If you are thinking about redesigning your web site, consider the following list of tips that I call “The Important Sevens”.  These tips will help you create a website that will work efficiently and also make your visitors happy.  Most importantly, these tips will help attract new users and customers.

Tip 1 – User Interface/Navigation

So, you have succeeded in landing the first visitors to your site. Now you need to make them go through the site. In designing your web site, it is crucial that you define your most important links. That, of course, is where you want your user to click. In most cases it’s at the top of your page, or on the far left that users tend to look at. Keep those important links uniform to the rest of the site. This will allow the user to easily navigate and go where you want them to.

Tip 2 – Site Optimization

A quick loading site is the way to go.  A common problem I see frequently is that you have this amazing looking site, but it takes too long to load.  Even with today’s technology in broadband and fast connections, a slow loading site can force a visitor to not even bother and go somewhere else.  Don’t place “heavy” graphics all over your site.  This is usually the primary cause of a site taking more than 10 seconds to load.

• Optimize your code.
• Limit the amount of graphics.
• Favor text links over graphical buttons. Text links can still look great by using CSS code.
• Spread your content.

Tip 3 – Layout – The Clean, the Busy, the White Space

There can be many arguments about what truly defines “White Space”.  What are elements that clutter a page? Large amounts of graphics, one too many types of fonts, oversized ad banners, and too many colors.  Shoot for a clean and non-busy page.  If you achieve the right amount of organization with white space, you can give your site a sense of cleanliness and well defined neatness.  Spread your content out. If you have a page that contains an excessive amount of content, split it out to another page.  Keep it simple.  Deliver a powerful impression to your visitors that they are browsing a professional page that is easy to read and navigate.

Tip 4 – Cross Browser Performance

Cross Browser Performance is an important issue to deal with. We all know that the popular Internet Explorer is usually the browser most commonly used.  In my early days of designing and building sites I would only test my site using Internet Explorer. I soon learned the hard way that users were getting errors in other browsers.  This opened my eyes to Mozilla’s Firefox, Opera, Safari, and other various web browsers. It is important to remember that not everyone uses only one browser. This, sometimes, can make it tricky when you are coding your site.  Be sure to test in multiple browsers. One line may look good in Internet Explorer, but in Firefox, that line can be in the middle of your page, off positioning your graphics, and fumbling the success of the design. Our nextSTAT product has a browser report that will tell you the web browsers being used by your visitors.  Make sure you’re catering to everyone!

Tip 5 – Resolution Sizes

In today’s market, there are several resolution sizes that are commonly used worldwide.  They range from the original 800×600 to sizes 1600×1200 and beyond. Don’t forget widescreen sizes. When building your site this is an important factor to always keep in mind. You will want to design and build your site so that it works and, most importantly, looks good at all of those resolutions. Try to use percentages instead of pixels.  Again, nextSTAT has a report that will tell you which Screen Resolutions are being used to view your site.  Use this data to improve your visitors’ experience!

Tip 6 – Fonts

Have you ever loaded a site with large bold bright yellow fonts on a white background?  Ever seen a site that uses fonts so small you have to turn your zoom cam on?  Avoid making fonts too large or too small. It’s not professional and can easily turn a future customer or visitor away. Get back to the basics and keep it simple.  Try and use one set of fonts for the entire site that is readable by your target audience.  A rule I like to stick with is “No more than one”. Stick with fonts that are recognized by all computers.  Fonts like Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, are generally safe to use.  Fancy fonts might look good on your machine, but have the potential of looking completely different on another.

Tip 7 – Links

Some of my most frustrating internet experiences have occurred when browsing a site and finding a dead end or a broken link.  You spend precious time trying to find the page you want to access, but instead get a headache.  Ensure your entire set of links go where they were destined to.  Avoid sending your users into a loop of never ending “click here’s”.  Keep it straight and get them to the page they’re looking for as fast as possible.

Remember we all want to make our visitors happy.  Consider these tips the next time you create a site.  Keep it simple, keep it clean, and deliver a powerful, professional looking site.