Website Design

The term “website design” can be misleading. When people think of design, they are usually thinking artsy, beautiful and colorful; or even flashy, elaborate and sexy. Website design is not artsy, and definitely not sexy, at least when it comes to the nuts and bolts of a website. The nuts and bolts, or the “back end,” is the part of the website that we design for the Internet.

Design for the Internet

Design for the Internet really boils down to search engines and browsers. Think about it. Without search engines and browsers, would your website even exist? So making sure your website is built with search engines and browsers in mind should be a foremost priority in your website design; it just makes sense.

Can Search Engines find your Website?

Search engines will look at your pages and offer up to the user relevant matches. Here is what search engines look for:

• Is the title for the page relevant to the content on the page?
• Is the meta description relevant to the content on the page?
• Is the search term (entered by the user) relevant to the content of the page?
• Are 404 (not found) and 301 (permanently moved) errors handled properly?
• Is there a sitemap and a robots.txt file present?

Can Browsers Display your Website?

Browsers don’t care about the same things that search engines do. They merely display web pages based upon a certain set of standards. The output can vary depending upon how carefully your webmaster codes the pages. Done right and your pages will display nicely even in future browsers. A sloppy job here and your pages might look just fine on your Internet Explorer browser, but could be totally out of whack on FireFox or Safari, or it may break in future browsers. In order to ensure that your website is cross-browser compatible, you must make sure your website pages are standards compliant with few CSS or XHTML errors. Visit the W3C to learn more.

I’m sure you agree, there is nothing sexy here. But if you “design for the Internet,” your website will be browser friendly, error free and search-engine friendly, not to mention relevant to what your target audience is looking for.

Design for People

Communicate Content Concisely

Assuming that your target audience can now find you on Google, Yahoo, or what have you and your website displays nicely in all browsers, what they find when they get there is key. Website visitors want to know “What’s in it for Me?” Why should they be at your site at all, or more importantly, why shouldn’t they go elsewhere?

The best websites focus on content and make it easy for users to find what they are looking for and to communicate with you. For your website, can you can answer “yes” to each question below?

• Is it immediately evident on the home page, what your organization does, sells or offers to its clients?
• From there, is it easy for users to navigate; can they find what they are looking for on your website?
• Does your website have content that is valuable to your users?
• Does your website offer easy ways for users to contact you?

While it is easy to get caught up on what your website looks like, if the answer is “no” to any of the above, what your website looks like is moot; your users likely have already gone elsewhere.

More Design for People

Brand, Message, Conversion

We just looked at users or visitors of your website, but there is another group of people to consider; website owners. Features that website owners usually look for include:

• Increasing brand awareness.
• Generating leads, interest in what the business has to offer.
• Depending upon business objectives, increasing the bottom line, awareness, and so on.

None of these objectives will be realized unless your website is search engine friendly, cross-browser compatible and user friendly.

How your website communicates to people and what it is saying is an important aspect of truly good website design. If it looks great too, well, that’s just icing on the cake! You really can have both, just remember; content is king, but only if you can find what you are looking for.