Site Design – Site Disaster – What Do Your Visitors See?

So now you have your own website. Exciting, right? You are ready to start putting your website to work for you. What will you do first? So many ideas go through your head … you want it to be the best website on the internet. You want it to be unique and different from anyone else.

So many ideas popping up and out of your head that you want to do so much. After all, besides things in our home, when can we really design something? Before we know it, we’ve added a little bit of this and a little bit of that and maybe some more of this. It’s almost like waving a magic wand especially giving it color and making it pretty. For us our website looks great, we have color and we have animated graphics, we also have a lot of content, after all, that’s what gets the website recognition, isn’t it?

But wait, take a closer look, is all that content really necessary? We know that Google likes content, but maybe some of us are confused about what kind of content Google is looking for. I admit, I once thought that content is content. But I was very wrong, not all content is the same. If your website is a business-related site, your content must also be business-related. Your content must be interesting and useful. Something that you know your visitors will enjoy. Color and graphics are not useful content.

Many websites have articles on their site. This is probably one of the best content to have on your site. Most of the articles are interesting and provide useful information. What makes articles on your site even better? If they are your items. Articles are not difficult to write, just choose a topic that you are familiar with and write an article about it. Just remember to keep your article topics related to the type of site you have.

Let’s talk about color, is all that bright color really what our visitors want to see? Some colors are too bright and can be sensitive to people’s eyes. If you need to have color, make it simpler, not something that makes your visitors want to run from your site. Not having any color is good too. Color is optional, just choose wisely.

Animated graphics, who is to blame for them? I know I am, and it’s understandable, as they are cute and easy on the eyes. Or are? Too many things flashing on your site are not attractive. Also, too many graphics will divert attention from what is really important, and that is your text. Your text is your message to your visitors. If you insist on having them on your site, I suggest you only have one. Make sure your visitor concentrates more on your text, not the graphics.

Another point to keep in mind is “keyword rich text”. You want to mention your keywords throughout your website. Every time you get a chance to mention your keywords. Work with them on your prayers. When writing articles, be sure to add some of your keywords to your article title. This also helps your website get noticed by SEs (search engines).

I write this article because I want everyone to learn from my mistakes. I am guilty of all of the above. It took a new computer to realize how strong my color was (the old computer’s color was off). After realizing how brilliant it was, I panicked. It was like a slap in the face because I thought what a horrible color and if I thought that about my own site, what were my visitors thinking? I asked a good friend for advice and thank God this friend is open and honest in her opinions. She helped me take a step back and really look at my site. My only thoughts were: “What have I been thinking?”

I don’t even remember when or how my site achieved its goal. I felt like I had this whole other life that I knew nothing about and that that person was taking over the design of my site. But thanks to the new computer and my good friend, I have regained control of my site, and since I did, my site visitors have doubled and visit duration has increased as well. I am back on the road to success.

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