3 simple rules for web design

Here are 3 basic rules of web design that should save you a great deal of heartache and stress

A website needs to be:

1) Well designed. Even if it’s one page, a site needs to look professional and graphically attractive. If not, it doesn’t matter how effectively it works, people will still judge it to be atiquated or naff.

2) Easily found by Google for your business’s keywords. If each of your page titles is just your name and your company name, then your designer doesn’t understand how Google works. It’s not hard to write page titles with Google in mind.

3) Easy to update. Fresh content is the oxygen that keeps your site alive in Google’s eyes. If you have to run back to your web designer every time you want / need to add something, one of two things is going to happen: you’re either going to get fleeced or you’ll end up in a bitter relationship because everything will have to depend on the designer’s ‘goodwill’.

If you ONLY check out these three things before going ahead with your web project, you’ll save yourself a lot of money and a considerable amount of stress.

How can you check these points out?

1) Well designed: If you’re not sure, ask other people to look at the company’s work. Do other people consider it good-looking? Professional?

2) Easily found: Look at a site the company has designed. Do the page titles have that business’s keywords built in? Do a Google search on what you think that business’s keywords are. See where the site appears. Ask the designer to explain how they plan to work on your site’s search engine optimisation with you.

3) Easy to update: Ask the web design company what kind of ‘content management system’ (CMS) your site will have. Make sure you know what you need to change / how often. Find out how easy it will be to use the CMS. Make sure you understand how to use keywords in the content you plan to add.