We have tried to compile few tips as a starting point for discussing some of the issues that a web designer needs to consider while creating a new website so that it can exist and compete in the real web world, particularly for Web site visibility and website appearance.

Appearance is Not so Important

We have observed that newcomers mostly tend to put their complete focus excessively on the appearance of a website. But it might be hard to believe but the reality is that appearance isn’t the most important thing to look at when you are planning and creating a website.

Now, this doesn’t mean that website appearance is of no importance at all. Our emphasis will be more on other things than on appearance because most of the newcomers place excessive importance on beauty. In fact ignoring the appearance of the website completely will be again hazardous to your site.

Now that we have make ourselves clear on this, your site can still survive even if it is plain-looking site like Google. This is not necessarily the case if you overlook the other important issues in web designing.

Usability is Important

All sites are designed with an intention. Some are created to sell something and few others to provide some information resources while others are designed to showcase their owner’s talents. The usability of the site is important to help you achieve that purpose.

The basic question you need to deal with while addressing usability is: can your visitors easily access the information they need so that the visitors do the things what you want them to do? There are few other things which are associated with this question.

1.Information Availability

Ask whether if the information provided on your site is sufficient enough for the visitor to make informed decision. For instance, if you are trying to sell some product on your site then the visitor would like to know about the product first. A brief one-line summary about the product’s features may work or perhaps you can link it to a page which gives a detailed list of features of each of your product to attract more buyers.

2.Information Accessibility

Providing information alone is not enough, it must be accessible to your visitors too. A page which provides a detailed description of your product alone is not enough as the visitors won’t work hard at finding it. In fact, our experience says that if the visitors have to work at finding something on your site, they are not going to search for it. Either put the information right under their noses or put a link which leads to that place.

3.Navigation

A good navigational system also plays an essential role in your website planning. A navigational system is one by which visitors can traverse from one page to another on your website. For instance, on our current website startwebsite.org, you can see navigational buttons on top and the left pane of the page.

There are few features which can be incorporated for a good navigational system:

• If you plan to implement a navigation bar or panel then standardize its location on all the pages of your website. Don’t put it in different locations on each page and make the visitor to search for it as if they are on some treasure hunt every time they reach a new page.

• Provide shortcut to places where you think the visitors would likely to go from the main page besides putting navigation bar or panel. Do not force the visitors to go through the main page each time they need to visit another page on your site. In fact, put direct links in logical places. For instance, if your site is about selling products then on your products page, you should have a link to your buy/order page as well as links to the detailed information about the individual products. Think from the visitor’s perspective and imagine what you want to know or do when you are on a particular page.

• A good navigation system must be user-friendly to all your visitors. As a result, try to avoid certain things that are dependent on certain features or facilities being available. For instance, do not make your menu dependent on a specific browser and if your menu is JavaScript enabled then make sure you have an alternate available for people who do not have JavaScript enabled.

• The more the number of pages the better the usability, if your site has large number of pages then the search engine will improve your site’s usability. Nobody is more capable of organizing information then you can for your own site. However, a logical arrangement done by you might not seem logical to another person. Giving your visitors a way to search your web site will help them locate what they want.

• It is always a good option to have a Site Map, unless your site has only a few pages. This enables the visitors’ route easily to another page on your site. It also helps search engines locate all the pages on your site especially if they are dynamically generated links to your pages.

Search Engine Visibility is Your Site’s Lifeline

It is very important for your Web site visibility and hence to appear in the search engine results. Your site should not completely rely on JavaScript navigation menu. Apart from the links generated by the JavaScript menu you should have other links too in your site pointing to other pages within the sites. Since search engines bots cannot interpret JavaScript, they cannot follow any links and thus only index the main page, hence a drastic drop in visitors.

However this problem can easily be fixed by either creating a site map or add a normal link to it from the main page, but it illustrates one of the most important issues a real world website faces and that is of search engine visibility. If your site is not listing in the search engine results then you are not going to be able to make too many visits to your site and without visitors you will not achieve the purpose of your site. Designing a site that is search engine ready will be dealt later in detail in other articles of ours.

Hence to conclude it is important to have usability and search engine readiness in your web design. Usability helps you to improve the chances of your site to accomplish your purpose. Search engine visibility is also crucial because it will help you get more visitors. Plan your website keeping these two aspects in mind, along with keeping the appearance of your site and design in consideration to help you achieve the purpose of your Web site.