Designing a website is frighteningly easy to get wrong. You only have to spend 10 minutes online to confirm this. You will find pages and pages of websites with no clear purpose, layouts and graphics that belong in past decades and hideous flashing boxes popping up every time you move the cursor. Your website is the place where modern consumers will come looking to research what it is that you offer and to take your measure. So how can you avoid the pitfalls of website design and ensure prospective customers judge you to be professional, sincere and, most importantly, appealing place to spend money?
Consider these three keys when designing a website and you won't go far wrong.
Style
First off when thinking about web development, companies should consider their brand. That is to say you need to decide what values and attitudes you want to portray to customers about your business? Are you a fun, young car rental company? Perhaps you are a selfless and honest bank? Or even a wholesome, nutritious diary?
It is very important to keep this public image of your company in the forefront at every stage of a website's development, whether you are selecting a color scheme, writing text for the home page or picking out testimonials to display.
If you want your website to do credit to your brand then it will need to look professional. If you don't have the necessary aesthetic skills then please consider one of the many companies offering graphic design. Nothing turns away customers like an amateurish website.
Credibility
Your website should work to establish your company as a credible entity whom it is safe to do business with, especially if you plan to sell goods and services online. There are several simple steps that you can take to reassure prospective customers.
The inclusion of case studies on your website is a brilliant method for lending a degree of transparency to your company online. People want to read through your list of happy clients, and once they have, many will take the plunge and make contact with you.
Simplicity
Look at any of the world's leading websites like Google, eBay and Facebook. The first thing that you will notice is that they are all remarkably simple to look at with plain white backgrounds, unassuming fonts and very limited use of colours. Millions upon millions of research dollars have been spent to optimize the usability and appeal of these websites. When designing, if in doubt, follow the same rules as the corporate giants.
But more than that, you need a site that is easy to navigate and simple to use. To arrive at this holy grail of website design you need to get into heads of your customers. You need to establish what information and reassurances the consumers need from you, and how can you make doing business with your company as simple possible?
Follow these three steps or acquire a professional web design agency and you will be well on the way to a website that works.
Source: http://www.quora.com