5 vital design tips for your website or blog
Don’t clutter your website with every widget or third party advertisement you can. Less is most definitely more where design is concerned, and two or three well-placed ads will attract much more attention than a host of flashing icons.
Think about the purpose of your website design. What do you want people to do when they first visit? Browse your products? Subscribe to a newsletter? Download a catalogue? Enquire about a service? Whatever it is you want them to do, make it obvious and incorporate a ‘call-to-action’ into your design.
Yes, your text is important. However, no-one’s going to read through paragraph upon paragraph of copy. Reading online is very different from reading on paper. Break up your text with a large quote, an image or photograph. This also adds more interest for the reader. People like to look at pictures.
There’s no doubt that an aesthetically pleasing colour scheme can improve the browsing experience. If you’re unsure about which colours go together you can sample some with this free online colour scheme generator.
Last but most certainly not least…
As tempting as it might be to use small text for your design, don’t do it. You’ve attracted visitors to your site. The last thing you want to do is force them away with tiny, illegible text. Some web browsers allow you to increase the size of text throughout the web, which is great, but it’s one more thing you’d be making your readers do. If a person does just one thing when they visit your website or blog, don’t make it be to increase the text size. Remember point number 2, keep it focused, and concentrate on directing people where you want them to go.
Those are my five important design aspects for any website or blog. Pay attention to them and you’ll make it a much better experience for those visiting your online presence. You’ll also add focus to the reader’s visit by enticing them with your prominent call to action (be it subscribe, buy, enquire etc.).
I’ve written this short article as a way of catering for the design beginners out there.
More website / blog design tips:
- 10 Questions To Ask Before Launching Your Blog
by Ben Yoskovitz - Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimisation
(SEO) by SEOmoz.org
Related posts on this site
41 spot-on reader comments to “5 vital design tips for your website or blog”
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I think it very useful for my blog,3Q
Just looking at your site make me want to pull an allnighter tonight and design a new site!!! Ummmm nevermind, goodnight!
It’s always the same thing. Duh. But you really nailed it on the head here. The crazy part of all this is that even if you’ve read this a million times you end up screwing up again and again. Thanks for posting this and driving it into my head again. And guess what - this morning (before I read this) I actually used a large font for the call-to-action. Cool!
Thanks for the tips! Now I have to go back to my blog and make sure all 5 aspects are checked off. For #2, I just want people to read my entries. Is that focused? =)
Chris, I too have had to re-think design after forgetting to focus on the real purpose. It’s vital to get this right from the start. Good luck with your site.
Thanks for stopping by Jennie. Having people read your entries is focused, but you can break this down further by asking these questions:
1/ How will people find my entries?
2/ Do I want them to subscribe to my site so that they know immediately when there’s fresh content?
3/ Would I like to have people comment on my entries?
Question #1 refers to search engine optimisation. You can design your site in a way that helps more people to find and read your entries.
Question #2 offers a service to those people who love reading what you write. Kind of like customer-retention.
Question #3 can be acted upon by asking your readers a simple question in the text of your article, prompting the answer to be posted as a comment, which in turn keeps your site fresh and helps attract more new readers in one joyous cycle of love!
I hope that helps. :)
If I was adding a #6, it would be Make your site easy to use…for your audience.
Many small business owners think their building a website for themselves. Not true.
Websites are meant for your target audience. They are the ones who need your information, your products, your services. So keep your designs (and your copy) user-focused.
Uh boy…I do wonder about my blog (argh) but hey, it’s just a hobby. ;)
Seriously, I like to keep a dark background for photos but someone had mentioned it was hard to read white text on black. I also had intended a broader content but can’t seem to get going on anything other than photos right now.
Good points you have listed.
How about this clean focused site with great colorscheme and easy to read test: I just created this yesterday for my twitter friends: What a buzz, I’m stoked that I can help!!! http://www.twitterami.com
#1 - Yes!
#2 - Definitely!
#3 - YES! (when posts are long enough)
#4 - Is white a colour scheme? ;)
#5 - Yes (and make sure the beginning of each blog post can be quickly located in a big list)
I’m surprised that you didn’t mention ADVERTISING… In the world of formatted content (templates), is there really any excuse NOT to have an acceptable looking blog or even website for that matter?
Now advertising on the other hand, drives me up the wall - especially on new sites (specifically blogs) where it’s challenging to find the posts for the ads that really aren’t generating income anyways.
Ok, so you only have 5 slots, so I’ll add mine in at #7 after Dawud’s great #6!
Beth, with a site like yours that’s devoted to photography, showing your shots on black can be good. Where your text is concerned however is a different aspect. If you’re happy with light text on black then how about trying white text as opposed to grey? Perhaps it’ll help, maybe not. Just a thought.
Paul, I took a look at your new site. You like to sell yourself don’t you? ;)
William, thanks for the run-down. Regarding colour schemes, as long as you don’t have an abundance of clashing colours with no thought behind it then you’re on the right track.
I’m not sure if you read point number 1 however, where I do actually mention advertising. Sorry, you’ll have to do better than that to merit a #7. ;)
Busted. :( Was reading one thing, thinking another, and writing another. My sincere apologies and I withdraw my #7 submission.
(What about a #3b? NO CLIP ART! *shudder*) ;)
Very useful list again :) I love clean and easy to read blog.
The best tips I find are always the most common sense ones that people seem to forget.
Thanks
#1 — While I generally agree, I also know that Amazon.com and MySpace are successful despite it. Sometimes, functionality and giving people hard reasons to come back trumps cleanliness. And what is cluttered to one person might be perfectly all right to another. As with any media development, CONSIDER YOUR AUDIENCE.
#2 — For a single-focus site, this is good. However, if you want people to focus on three things depending upon who is visiting and why, ensure that these areas are clearly delineated, and navigation to them is slap-simple.
#3 — Agreed. I’d also throw in “self-advertisements” into that mix. Talk about your latest article or product line (that sits on a particular page) in a pretty inline box on _every_ page of your site. This will break up page text, while providing the benefit of possibly keeping visitors around longer.
#4 — Yes! However, computer-generated schemes tend to bore me as a designer. I prefer to play around with different mixes of colors until I strike the right combo that fits in with the subject of the site, then codify it via CSS so that all pages have the same feel.
#5 — Yes. Design your site as if a senior citizen is visiting. Unless it’s designed for teens.
Seems like you’re falling behind number 4!! :)
But I like your posts.. they are, colorful!
“You like to sell yourself don’t you”…is there any other way??? By the way, i hope you technorati favorited me since I put the widget on my page thanks to you.
dannnnnnggggg Ilker dissed your site!!! How fair is it that we don’t have boobs and are not a 22 year old cute female student that ALL nerds in America drool over!!!!
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Consider the story of Google competing with Yahoo!
People flocked to Google because it was so simple and obvious what to do, whereas the Yahoo! search page was full of many different things to draw attention away from the search box. Two sites, both extremely popular, yet the cleaner one took a lot of business away from the more cluttered one.
That’s a very general paragraph, and no doubt there are many other factors in the mix, but it’s the first thing that came to mind to illustrate my point. Would you agree?
Thanks for your other pointers. Great follow-up.
ilker, I’ve mentioned a few times before that I use colour in my posts to compliment the white and grey of my code. Experimenting with more colour is something I mean to get around to however.
Paul, that’s great I prompted you to add the Technorati button to your site. I hope it works for you as it has for me. As for you thinking your twitterami site text is easy to read, I have to disagree. Small dark grey text on a black background is not a good idea. How about lightening it up a little?
What I’m saying is.. maybe you need to have just tiny bit of color. You know, to distinguish it from the 60 million other blogs out there.
Perhaps what I did to my blog might inspire you. Actually, all I want to show you is this screenshot. See the bit of yellow glow on the side?
I agree that we have real-world examples where simplicity wins out over complexity, although as I think we agree, there are always other factors involved with how one site can eclipse another. Sometimes, more complexity (via additional functionality) can win out.
But I think the Yahoo vs. Google case is a bit more complicated than saying it’s just a matter of simple design stealing traffic from a complex one.
What Yahoo did was basically “break the contract” with their core of site visitors. They started out as a somewhat basic search site that a lot of people used and enjoyed, then they started adding all that other functionality and stuff to their front page (which could have instead been creatively placed on subpages or subdomains). All this other stuff was a distraction to what the core visitors were looking for. So, Google came in and basically said “Hey you Yahoo people who just like a simple search site without all that other muck, come and look at our search”. Google took advantage of a broken contract.
Websites form relationships with their visitors. If a visitor falls in love, so to speak, with how a site is initially implemented, they pretty much expect it to nearly stay the same. But if a site changes too much, or obstructs what this visitor initially fell in love with, the relationship sours.
On top of all this, Google created a mystique behind their spidering and listing algorithms. They realized that at that time, the techs were the bleeding edge users of search. Google made it clear to all who paid attention that they spent a lot of time thinking about how search should work. So, it’s not just the simple user interface, but all the complex, exciting technology behind that simple page that helped seal the deal.
And last, and possibly most importantly, Yahoo didn’t seem to have a response to Google for a very long time. This is classic business failure. Yahoo simply didn’t adapt to the changing business conditions. They didn’t “embrace and extend” a la Microsoft. They essentially allowed Google to run away with their business.
Thanks for your take on the Google vs Yahoo story.
[...] I even chime in with five important design aspects of any website or blog. [...]
A blog is not a search engine..
I just noticed you changed the header of your blog David.. nice work!
I also noticed you listened to your readers:
1. The background is pure white = cool
2. There is a light blue theme going on = subtle
3. RSS is on top most right corner with icon = made me subscribe!
I think the only thing you didn’t “handle” is the comments. I find it a little bit difficult to use (scrollbar). You need to go up and down especially if you want to read and respond to other comments. When I comment, I like to see the post on the top of everything, then comments by others, and finally the comment form to leave one. That way it is easier to follow the conversation. My $0.02!
Thanks for the subscription!
I just read the sentence “I’d love to link to your series and build my list into a complete beginner’s guide for all things creative.”
Actually, I made a post about beginner’s Guide to Blogging a while ago. Might be worthwhile for the newbies out there!
[...] design approach investigating the many facets of blogging. Very definitely a blog to make you think about your own blog, and how it appears to the [...]
I would add - Use proper fonts ;) kidding ) IMHO, you used strange font for #1,2,… headers ).
To be honest I’m not happy with my header fonts and will probably change them soon.
[...] Why not take a look at my 5 important design aspects of any website or blog? [...]
yes 100% agree, very good tips. I hate blogs that are too cluttered especially the ones who have adverts in their content
Excellent tips. Thank you. I am guilty of not having enough attractive photos on my blog…among other things.
I would say that there are 10,000 important tips, but these 5 sum them up nicely!
I myself am responsible for web sites that have small text and am rethinking now.
Great tips again David,
to add my two penneth ( 2 cents)::
WHITE SPACE IS VERY IMPORTANT
I know clients hate it but you can use space to isolate, highlight and balance the look and feel of a design,
but here I am preaching to the converted again!
I fully agree about the importance of white space. It’s under-estimated by clients far too often, and should be a compulsory tutorial.
Do you actually do HTML/webdesign? I’m looking to get a business website re-done and am looking for good designers for quotes.
Steven’s last blog post..Official - Dundee is pure dead clever
I do a little web design, but not much. I prefer to create brand identities / logos etc.
Send me an email with what you had in mind and I can let you know, or refer you to a pro.
Cheers.
Simple is definitely better. The less cluttered the better and nice semantic XHTML is also a must.
Standards compliant XHTML & CSS is what the web should be, but it’s a shame it’s not.
- Dwayne Charrington.
Dwayne Charrington’s last blog post..Rare Popular available SEO domain names
Valid points… Also, if you use images for in-post headings, give them good alt tags ;-)