Top 7 Design Trends for Web Sites continued…

4. Buttons

Back when the web was new, the way to navigate a site was either by moving your mouse over text rollovers or by clicking square buttons. Today, though, many designers are using buttons that have rounded corners or are full circles. Why? Some people speculate that humans prefer organic shapes. Others suspect that we have deep-rooted fears of sharp corners. Whatever the reason, round is the way to go.

5. Big type

A lot of people don’t like reading off of web pages. Too often small type together with the eye-strain that goes with staring at a monitor turn people away from text heavy pages.

But now, many designers are making it easier on the reader by employing bigger, easier to read type. And not only is the type larger, but designers are flowing text onto multiple pages rather than trying to make everything fit onto one. This might make the size of your site a bit larger, but your readers will thank you for the lack of headaches.

6. White space

Many people, especially advertisers, fear white space. They feel that if the whole page isn’t filled then they’re not getting their money’s worth. But the opposite is true. Pages that contain a lot of white space, or empty space between elements, is easy on the eyes and helps people focus on what’s really important - your content.

A good rule of thumb is: if it doesn’t enhance your message, leave it out.

7. Centered Layout

More and more sites are aligning their content in the center of the page with plenty of white space on the sides. Why? Well for starters, this helps to ensure that visitors don’t have to scroll side to side in order to read all of your copy.

Another reason why this is popular is that it helps people to focus on your content, which is why they’re at your site in the first place.

These are just a few of the current trends in web design. If you’re thinking about creating a new site, or giving yours an overhaul, give some of these a shot and see if you don’t get better results.

For many struggling website owners, the big question of the hour is how they can improve their website to increase sales. The answer really depends on what the goal of your site is and what your target audience is. Here are 10 things you can do to improve your website immediately.

1. A good page title: It may seem like a no-brainer, but when people use a site like Google to find things, they only scan the results for a moment. Make sure your web page title is short, catchy and memorable. You want people to not only visit but also bookmark your site and come back on a regular basis.

2. A strong headline: Okay, you’ve got people on your site, now, how do you make them stay? Depending on how good your overall design is the next thing people are going to notice is the text. Introduce your text with a bold headline. This is your opportunity to tell them the reason why they need to keep reading your copy. Make it strong, confident, easy to understand and to the point. ‘How To’ headlines and headlines that pose an interesting question work especially well, as do problem based headlines.

3. Improve the text above the fold: This is an old newspaper term that referred to making the story that was above the fold of the front page as strong as possible to sell more papers. People aren’t going to scroll down your site and read the rest of it if what you have in the top half of the screen isn’t compelling.

4. Make the benefits of your website clear: This is usually done in the first bit of text on the page or even with the headline. Tell people why your site will meet their needs and how you can solve their problem.

5. Include testimonials: Testimonials from your clients are great to establish trust. Visitors will trust you because others tell you how wonderful you are, instead of you blowing your own horn. Testimonials with ‘before’ and ‘after’ stories are effective. Use a name on the testimonial so it is authentic. Include a picture of the person, if possible. It helps to add legitimacy.

6. Use contrast: Is there a strong contrast between the background colour and text color on your web page? Contrast is what draws your visitor’s eyes to the content. Black text on a white background is best for optimal readability.

7. Make your website more focused: If your site looks like a sprawling mess of content, you can sharpen it up by giving it focus. Does your website state clearly who you are, what you do and what you can offer your visitors? Get rid of any content that doesn’t speak directly to your target audience and delete any extra bells and whistles that your page doesn’t really need. Let content drive your site.

8. Have easily accessible contact info: Nothing can be more frustrating for a customer who is visiting your website for the first time than hunting around for several minutes trying to find an email or phone number to call so they can reach you. Make sure the contact information on your website is easily accessible.

9. Make it easy for your visitor to scan: Use subheads in your copy so it’s easier for your visitor to scan and know what your web page is about at a glance. Besides subheads, use bold text and bullet points and short paragraphs. If visitors cannot scan your web pages quickly, they will leave.

10. A call to action: Remember, when a visitor lands on your website, you want them to take action. Tell them what to do. If it is to order a particular product or to click further into the site, you need to involve the reader in your site. Always have a call to action at the end of every page.

By following the above tips, you can make the most out of your little home on the web.

As we’ve discussed, dynamic sites are in, and static sites are way, way out. To review, a static website is one that is much like a catalog, while a dynamic site ideally lends itself to much more updating and interaction.

Then, there’s a site that is compatible with the Web 2.0 style of marketing.

Before you start getting upset about yet another way in which you’ll have to overhaul your website let me be the first to tell you that joining the Web 2.0 evolution is not nearly that complicated. First, let’s talk about what Web 2.0 actually is.

Wikipedia defines it as follows:

Web 2.0 is a term often applied to a perceived ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving web applications to end users. Ultimately Web 2.0 services are expected to replace desktop computing applications for many purposes.

Don’t let this scare you though - it doesn’t mean your site has to have all the fixings of an office productivity suite in order for it to stay relevant. What it does mean, is that your site needs to catch up to the message that comes out of this movement. That message is that the Web isn’t just a place to passively look up things - it’s a place to participate, a place to BE.

Even if you have a site that is strictly corporate in nature, you can use many of the tools used in Web 2.0 Marketing in order to spread the message of your site deeply into niches that previously may have seemed hard to reach.

For example. you can start an RSS feed, a podcast, an internal or external blog, or use trackback and tagging in your online press releases. Doing so will help you reach a more web-savvy, affluent crowd of clients - important if you’re selling a product online, or to a crowd that does its research online, like people in the market for a home. Marketing your site with Web 2.0 methods doesn’t mean you need to change your site around.

It means you need to update your strategy.