Recently I started getting serious with 2 websites, one about multivitamins and one about paperbacks. The domains have been online and indexed for a while but not had a website properly set-up on them. Now they are properly set-up and initially my aim is to grow traffic and subscribers at the expense of revenue. So for example, where I would normally have a banner ad I now promote my RSS feed.

But I’m now thinking about how long can I go putting design ahead of profit?

The obvious answer is “duh! As long as you can afford to”. Well thats the thing, in theory I can afford to for a very long time, but then it loses the whole point of being a business. At what time do I stop and say “ok, we need to start making some profits here”.

Do I set targets of visitors & subscribers, or do I set a time schedule? Say 12 months and then the profit making begins. To be honest I’m not sure which way will be most beneficial for the site from a long-term viewpoint, or if in fact whichever I choose won’t matter and ultimately long-term the site will have the same success/profitability.

The 2 new websites have only been live a couple of months so there is no hurry. I think I’m going to mull it over and come to a conclusion as soon as I can so I know the plan and where I’m going.

Image: mikesansone

It is only a few weeks since the last redesign of the website. But here we go again – yet another new design, and we’ve gone green!

The truth is the last one didn’t work. I wanted the blog to look like a mirror of the main website – same logo, same background, same text style etc. So that’s what we did. But it just didn’t work, for a start it looked ugly and didn’t suit a blog. Secondly it wasn’t particularly user friendly. How can we post entries on this blog if our own blogs design is a mess!

So I’ve scrapped that whole idea and we have gone for a completely fresh look which shows off our “web design success” slogan and has the feel of a proper blog.

Web2.0 Effect
In this current web2.0 era I think it is harder to do effective web designs. My reason being that the visitors who come from Digg and other such sites don’t stay for long. So I want it to be super simple to navigate, easy to read text and easy to see links to subscribe to accomodate those who do arrive from social bookmark sites.

Yet I also want to fit in my normal ads, logo and other bits and pieces. As well as the buttons for social bookmarking sites and my social media accounts. This is why I think the previous design failed, not only did it look bad it couldn’t accomodate these things.

If Your Design Fails – Do It Again!
Designs always take a lot of tweaking. Then getting feedback. Then tweaking more. Then getting feedback…..and so on. But if you finish your design and it still looks bad like ours did, don’t accept it – just redo it! It will cost you a lot of time and maybe money in the short-term but if you accept the crap you’ve already got then you will never succeed. It’s all about the long-term. Don’t be scared to do your web design again.

This post ties in nicely with the one I wrote titled Don’t Let Web Design Slow Your Growth, I certainly felt the old design would really slow the blog down.

If you want to read more great articles like this visit our archives or subscribe for free updates to find out about future postings.

Image credit: jongos

If you run an offline business like a restaurant or hotel and you want customers to be able to find your location easily there maybe a solution called Schmap.

The solution allows a website – say for a restaurant, bar or other business – to serve a map and contact details perfectly formatted for iPhone visitors. In the future support for visitors with other mobile devices like a Blackberry or Google Android.

As a Blackberry owner myself it would be good to try the service in action on my own device. The service is available worldwide. If you are looking to get passing trade to your offline business it may be worth implementing this now to save you having to do a whole redesign of your website so it is mobile friendly.

I’m sure you’ve heard about Google Chrome by now, it is the new web browser from Google to take on the mighty Internet Explorer. I downloaded it yesterday and have so far found it nice to use – nothing amazing just nice.

One Killer Advantage
It is simple to use and looks good, but the best advantage is without doubt the process management system it has. This enables much faster surfing of the web than I’m used with Internet Explorer. If you’ve already got a super speedy computer and internet connection then you probably won’t be bothered about it, but if you’re like most others this new browser is great as faster surfing means you can get more done!

Let Google Chrome Help Your Website
If you have a website which is heavy on processes (AJAX, javascript etc) and you run a membership based website or one where visitors return regularly you should consider promoting Google Chrome to the users. By using the browser on your website it will improve their experience which in turn always encourages loyalty and trust.

You may not get paid for those who download the browser because of you but the knock-on effects will mean you generate more revenue, so in effect you still get paid – just not by Google!

Go download the browser now and see for yourself!

First off, welcome to the our new look web design blog (the sidebar isn’t quite complete yet – sorry!). The old free template has gone to be replaced by a new design matching our main website.

During the change we faced a dilemma, to go with 2 columns or 3? What is best for you, the user, and what is best for us?

As you can see we decided to go with 2 columns, although we originally did have 3. However the 3 column layout felt squashed and I hate it when the main body text on a website is thin so you are constantly scrolling down.

4 Main Reasons We Decided To Have 2 Columns:

• Larger main area for content improving user experience
• More focus on main content meaning more click-thru’s to latest posts
• Wider sidebar meaning space for wider and clearer adverts which is better for both users and advertisers
• Main category navigation easily accessible despite only having 1 column

Comparison With Main Website
Our main website – Free Stock Images – has 3 columns and we wanted the blog to have 3 columns so they both match. However we quickly realised the blog and main site have different needs, for both the user and advertiser.

Because they have different needs they obviously need different designs. The main site has a lot more pages for a start, and the way the sites generate revenue is also different so it made no sense to have exactly the same layout.

Conclusion
All sites have different needs and the design obviously has to reflect that for the site to reach its full potential. We went into this project thinking we just wanted to make the blog design exactly the same as our main website, it turns out that was not clever thinking! Now we meet everyones needs and have a blog which certainly stands out in the crowd!

Is your website layout maximising your potential?

When designing a new website or redesigning an old one an important part is advertising space, how much do you need to include, where abouts is it going to be located and will it blend or stand out?

I have been faced with this dilemma a few times recently, the cold hard fact is that I need to profit from my websites, no matter how old or new. For the first 12 months I would love to not need a single bit of advertising space so the content could be perfectly placed and the whole navigation system, logo, rss buttons etc could all be exactly where I want them (above the fold, big and clear!) to aid the building of a solid user base. Unfortunately I’m not in a position to do this so I need to be generating revenue as soon as their is even a trickle of traffic!

If we didn’t have to worry about revenue generation then designs could be much more impressive, maybe not in colour and imagery, but certainly in overall layout which would be great for users.

I’m currently setting up a website related to vitamins and minerals, it is going to be a sort of online magazine. In my design I have decided to go for one large block of ads in the sidebar and knowhere else. I normally like to integrate ads in both sidebars, at the top (quicklinks) and then have affiliate links when possible in content as well as a google search function to make money from searches. This represents a big change for me.

Having only one block of ads on my new website I am sacrificing short-term valuable ad space in the hope of faster growth - I hope it is worth it!

The majority of my websites have different areas, even if it is only the main website and then a blog on a subdomain. I have recently been considering the designs I use on different areas of different websites I have, and whether or not I should integrate the designs so they look the same or have different ones.

On this website there are 4 sections: the main website, free image hosting, hdr info, and of course this blog! At the moment the main website and image hosting service have the same basic design (with a few tweaks), and the HDR area and this blog have dramatically different designs. So should I make all areas look the same, or make them look different?

Here is a breakdown of the advantages and disadvantages of having a consistent design:

Advantages

• Users will feel more comfortable navigating between areas
• Users will build up more loyalty because it is obvious the different services are ran by the same website
• Consistency throughout the site looks more professional
• When users land on different areas from different channels they will recognise the overall ‘website identity’
• Refreshing the design is easier because you only have to worry about one design and only have to edit one file

Disadvantages

• Makes the website feel ‘smaller’, different designs make it clear the areas provide different services giving the whole company a larger feel
• You only get to play with one design, instead of trying cool new things on lots of designs
• The limitations of the design are felt across the whole site, rather than just one or two areas
• The design may not be ideal for all services

That’s all I can come up with right now – 5 advantages and 4 disadvantages. I guess that means it is more beneficial to have a consistent design.

I’m still considering this situation and am going to take action in the coming weeks upon what I decide.

The web is a busy place, millions of websites all competing for visitors within their niche. Getting visitors to remember your site can be done by promoting RSS feeds and constantly referring to your site as WhateverYourNameIs.com, as well as many other methods. With the web being such a busy place it is important that your design stands out, this in itself can make you memorable.

After first visiting your site, a few months down the line a visitor may not remember your website name/address but may remember the search term they typed into Google to get to your site (it may be saved in their computer). If your site has a boring generic template used by lots of others they may search for your site, find it and think “was this is it? Ill keep looking as im not sure”. If you have a unique and memorable template they will think “yes here it is, great ive found it” and will use your website again instead of a competitors.

The redesign of our main site FreeStockImages.net is now complete, and in the process I decided to compromise purity in order so the site stands out amongst the crowd. The color scheme is ‘red/green/black’, the red and green colors naturally developed because of the header image I had chosen. I don’t think the red titles in each nav are particularly eye pleasing, and the green hyperlinks aren’t the prettiest things either. Overall the design could use different colors and be a lot purer. However the site definitely stands out more as a result, and it still doesn’t look bad (albeit not to everyones taste).

So in conclusion, when designing your website it is important to set high standards regardless of what you are trying to achieve. It is also important to stand out from the crowd, if you have the choice of either;

• The design is perfect, clean and crisp but doesn’t stand out
• It looks good, isn’t perfect but does stand out a lot more then the perfect design

I would go with the second choice everytime, you still have a good design and will have more return visitors mean higher profits for your business.

The main website is now receiving around 15,000 unique visitors a month, and continuing to grow. I also have new features (unique & good quality of course!) to integrate into the site. The problem is the current design! It is a very pretty looking site with the big image of a sunset, but the navigation bar at the top is small and fiddly and now I can’t fit anymore links on it. It also only has one sidebar, ideally for all the content I need two.

So I’m now in the process of completing a new design for the site (screenshot on right of outline). I have plenty of other jobs to be getting on with for my other sites, but I feel this is such an important issue with the site growing and new features potentially letting it grow even quicker.

When I first installed the current design I focused on it looking ‘all pretty and arty’, not thinking what would happen when I came to adding new content and the whole site needing to be more user friendly to accomodate thousands of visitors every week. Now I’m paying for it in time and money, the money lost (IMO) is from potential lost advertising revenue and the visitors not returning like they would with new features/links to bookmark accounts etc.

So when you are coming to do a new site design or improving your current one think of what you will need down the line, and when you need it in the future whether you will have the time or money to find/create a new design!

Im off to finish the new design……….Chris. 

Are you constantly tweaking your website or do you do a redesign/series of changes and just leave it? Is it wise to always be messing with the design? Ive been putting together plans for existing websites to continue there development and I started thinking about whether constant changes are better than making lots of changes at once?

Personally I am always tweaking the design of my websites, whether it be because I have new content and need to improve the navigation bar or whether I just have a bright idea and find something that will make the site look better!

Benefits Of Constant Small Changes

• - Regular visitors will see you are always making changes and understand you are always working to improve the site
• - Good design ideas will be implemented very quickly giving you immediate benefits from the changes
• - You won’t forget to do those good ideas in the future because they are already done

Benefits Of Many Design Changes In One Go

• - Gives the website a sudden overall lift making it feel much fresher than just one or two small changes
• - Provides something for you to tell members/shoppers about to provide a quick burst of traffic
• - Once everything is done you can leave it and get one with running other areas of your business in the same manner

I guess this post proves that going about your website design in either way has several benefits. I am considering changing to the ‘once-over’ way for the future so I can focus on other areas like promotion without getting distracted, and the burst of traffic from boasting about a new site design is very appealing!

For more reading check out this article called Good Designers Redesign, Great Designers Realign.

When designing a website there is lots to think about, and one of the most important parts is how users will navigate around your site. Users love simple navigation, it means they have to think less and can surf quicker. If you want users to stay on your website for a while then easy navigation is critical.

Navigation To Try And Avoid

• - Using lots of images can confuse users. For example a picture of a house to return to your homepage, it may be obvious to you what it represents but users may think its only part of the design and not click on it.
• - Don’t use javascript drop-down menus because early browsers do not support javascript so some visitors won’t be able to see the menu.
• - Don’t make the navigation text the same color & size as normal text, this looks ugly, doesn’t help users eyes and means the navigation choices don’t stand out so users move between pages less.

Navigation Recommendations

• - Use text links instead of written images. This benefits search engines and is easily editable (color, size, font) so you can change it quickly and easily so it works really well with your design.
• - Have the nav bar in one place, I can’t stand the ones that move down the page as you scroll down, they are annoying!
• - Make the navigation bar clear. You need to make it stand out enough so users see and can clearly read the links, but the colors still need to work with the design.

So remember, simplicity is the key to navigating around your site. If visitors can’t find how to navigate around they will leave in a flash meaning your site makes no money!

For more reading check out this article called Where Am I?

This is the first proper post of our blog, so we will start at the very bottom with the basics of web design. There are many things you should and shouldn’t do when designing your website or blog. This post highlights a few of the basics that you should avoid doing on your site.

1. Don’t use background music, it is just annoying. If you want to put music on a page do it so the visitor has to click ‘play’.
2. Don’t have your home page as a splash page, this is very bad for SEO (search engine optimisation) and viewers can get confused or annoyed by them.
3. Don’t make your design so wide that visitors have to scroll across the page to read all the content.
4. Don’t use lots of contrasting colors, this often makes it look busy and is not pleasing on the eye.
5. Don’t use an image as your main background, this looks busy – keep it simple.
6. Don’t use a crazy font that is hard to read, it may look nice but the visitors need to read the text!
7. Don’t make hyperlinks the same color as the main text, make hyperlinks clear, preferably they should be underlined/bold/different color.

I have only touched on each point lightly, in the future I will expand on each point in more detail. In the mean time just take a quick look at your website and make sure you are not a culprit of any of the above!

For more reading check out this post of 19 Things Not To Do.