Do you have synergy in your website?
Web sites are essentially made up of two key elements, Design and Content, that must work together to create a powerful tool for both you and your site users. Design refers to things like navigational tools, backgrounds, menus, graphics, buttons, links, etc., while Content is the actual information available within your site. Both can directly impact how long, and how enjoyable, a user’s visit to your site will be, and whether they’ll be back anytime soon. And, both work together to help you get your message across effectively. Here are a few Design tips you can use to create more synergy in your site.
1. Keep it simple
Graphics and “bells and whistles” are flashy. However, these “memory hogs” often make users wait a long time for pages to load. Seconds can make all the difference as to whether a user will stay on your site or click over to another, so keep it to a minimum.
2. Keep it clean, uncluttered and logical
The graphical and navigational tools inherent in your design must help the user find what they’re looking for easily. In fact, it needs to be somewhat “intuitive.” What you should do is have team members or friends test the site to see if it makes sense to them, and that they can find the information they want.
3. Keep the “click throughs” to a minimum
“Click throughs” are the number of times a user has to click to get to the information they want. If the information a user needs is buried under 10 clicks or links, you will probably lose them before they get there. The best rule of thumb is “if you or your team members wouldn’t click that many times to get to the information, your users won’t either.
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