A well designed website can also increase traffic to your niche business. It is very important in today’s internet business to maintain an interesting and effective website that is relevant to your niche business theme.

Think about it, you may be competing against hundreds or thousands of internet businesses offering the same or similar product and services that you do. So it is very important to have a well designed website to increase your niche business traffic.

To increase your traffic to your niche business, you may want to step back and take a look at your site from a visitor’s point of view. Ask yourself three questions.

If you can’t answer yes, yes, and yes, then no wonder your internet business lacks traffic. You now need to start from square one and overhaul your website. Follow these three tips and you will be well on your way to increasing traffic to your website.

Professionalism

If you website looks cheap and self-made, then more than likely your visitor will consider your business as non-professional. If you are an online retailer you definitely want to convey a professional appearance with your niche business. Your customers will see that you operate your internet business in a professional manner and are likely to purchase from you and return. It is not necessary to have a website professionally created to look professional. There are many website templates that are available as a free download that you can use that will fit any niche business.

Entertaining

An entertaining website can draw visitors to your website in droves and keep them coming back. It will also draw your visitors deeper into your website increasing traffic and rankings in the search engines. You can offer free giveaways, contest, surveys, polls, quotes, and more to entertain your visitors and keep them coming back. Interesting links on your website can draw visitors to different areas where additional information or products can be recommended.

I just recently logged into a website that was having a contest and giving things away if you find specific Easter eggs. I spent an hour clicking through the site hunting for Easter eggs. By doing this I also learned a lot about their products and services and decided to bookmark the site for future use and reference. That was entertaining to me and they acquired a repeat visitor.

Appearance

How can your website be easy on the eyes? Choosing an appealing color, layout, and easy navigation will increase traffic to your website. Visitors will not stay long on your website if the color hurts their eyes, fonts are too small to read, and navigation links to what they are looking for are hard to find. You want the layout of your website and color scheme to reflect a professional website business that will entice your visitor to trust in your products and services. There is nothing more discouraging to land on a website that is hard to read, hard to navigate, and hurts your eyes. “Click” your visitor just left.

Therefore when designing your website keep in mind the visitor you want to attract and focus your entire appearance on them. If your niche business is geared toward an older community you may want to increase the font size you use, larger links, darker font colors, and use more space between your sentences. Make the site as easy to use as possible geared to your niche market. Another recommendation based on your niche business is you may want to incorporate audio for hard to read information.

If you are creating a website for your niche business or just overhauling an existing site try to focus on these three tips. By focusing on these three tips you will see an increase in traffic to your internet business. Keep all of this in mind and create an inviting website that visitors to your niche business will enjoy and continue to come back to.

How many times have you visited a website that you were interested in just to sit there while the page slowly loads because of large graphics, or tried to find something and the navigation links didn’t work?

If you were frustrated just think how internet visitors or maybe  potential customers may feel when they visit your website and have the same thing happen to them. They probably will not stay around long. They will just click off and go to the next website they find in the search engine that pertains to what they are looking for.

You can stop that from happening and keep those customers right there on your website. How can you do that? Here are 5 tips to improve your website design so you keep your customers on your site and keep them coming back.

Tip Number 1. The first method is to make sure your typography of your content is suitable. Make sure your lines are spaced out accordingly to the text and sentence structure. Check your font and font size that you are using. You may like using a 10-Pixel text in Times New Roman but is that big enough for all to read. Do you have to strain to read the text? If so increase the text size and maybe change the font. As we get older our eyes are not like they use to be so make sure your font size, font style, and sentence spacing is easily readable.

Tip Number 2. Reduce large images so your web pages load quickly. There is nothing more bothersome than to have to wait on images and graphics to load before the entire website displays. Make sure the important parts of your website loads quickly so you do not lose visitors. Some say a website should load within 15 seconds. After this time, people tend to get disinterested in the site and click off the site. Continuously check your website design for loading time as you are building your website.

Tip Number 3. Content sells a product or service. Updated content will sell your product and service repeatedly. Your website design should include relevant content for the visitor and for search engine optimization. The search engines love content and they love fresh content that is relevant to your keywords. Be sure to break the content up and do not write a paragraph a page long. You are not writing a high school report you are writing website content for your internet visitors. Break the content up by using short paragraphs and white space. It is easier for the reader to read.

Tip Number 4. Have a simple and clear navigation area. A good website design will have a navigation area for the internet visitor that will take them from one place to the next in the website. Test the links to make sure they are directing the visitor to the right page and most importantly are working. The navigation links should be easily read. That means the text size, font size, and color should be distinguishable from the rest of the content. If it is hard to read people will leave the site. In addition to the navigation for navigating throughout the site include a “contact” or “about us” link to your navigation area. This gives creditability to your website. People want to be able to contact someone if they have a question or something is wrong. They also like to read about the business owner. What the business owners credentials are and a little about the business. This builds relationships and people buy more from people they have a relationship with.

Tip Number 5. This last tip involves testing your website. What do I mean by testing your site? I mean to test it out like you are the internet visitor. Whatever HTML editor or program you use to design your website you should be able to click on a button to preview your website in a web browser just how it would look on the World wide Web. Test the links to make sure they direct you to the information that they pertain to and you instructed. Pay close attention to your load time, and your layout of your website. Is the content easy to read and understand? How does my graphics look? Are they overwhelming? Is the color scheme of my website off and not matching the feel of my website style? Are my paragraphs justified properly and is all spelling correct?

These tips above will help you in your website design process to ensure a professional appearance of your internet business. Step back and look at your website from your customers perspective and ask yourself is this a site that I trust to provide me with the type of service or product, I need. If you answer yes then you have completed a successful website design and if you answer no just go back and correct it until you get it right. Remember Rome was not built in a day.