The popularity of the World Wide Web has made web design one of the most sought after services in many parts of the world. Not only are web design services in demand in first world countries where almost everyone has access to the Internet, developing countries such as India and the Philippines have also shown drastic growth in their web design industry. A web designer would always want to build a website that would encourage new users to visit back. With that in mind, web designers should always keep into consideration the following basic concepts in web design which can come in handy in terms of design improvement and usability.

1. Only use safe colors and color combinations. As much as possible only use a maximum of 5 or 6 colors on a website including text. Having to many colors may cause conflict in combination and may become eye-straining. It’s also better to have a solid text background so that the content is easily readable.

2. Fonts and font size matter. Just as colors may affect the user’s first impression, fonts and font size are an important element of a website as well. Using easy to read fonts such as Arial and Times New Roman is better especially in the content area.

3. Use meta tags. One of the basic concepts in doing offline search engine optimization, meta tags help search engine robots categorize a web page. Placing a targeted keyword in the title tag is essential and can boost the search engine ranking of a website.

4. Too many images. Images enhance the appearance of a website, but images are heavier than text in terms of file size. Thus a web page with a lot of images may take time to load and may cause a website to lose visitors. For SEO purposes, images should come with an alt tag in order to be crawlable by search engine robots.

5. Avoid flash (or too much of it). Flash animation enhances user experience and gives a website a more “modern” look. But the downside is it may take a long time to load which may not be good especially when not everybody has high speed Internet connection.

6. Make a sitemap. One of the basic concepts in web design that a number of websites seem to take for granted. Sitemaps provide users an easy access to the rest of the pages of the website, giving them an easier time to look for the content that they want. Sitemaps are also important since they make it easy for search engine robots to crawl the pages of the website making indexing easier.

7. Easy navigation/usability. The last thing that a web designer would want is to confuse visitors with complicated navigational buttons. A website should make sure that its visitors have easy access to its content.

8. Provide a search box. When navigation fails to assist users, their tendency is to look for a search box. A website should always have a search box to further help users in obtaining the information the they want. Failure to do so may force visitors to look for another website instead.

9. Lastly, Avoid too much ads. Not only that too much ads may become annoying (especially flashy banners and pop up ads) for users, too much ads means longer loading time, an issue that may cost a website its visitors.

With millions of existing websites and thousands of competitors on targeted keywords, websites should make sure that they are providing maximum usability to their users. These basic tips are focused on enhancing the usability of a website, an aspect that should be given the same amount of importance and consideration as with the visuals and content of a website.

For more information on web design, visit EconoWeb Express, a Utah web design firm located in Salt Lake City.

Tips for starting in a web design business?

Hello,
can someone give me some tips how to start a successful business in webdesign without any references only 1-2 selfmade samples ?

On which day should i contact the customer? (friday? because its the last day and all are relaxed)

I hope someone can help me.

Thanks.

Answer
If you’re new in business, I can suggest some principles that have worked for me. First and foremost, it doesn’t matter when you call the potential clients, just call them, keep calling them, and learn from both successes and failures. Marketing is the key, and every potential client is different. Learn their needs and tailor accordingly.

Second, don’t spend more money than you have. Run your business on a shoestring until its starts producing. More businesses fail from overspending than any other reason. (You don’t really need that fancy professional letterhead– print your own!)

Third, if you’re going to be a sole proprietor, don’t forget that you’ll have to pay 15.3% self-employment tax on your profits. Many people get to the end of a good year, having spent all the money, and discover they owe the IRS a lot of money. It helps, too, to get a good tax guy and pick his brain.

Last, keep good records and save every business receipt. Know whether you’re making money, and document every deduction for taxes. (Quicken or Quickbooks can help with this.)

Good luck!