- There are three elements to good website design:
- The back end – this is structure behind the website. You can do it yourself using freeware such as WordPress (what this site is using) or, like us, you can get a professional developers to do it in half the time and a fraction of the angst.
- The design – a designer will help you with the look and feel of the site. Developers are not designers, and designers are not developers (each uses the other half of the brain).
- The content – this is the most important. How you structure, write and present your content is what will make your site work. It is not something that your secretary or university offspring can do in their spare time. Hire a professional. And keep them on a retainer to ensure your information is kept up to date. A retainer gives both of you the discipline to regularly work on the site. Search engines love that.
- Have a CMS (content management system) where YOU can log in and update your content on a regular basis without having to pay your development company for the changes.
- Have SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) features programmed in by your website development company
- Feature links to your social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Blog etc…)
- Allow viewers to comment or at least Like, Tweet or Google + an article or information on the site
- Be logical. Don’t overwhelm the user with too much information spread out across the site in random places. Try to organize your information into logical blocks. (This is best done by a professional website content writer… see next point)
- Don’t use unnecessary gimmicks. For example, if you’re a beautician, you don’t need to have a weather module, events calendar or currency converter on your site.