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In our last blog post, you learned that having good web site navigation was so important to a web site; not only for site visitor usability, but also for search engine friendliness and search engine visibility. Are you aware how your site looks is also important. Good web site design actually follows very closely with good site navigation.

Good web site design means that you have a good looking site that is easy to read and easy to use. Your design should be relevant for your site – the type of products and services you are offering and the type of content you are displaying. The look of your site should be relevant to what you are displaying on your site so that is makes the most sense to site visitors and does not detract from a visitor’s experience on your site.

The overuse of flashing or animated objects with your web site design, while seemingly fun and attention getting to you, can be actually quite annoying to your site visitors. If one of the goals of your web site is to get people to return over and over again, imagine how annoying all these flashing and animated objects are after just the third or fourth visit!

Remember, you can never go wrong with a clean and simple look. Your web site design need not be garish or overly flashy or animated – a clean and simple web site design can work well for first-time and returning site visitors.

If you do use Flash animation on your web site, remember to use it sparingly. Flash animation is typically used to deliver video-like images on a site, such as in the top portion of this page of our web site. It should be subtle and attractive; always ensure it is readable by your visitors and not just there because you think it looks cool. It should have a purpose within your web site design, even if for simply promotion of your products and services. There really is no need to overuse Flash animation; at some point, it can begin to detract from a user’s experience.

One final point on web site design - the look of your web site represents your company, your products and your services. It represents you in the middle of the night when you are not open. Make sure your web site looks like you would want any representative of your company, products and services to look when they represent you. If your web site does not, maybe it is time for a new web site design that DOES!

And if you’re not maintaining your web site, regardless of how nice your web site design is, your site will never achieve what it could if you would have ensured a solid web site management plan was defined and followed for your site.

Old content or never changing content will never excite your site visitors very much, particularly warranting a return trip to your site. With a solid web site management plan, you can keep your site updated and appealing to your site visitors. Whether you perform web site maintenance yourself, or you work with a company dedicated to helping ensure the upkeep of your site, a comprehensive web site management plan should be an integral part of your online presence.

Do you need a new web site design - a fresh look that can open some new doors of opportunity for you? Looking for a professional web site company who can help you achieve your online goals? Looking for a new web site design, with quality web site development performed by a company who builds web sites not just for enticing visitor appeal, but also for search engine visibility?

A company who can help you maintain your web site to keep it fresh and inviting with a comprehensive web site management and web site maintenance plan? A company who provides quality cost-effective web site hosting you can count on?

If you are, then you’ve come to the right place. Worry Free Web Sites provides quality custom web site design, web site development and web site hosting - and can help you with web site management via a web site maintenance plan defined specifically for you and your site.

Contact us today and find out the many doors we can open for you — and without the need for all the bells and whistles!

Popularity: 83% [?]

One of the most important aspects of what can be considered “a good web site” is the navigability of the site. If a user finds your site to be difficult to use or navigate through, they won’t stay long. Take a look at your web site? Is it navigable? Is it easy to use?

A user must be able to clearly and quickly identify how to navigate through your site. This means there needs to be clear, understandable prominent navigation on your home page and all secondary pages of your site.

Whether you use text navigation or graphical navigation buttons, keep your navigation clear and simple! Buttons that flash, blink, make sounds or play music might seem exciting to you, but after a few clicks, the user will quickly tire of it – and such a user won’t stay long on your site. Use plain readable font that all users will be able to clearly see. And keep the size of your navigation text large enough for most users to clearly see.

Placement is vital too. Don’t cleverly conceal your navigation buttons – make them obvious to see and use. Make sure all your site pages have consistently implemented navigation. This might include more than just your primary navigation items. Ensure that, at a minimum, lengthy pages have navigation at the top and bottom of the page.

There are lots of tools and lots of experts today that can tell you a lot about web site navigability. All good “food for thought” – great information that will help you accomplish your overall objective. But the easiest way to check the navigability of your web site is to think like a user. Better yet - get an unbiased user to actually use your site! Watch them and listen to what they say when using your site. By doing so, you can learn a whole host of things about your web site – including just how navigable it truly is.

Having an easily navigable web site is no complicated mystery. But neither are the benefits you can enjoy with a web site that can be easily traversed by your site visitors.

Stay tuned for more of our blog postings intended to help you better understand what a good web site can really mean for you.

Looking for a professional web site design firm to design your web site – or help you revamp the site you already have to be more usable or more search engine friendly? Looking for a web site management company you can depend upon? Worry Free Web Sites is the company you’ve been searching for!

With our U.S. web site design and web site development staff, we can help you discover the site you’ve always wanted. And once you have your site online, keep it fresh and current with our quality dependable web site management and web site maintenance services. We have a cost-effective solution to meet your needs! Contact Worry Free Web Sites today!

Popularity: 72% [?]

Whether you have a business on Main Street or an online presence… Whether you manufacture widgets or sell widgets online… Whether your web site is primarily for online representation of your business or you are actively selling merchandise online… You have a “storefront window”.

What does your “storefront window” say about your “store”?

Today, it is not only important to have a beautiful “storefront window” – adorned with fanciful window dressing and the highest quality merchandise – but you must also have the ”store substance” to back it up. Just what is “store substance”?

“Store substance” means a “store” that is logically organized, cohesive, attractively displayed, easily navigable, with merchandise or information about your company that is well labeled and clearly explained. It means plenty of useful and relevant information readily available to help visitors; well stocked inventory with good prices and fair shipping rates (as applicable); and customer service that is better than your competition – whoever they may be.

Let’s consider an example…

If you have a bussines on Main Street, jamming a bunch of mismatched merchandise together in your storefront window with little flair or common relevance – with virtually no descriptors or slogans – only serves to confuse passersby and leave them generally uninterested.

Conversely, an attractive well organized well thought out storefront window with a specific message and plenty of helpful relevant information to assist visitors can have a dramatic impact.

And both of these apply equally well to an online presence!

So, again we ask: What does your “storefront window” say about your “store”?

While you ponder this question, let’s consider some statistics…

A study performed in 2006 by The Center for Media Research estimated that 77% of adults in the US were online. Probably not a surprise to you – and likely a statistic that is higher today. A further study found that 87% of these online people rely on search engines as their primary means of locating websites!

What does this mean? It means you must have a web site that can be found in order to reap the rewards of an online presence. It means your web site must be appealing to BOTH site visitors and to search engines!

Over the next few posts to our blog, we will help you better understand what this means to you – and to your online presence.

Looking for quality dependable web site management or web site maintenance - or a revamp of your current site to ensure it is appealing to both users and to search engines ? Contact the web site design and web site development company that offers it all for the very best prices – contact Worry Free Web Sites.

Popularity: 77% [?]