Tips for Online Business

SEO web design is a concept which emphasizes great architectural design principles based on how the search engines determine relevance and site information. The design should be able to give out the information that the user is seeking and at the same time be easily navigable. This is part of search engine optimization because the SEO web design should also be able to satisfy robotic crawlers and spiders in their quest for information regarding the website and other data.

SEO Web Design and Site Optimization

Search engine optimization is more than just a trend nowadays. It is used and applied by almost all sites on the internet that aim to make money and reach online popularity. Among the many strategies of optimizing a web site, SEO web design is one of the topmost priorities.

The impact of the design of the site on search engine robotic crawlers or spiders can help raise the ranking of the site. This is where SEO web design comes in. There are many ways to make the web site more attractive to robotic visitors and human visitors alike. Actually, spiders and crawlers from search engines do not mind the overall aesthetic value of the site. All these robotic crawlers need is the information it can get from the site. The tricky part is how to put relevant information in the site in order for the crawlers to properly index the site due to its relevance. SEO companies who specialize in optimizing web sites must also know how to put a site in front of others in order to bring it to the attention of the Internet users. The search optimizers who will handle your site must be able to know the right strategies to place the web site ahead of others in its field through accepted methods of optimization.

SEO web design is a competitive area where web designers, or what I prefer to call website architects, work hard to come up with ideas and designs that are aesthetically appealing and relevant at the same time. There has to be consideration for ease of getting around the website, being appealing to a wide range of visitors and finding the right place for the website. Making a a basic, visually appealing site is easy with the many technologic advances available today, the problem with these advances are that they are sometimes quite tricky to use thus making your website difficult to navigate in. SEO web design should be easy to use and friendly to both human and robotic browsers.

Easy navigational access can be done by making the pages of the site easy to navigate to and having easy to understand and use button or labels to click on. The pictures and images on your SEO web design should be just the right size and scale to enable users to see them promptly after clicking instead of taking a very long time to download. Waiting for images and other graphics to load can be off putting for most visitors and will eventually lead them to another site which is more optimized and easy to view. Even spiders and crawlers will give up on a site which is not easy to navigate and get into.

The overall appeal of the SEO web design should not only be focused mainly on the niche that it is targeted on but also for Internet users who might have stumbled onto the site. SEO web design should have a universal appeal even for the most specialized type of sites on the Internet. Some webmasters or website owners could opt for specialized SEO web designs and these can also be done with the targeted audience in mind. It will also benefit the site if it is indexed as it should be. You might want to have a specific SEO web design which is built around the entire concept of your site and this can add to the ranking if you are quite specific with what you aim to sell or market. If you are marketing a specific product or information, SEO experts can focus on this product or information and build the SEO web design around it.

Another aspect of SEO web design that needs to be considered is what your competition is doing. The saying, “know your enemy” is the key here. You do not want to have the same boring marketing strategies as the competition. Why? Because it is a good idea to keep abreast with what they are doing and how well they are doing in this field. There are many site optimization tools that can help analyze and determine what is needed for the site. Hence, in regard to SEO web design process, content is one of the prime needs and tools of making the site rank high during searches. Finding out or identifying the right keywords to integrate into the site can be crucial in making the site among the top ranking ones. Keyword search tools and having keyword rich content and titles can help to optimize a site efficiently.

SEO web design experts should also bear in mind that there are web strategies that may be unacceptable for search engines. Using these underhand or black hat tricks to perpetuate a site in rank can cause the search engines to ban the site and also the SEO web design company that did the search engine optimization work for it no matter how well the SEO web design is.

The basic elements and principles involved in web design are true for all other types of design. These principles will show you the most effective way to put together the various design elements to come up with a good and effective site. A good web design company emphasizes the fact that web design is not simply about slapping all those HTML tags on the page, but it involves the use of web design principles to build a pleasing and useful web design. Your web design company will need you to make the most aesthetically attractive and effective web design, so make sure you keep these elements in mind:

Web Design Balance

Web design Balance is the equal distribution of the heavy and light elements on a singly page. Balance in your web design is concentrated in your page layout. You must achieve visual balance in your web design all throughout the page, not only in the initial view. You web design company might commonly suggest you to center the text and all the other elements on your page. It is also very common to set your page on an invisible grid system to create the balance that you need. There are three types of balance that can be achieved when designing a page.

 Symmetrical. This is achieved by placing all the elements in an even fashion - a heavy element on the left is matched with another on the right. Be careful with symmetrical balances as you do not want your site to look flat or plain boring.

 Asymmetrical. These are more challenging to build, but there are strategies to achieve this which can include the varying texture, color and image positioning and size to arrive at a pleasant looking page.

 Discordant. Web sites that are off-balance suggest action or motion, so you can create a discordant design on purpose. This type of designs make viewers uncomfortable or uneasy, so they are best used for sites that are intended to make people think.

Web Design Contrast

Web design contrast is more than just about colors and black or white, but also involves contrasting shapes, sizes and even textures. You can take full advantage of contrast by changing font size, weight and family to provide textual contrast and varying sizes of images and elements. However, be careful not to blast your readers or scare them off with contrasting colors which are way too loud. The links on your content should be contrasted well to draw most attention.

Web Design Emphasis

Web design emphasis involves the main points where the eye is drawn into in a design. One of the mistakes that your web design company may warn you not to make is to have everything in the design stand out. Keep in mind that if everything in the design has equal emphasis, the entire page will tend to appear too busy for comfort and may end up unappealing. What you should focus on instead is to create a visual hierarchy in the web design - to put emphasis only on the right elements. You can use semantic markup to provide emphasis even without the use of styles; change the font size of image size in order to emphasis or lessen emphasis on them; or you can use contrast in colors for added emphasis.

Web Design Rhythm

Web design rhythm, also known as repetition, brings the much needed internal consistency into your web site designs. Almost all elements in your design can be repeated in order to create pleasing rhythm into your design. For instance, you can repeat your headline a few times for more emphasis, repeat the same image across the page, create a background that is tiled and patterned with repetitive elements, or repeat a particular style to provide site design consistency. It is also a good idea to repeat the navigation elements in your site design across the pages of your web site.

Web Design Unity

Web design unity, also regarded as a site's proximity, is the what keeps all the similar elements in the site alike and those diverse further apart, and pulls everything together into one integrated whole. Unity when it comes to web site design is mainly achieved through the proper placement in your layout. You can implement this in many ways. You can, for example, adjust the layout of your elements to put them close or far away from each other. In the body of your page, you can change the spacing around the text in your page contents. You can further achieve unity by playing around the box properties and change the margins and paddings.

A good web design company keeps in mind all the basic design elements with each and every page they design and collaborate with. This way, you and your web design company will come up with web sites that are pleasant looking, effective and attractive. As the web designer, it is important that you keep these elements in mind and apply them appropriately to your page web design.

When someone sees a beautiful web design, he or she can’t help but fall in love with it and wonder how it was done. However, designing a web would take more than just your knowledge in color, texts and images. It involves codes. But you can learn those in no time so there’s nothing to worry about. Moreover, there is a science behind web design and the following could help you be more scientific with your designs

Usability Testing

The secret here is to let someone who is not familiar with your site have a look at it. As much as possible, be in the room while they are testing your site. Take note of the things that they click on and the things that they ignore so you will know what to improve.

Browser Testing

Do not make the mistake of thinking that your web page will look good at any other browser because it looks good on your favorite one. Remember that the same browser could be used on another operating system and it may not look the same. What you need to do now is to check your page on every possible combination of OS and browser.

Use Log Files

Including log files can be very tiresome, however, it can also be very useful. It helps you know where viewers go from your homepage, what they mostly click on and what pages are least visited. Using log files can help you gather information that can help you modify your site and eventually lead your viewers to the page where you want them to go.

Don’t be afraid to recreate

One of the biggest advantages in web designing is the freedom to change web pages and layouts. Don’t be afraid to change designs that don’t work. Designing a web can be a lot of fun and involving science and structure into your designs will surely attract your viewers.

Use accurate titles for every section

Web browsers tend to scan pages and sections so make sure that your page or section titles are consistent and accurate. In this way, they can be sure that they are being led to the right section of the site.

Avoid ‘Click Here’

Links are very important in web pages. However, avoid using the text ‘click here’ when leading your viewers to another page. Instead use a descriptive and more appropriate text .

Improve Readability

Now is not the time to show off your collection of fonts. What’s important is for your customers to be able to read what is written on your site. Therefore, use attractive but readable texts to attract readers and customers of your site.

Proofread

Even the most excellent writer makes grammatical and spelling errors. You wouldn’t want your site viewers to think you’re an amateur, would you? What you have to do in order to increase trustworthiness is to proofread everything that is written in your site. Remember, less mistakes or lack of errors can add to your reliability points.

In web designing, design is more than just using HTML tags on a web page. The principles outlined below will help you create a more useful and effective website.

Balance

One of the most basic principles in web designing is balance. It is the distribution of the light and heavy elements on a page. It shows one to layout web pages so that they will work effectively. It is also a visual interpretation of design gravity. Remember that darker and larger objects appear heavier than lighter and smaller objects.

Balancing designs can be done in three ways:

Symmetrical Balance – done by placing elements in an even manner

Asymmetrical Balance – more challenging to design because they don’t have elements that match across the designs centerline

Discordant or off-balance – designs that suggest more action and motion

Contrast

When people encounter the word contrast, color is the first thing that comes to mind. However, contrast is more than just a difference in color. There can be contrasts in shapes, sizes and even textures. It is an accentuation of element differences in a design. When you apply contrast in a web design, think beyond or more than just colors. Think about how you can attract your readers in terms of contrasting font sizes, shapes, images and text styles.

Moreover, contrast in web design can be done in four ways. It can be done by

Changing of fonts
Providing links
Using different sizes of images and elements
Using contrasting colors

Emphasis

The eye is drawn to what is emphasized in a design. Though it is very tempting to give emphasis on everything in your website, as a designer you should determine element hierarchy and apply emphasis accordingly based on the hierarchy.

With emphasis, you make the most important element stand out in your design. To include emphasis or dominance in your design, try doing the following ways:

Use semantic mark up that will provide some emphasis even when there are no styles
Changing of fonts or images
Use of contrasting colors

Rhythm

Rhythm is also called repetition. It allows the design to build an internal consistency which helps the viewers to understand it easily. It is said that the whole design can only be understood once the brain has recognized the pattern in the rhythm. Furthermore, rhythm instills a sense of order in the design because it seldom occurs on its own. Due to this, viewers become attracted and therefore tend to investigate further.

To include rhythm in your web design, you can repeat actual HTML texts, add images several times, use background-repeat property and repeat navigation elements of your design.

Unity

In design, unity is also termed as proximity. It is the method of keeping same elements together and keeping different elements apart. It provides cohesiveness to designs and is said to pull elements together. It is primarily achieved through layout placement but can also be accomplished with the use of padding and margining of the elements.

Unity can be implemented through adjusting the layout of elements, changing the text spacing and playing with the box properties to influence the padding and margins.

When designing something, a designer should first go through the basics of designing. Whether he is designing a print design or web design, he must know the dos and do not's. The following items will help you know the basics of web designing as well as some techniques that are specific to coming out with the best web layout.

1. Create a design that seems friendly.

There are actually a lot of web designs that scare people away and not attract them. If you want people to return to your website, make it soothing and light. Keep your site as friendly as possible.

2. Create a great homepage

When designing your website, you should keep in mind to conceptualize a homepage that would attract your viewers. Remember that the first page that your customers see can also be the last. So learn to create a page that will attract your visitor’s attention and then draw them deeper into your site.

3. Keep in mind the principles in designing web sites

Remember to apply your design principles such as balance, contrast, emphasis, rhythm and unity. This will serve as your guide and will help you conceptualize a good web design.

4. Think small in terms of graphics

Slow pages can be really very annoying. Whether you like it or not, one cause of slowing the pages is large graphics. To avoid such problem think of using images with a size of 10-12 kb.

5. Use graphics that fit the content

Just because you have a wonderful picture of you and your boyfriend doesn’t mean that you should include it on your website. Use images that are appropriate and that connect with your site’s content.

6. Don’t use blinking images

There have been studies proving that blinking images actually annoy people. If you want to use them, though, use them sparingly. You wouldn’t want your site viewers to leave your page just because of an annoying blinking image.

7. Stay with standard layouts

Try to use a layout that is simple as possible. The 3-column layout might sound corny and boring but it helps to keep your readers stay where they are and keep reading your site’s contents. Keep in mind that readers and site viewers stick with things that are simple and easy to understand.

8. Use standard fonts and limit the number of different fonts

Use standard fonts such as Arial, Verdana, Geneva, and Helvetica. They might seem too familiar but they look better on most browsers. Now, you don’t have to worry whether your fonts will work or not.

9. Don’t be greedy

Though ads help you make money by posting them on your site, keep in mind that people visit your site because of their perceived content and not because of the ads that you put in it. For all you know, these ads may drive your viewers away, if they are too many, and could possibly make you lose money.

10. Remember your readers

Understand that, unless you’re writing a site for yourself, your site’s content should include topics that your viewers might want to read.

Different issues can’t be avoided even in web designing. Due to conflicts between differing goals and web design methods, conflicts arise. Some of them are listed below.

Liquid vs. Fixed Layouts

Web designers do not have control over everything when designing a web site. Some of the factors that they do not have control over are browser window (the web browser used), used input devices (such as mouse, touch screen, voice command, and text) and the size and characteristics of fonts available.

However, some designers choose to control the element’s appearance on screen with the use of specific width designations. This may be done with the use of HTML table-based design or CSS. Fixed width design happens when images, texts and design layouts do not change as the browser changes. Supporter of this design prefer to control the look and feel of the site as well as the placement of objects on the page. However, other designers use liquid design, as in Wikipedia. In liquid design, the design moves so that the content will flow on the whole screen or a portion of it. The supporters of this design wishes to use all the available spaces on the web.

CSS versus tables

During the days where Netscape Navigator 4 was the most popular browser, Web designers use tables to layout pages on the web. This was considered as the practical solution then. However, popular as it is, it requires dozens of nested tables even for simple designs.

With the emergence of dominant browsers such as Internet Explorer (which became more compliant to W3C), designers started to turn their attention in using CSS. Proponents of CSS say that tables should only be used for tabular data and not for page layout. In CSS, on the other hand, HTML returns to a semantic set-up. With this, search engines are able to understand what is happening in a web page. But one major downfall of CSS is the fact that control is essentially abandoned because each browser has its own trait which leads the page to have a different display.

So to avoid this stand off, you have to decide firsthand on the approach you will take when designing that webpage, here are some of the key elements you have to bear in mind:

Website Planning

It is important to plan on the kind of website that you would be establishing. Keep in mind the audience or your target market, as well as the purpose for creating the site and lastly, its contents.

Audience

The key step to website planning process is defining your target market or audience. Your audience is the group of people you visualize as the ones who would most likely visit your website. These people will be visiting your website for a purpose so it is beneficial to know the things they are looking for. To help you decide on this, you should clearly define the goal of the site and also understand what people want to feel or do when visiting your website.

Looks vs. Function

Some designers pay more attention on how the site looks rather than on how it works. Some even rely on advertisements, so that clients will find their website, instead of search engines. On the other hand, SEO’s or Search Engine Optimization consultants are concerned with how a web site works, textually and technically. As a result, designers and SEO’s end up having fights because of the differences of their concerns.

Fact 1: We can’t deny the fact that when browsers enter a site, they look for something that is relevant to their needs. If they ended in a particular site through advertisements, then they would expect to see something related to that ad.

Fact 2: On the other hand, when a search engine scans a site’s contents, it looks for contents which are useful enough for other sites to reference. It expects to locate a content that is consistent with the keywords.

Fact 3: Moreover, visitors who go to a shopping cart would expect to find photos with high quality, a variety of applicable views and lastly, a concise and clear description and costs. They also expect that the cart should work in all types of browsers.

But sad to say, some viewers do not find what they need in a website or sometimes they have a hard time going around the site. The following things should make you aware on the things why web sites fail.

One fact that web designers must know is that people wouldn’t enter your site unless they know their way around it.

Due to this concern, web designers must take into consideration that they need to conceptualize user friendly and easy to understand websites. For most customers or viewers, very extravagant design won’t matter as long as they don’t get lost in your site.

Your competitors are just a click away

When designing your web site, think very carefully on things that could give you a plus over your competitors. Think of the things that you can offer your customers in order for them to stay on your site and choose you above all else.

People hate slow websites

Designers must understand that searchers can be very impatient when surfing through sites in the Internet. Therefore, designers must find a way to minimize the slowness of websites and at the same time offer viewers with quality contents.

Searchers look for relevant information

Dr. Jim Jansen of Penn State’s School of Information Sciences and Technology said, “A web site has to be relevant to a searchers needs. Otherwise, by the time three minutes have elapsed, 40 percent of searchers will have moved on. While some may have found what they wanted, others may simply have given up and move to a different site." When designing web pages, designers can’t help but become graphic artists with the aim to make your site look great but sometimes lacking in information. Therefore, remember that while it is important to make your site attractive, it is equally important to place in your site the information that visitors need.

Sites should have clear abstracts

The first thing that appears on the result page as an answer to a search engine query is the site’s abstract. The abstract explains everything about your site. According to a study done by Penn State, more users or searchers can be drawn to a site with the use of an abstract. That is if the abstract is informative enough and gives relevant and enticing information about the site. Dr. Jim Jansen said, "For site developers, if you want to be looked at, it is absolutely critical that the abstract be crystal clear about the purpose of your Web site."