Want to get people to stay on your website longer and have them keep coming back for more? Follow these 13 simple tips on Web design tips.

1. Having a professional logo “Your logo is a very important part of your design, so make sure it is visible on your site.” Use a high-resolution image and feature it on the top left hand corner of your page. Also want to make sure that the logo can link back to your home page, that is the number one rule of thumb. It will make things easy for visitors to view the site.

2. Navigation Panel Primary navigation are typically deployed in a horizontal menu bar along the top of your site. The secondary bar should be underneath the primary. If the navigation bars are confusing for the customers they tend to quit out of the site and not go through the site to figure it out.

3. No more clutter It’s very easy now a days to visually overload with images on your site, but you want to make sure things are not cluttered up. Get rid of images that don’t need to be there and use the most important images to get the idea and concept out.

4. Breathing room Give enough space between your paragraphs and images so the viewer has enough breathing room to take in all the information that is given. Having a controlled white space on your layout will keep them focused and keep them intrigued and have them return to the site more.

5. Choosing color Having a site clean, elegant and modern appearance and sticking to a neutral color palette can help your site. You don’t want to make your site with colors that don’t go together and have things hard to read. Presenting small bits of color for headlines or graphics helps guide readers to the most important content.

6. Photography Your company isn’t generic. You want your company to stand out, so having professional photography or stock photos will have your site looking presentable. Good photographs should “draw the eye, providing an emotional connection to the written content.” Tip for photography: “If you want to draw attention to a certain image, it’s good to have someone else looking at the content.”

7. Easy to read typefaces When choosing a font, keep in mind that it should be user friendly. People could be looking at your site from a mobile device or computer monitor. Pick a typeface that is easily legible and the size is nothing less than 11pt. If you are using Web fonts try to stick to two fonts within the same family. When using fixed-width design or Fluid design use a font size that can contain at least 15-20 words per line and 900 to 1000 pixels wide.

8. Landing page Most websites assume a user can enter through the home page and be able to navigate through the site. When reality when you click on the link it doesn’t always bring you to the home page. You have to navigate your way through, in order to find the home page. Need to design the site in a way that whenever a viewer lands on it has main key information there.

9. Important information Putting your call into action in the upper portion of your site along with your basic information: phone number and/or email address. So the customers are able to call or email you. Having home page images, should cover at least two-thirds of the width allowing for a contact form to be above the fold.

10. Designs that automatically adapt When creating a site, it should be able to be responsive and able to adapt to the browser site. Which means the better experience typically translates to more time spent on the site equals higher conversion rates.

11. No more Flash With the ongoing dispute between Adobe and Apple, Flash is coming to a slow close. Why stick to the same bandwagon when there are more options that are much Web and user friendly? HTML5 has been gaining more Web support and is making search-engines more friendly with text and ability to function on any sort of device.

12. Buttons The ‘Submit’ or ‘Send’ button towards the bottom of the Web form can be one of the ugliest parts. So you want to encourage designers to make a button that is appealing to the eye and get the viewer excited to hit the button. Maybe have the button change colors, gradient, or opacity.

13. Testing the design  If trying out different placements of designs you want to test things out first. When uploading your site, things can be placed differently and colors could be changed, so it’s good to always test it out first, before just submitting it and not checking to make sure it flows the way it should.

For more information about Website design contact Windy City Web Designs