You can make money by getting into web design. If you know how to design great sites, you can work for yourself or for others. Obviously, you should start off doing this when you have nothing better to do, such as after work, as it allows you to focus all your attention on success and financial gain of your new business.
In order for your website to be successful, it must work properly regardless of the browser that is used. You should therefore make certain that all of your web pages are thoroughly tested on a variety of browsers. A webpage that displays properly using Internet Explorer, could appear incorrectly or poorly on a different browser such as Firefox or Chrome. Test how your pages display with all major browsers prior to launch.
Design Programs
Your visitors should be able to see your content regardless of the browser they are using. Test your pages with different browsers to make sure it is displayed properly. The most popular browsers are Internet Explorer, Firfox, Safari and Google Chrome and what works with one might not work with the others. Before you website is launched, test the display of each page in all major browsers.
If you want help with your website development, look at purchasing on of many site design programs available on the market. Professional website design programs are not difficult to use, and before you know it, you will be able to develop an attractive website. If your website has no appeal, the visitors will not come.
Pop-ups should not be used on your site. There is nothing worse than visiting a website and getting assaulted by tons of pop-up ads. Most people will immediately leave a website that has pop-ups, even if they are on big websites. So make sure you have happy customers, by not including these aggravating pop-ups ads. If the host you uses forces these pop-ups on you, you may want to consider looking for a new host.
Make sure you research the keywords that do well. Your customers should always be the top focus, but search engine optimization is still necessary to bring those customers to your pages. Understanding what keywords will bring people to your site from a search engine is a needed step to becoming a successful site.
Go through all links on any page on your website carefully to make sure there are no links that are broken before you upload the page. Error pages can be very frustrating to visitors. You can manually check links or use a program that will find broken links for you.
Don’t use frames if you want to optimize your website. While many people like frames, information tends to not be easily seen via search engines. Your website won’t rank high if the information isn’t visible. If that happens, you will not get as many visitors.
Make sure you optimize your website for older Internet Explorer versions like IE7 and IE8. People seem to hate this browser, but many still use older versions. They often don’t render elements to web standards, so you will have to work around them. Do a little research on the box model bug.
Good meta tagging practices will help your website draw in larger numbers of visitors. Good meta tags will help search engines categorize your site properly. Poor or useless tags that are irrelevant to your site will deter future and returning visitors.
Make sure your website is easily scanned. Many readers online look for information that is interesting to them. Make sure your text is placed in sections, so readers can look over it quickly. Also, the more important info should be kept towards the top. This will help your visitors quickly locate the information they are looking for.
Practice with a very basic layout to understand the basics of website design. As you continue to learn about web design, you can update and change your site to reflect your new knowledge.
Give your website’s visitors the capability to search your website, at least on your main page and ideally on every sub-page. Customers will appreciate the ability to effortlessly navigate your site. The ease with which these can be used, and the benefit to your visitors, make any effort worthwhile, to put them in place.
When coming up with content, remember that you users are bound to have different literacy levels. If you want everyone to be able to understand your website, use language they can understand. If you desire a greater amount of viewers to your site, create content for all different types of people.
Avoid overusing JavaScript. JavaScript is highly overrated because it can cause issues for some users. Everyone uses a different web browser, and all of them have new versions released fairly regularly. Every single visitor isn’t going to be using a more recent version of their browser. They may also not have enabled JavaScript in their browser. This means they’ll have difficulty viewing your site because of this.
Design your website as an artist would. Inspiration can strike at any time, so be ready for it! If you’re eating some sushi and think of something cool to put on your website, grab your iPad and record the idea. If you come up with a design idea while you are at work, call your home phone and leave a quick message describing the idea on your answering machine, so that you can refer to it later.
Search Box
Place your search box toward the top of your pages and allow people to type in at least twenty-seven characters. Be certain that the search button itself does not say “go” or “submit”; it should say “search”. Doing this makes sure the search box can be easily seen, used and helps visitors to your site find exactly what they were looking for.
Despite the type of site you are going to have, you definitely want to keep the loading time under ten seconds. A good site will appear before a visitor’s eyes within moments. Many people browsing the web want instant gratification, so if you want to catch their attention, you need to provide that.
Avoid using Flash applications when designing your website. While Flash can convey high-technology and an air of excitement, some computers lag when they encounter sites that use Flash. Some phones and tablets, especially those made by Apple, won’t run Flash at all, which can destroy the user experience if there’s no alternative content.
Allow yourself a set amount of time every day in which you can focus on designing your site. Make sure that you schedule out larger blocks of time during your day, so that you actually make some real progress rather than trying to work on tidbits here and there. As you progress in your design efforts, you will be solidifying the knowledge you have gained.
You should be ready to design a website after reading this. Just keep these tips in mind, always keep up with the latest trends and you could have a very successful website.
Create an opt-in newsletter to entice your visitors to return often. This is great for captivating someone whom may have viewed your site, but then gone on to forget about it entirely. Stick the sign-up form in a spot that’s out of the way, such as in a sidebar, and keep good records of those who sign up. Just send your newsletter to those that ask for it, or you may get in trouble.