The first thing people notice about a website is its overall design. Since first impressions are hard to overcome, making a good one is important if website visitors are to be kept from fleeing a poorly-designed site immediately. The advice below will help you design a great website.
If you're creating a website, make sure you look at it in different browsers. What you get on your browser isn't always what your visitors see on their browser. Always go out of your way to discover what browsers are the most popular and design your site to work efficiently in all of them. Also check your site with different operating systems.
The faster a web page loads, the more it will be appreciated. You should minimize the loading time of your site's pages. You cannot expect much patience from your visitors. If they are stuck looking at an incomplete page for minutes on end while your content loads, they are quite likely to close your site and find what they're looking for elsewhere.
Each topic needs its own page. If you've got a few discussions going, put Content Management Systems each on its own page. This will eliminate visitor confusion and make it easier for search engines to gain a clear and broad view of the site and help you build traffic.
Do not go overboard in using lots of fonts when creating your website. Think about how the various fonts look on a standard computer display. Tiny fonts can be difficult to read. Fancy fonts may look attractive at a glance, but a closer look reveals they can be extremely annoying to read.
When designing pages that have links, make certain your links have text content. Links with content are easier to view for your visitors and help them know exactly what they will be clicking on. When links do not have text content, the link could be accessed accidentally by keyboard shortcut.
Incorporating a traffic counter for your page is rather unsightly. It may look like you've added something neat to your site, but many visitors do not wish to see that. As you can see, the counter can be counterproductive and you can use other tools in the back office or online to check visitor count.
While using design tools provided by a web host is workable for establishing your website, it's smart to add some unique, personal touches as well. Your site should reflect you and your personality, so you want to make sure it's not too generic.
It takes a great deal of practice to learn how to apply great web design techniques. This will help cement what you're learning into your mind. You don't want to move deep into your site's design and realize too late that you don't understand something important.
Website design is one of the most powerful and fastest-acting factors that will influence whether or not a site's visitors decide to stick around. It's best to make their first impression a good one. It is hoped that these tips have given you some of the tools you will need to be a success with web design and traffic retention.