I Need a Website, Now What? Part 2 – Things to Consider

Here at Virtue Media we’ve been on the cutting of web design for over a decade. Helping small buisnesses, community organizations and individuals alike. We’ve seen what works and we’ve had to rethink our strategies when they don’t work. The following hard learned design phase tips can help you create a worthwhile website. In this, the second part of this guide you’ll learn some important things to consider while you’re beginning your website design journey.

Check out Part 1 – Tips for Non Web Designers

Create an opt-in newsletter to entice your visitors to return often. When you allow visitors to subscribe to your website’s newsletter for updates, they will be more likely to come back to your site. You can incorporate a form in the sidebar of the site and track users that sign up. Make sure you only send off the newsletter to people that want it, or you’re sure to find yourself in some trouble.

Skip the pop-up windows. While you might see these as valuable in some form or another, most people find them rather annoying. Many visitors to your site may simply exit the site when faced with a pop-up. If this happens, they are unlikely to return.

Use ALT tags for your website. These tags are important because they describe the images people see when they don’t have their graphics turned on or they’re for people that can’t see and need help with getting a website read to them. In addition, ALT tags allow you to describe how a link behaves if you utilize your images as links. It may also benefit your search engine rankings.

Allow users to cancel an action if they so choose. An action may refer to signing up for e-mail notifications, newsletter subscriptions or filling out web forms. When you do not allow visitors to cancel something they do not wish to complete, you are forcing them into something, which can prove detrimental to fostering return visits and/or purchases.

Set up your website to store personal information that users might need to reenter multiple times. For instance, if a visitor registers for your newsletter and they are going to use the same information to make a purchase, be sure the data they’ve already entered is kept, so they do not have to re-enter the same information. “Sticky” data will ensure that the user fills out all the forms they need to instead of leaving when it becomes too difficult.