Web design is more about strategy than it is about having flashy graphics or catchy phrases. The most important aspect of web design is understanding what the website needs to accomplish and how to get it there. It is easy to find artists and writers to create content for a website. It is more critical to know what to get out of those individuals.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization is a strategy that makes a website more easily searchable. By including keywords into the text of a website, search engines can more easily locate the website and draw it to the attention of an individual who is searching the Internet. Web designers can create their own or purchase special articles that repeat keywords several times, but in a natural-sounding way so that a search engine will bring up the site as being more relevant than another site because of the occurrence of a specific word or phrase.
Style
The style of a website should reflect the message it is trying to convey. Using flash animation can really draw in visitors to the site and make it look professional and appealing. There is free software available to create flash animations, but it is not as robust as Adobe Live Motion. Flash is appropriate on the homepage of a website, but should be used sparingly as to not overwhelm those who visit the website.
Function
When designing a website, it is important to consider the reason for which it will be used. Is it a personal, business or informational website. If it is a personal website, be sure the information included in it represents the individual and is generally appropriate, because the reputation that it creates can far outlast the website itself. If it is a business website, it is important to maximize its exposure by incorporating Search Engine Optimized language and advertising on other websites to reach as many individuals as possible. If the website is informational, it is crucial to be unbiased and not to endorse any product without backing up the claim or else the website will not be credible.
Browsers
No matter how great the content or graphics of a website are, if the page is not compatible with the more popular web browsers, the website will not be successful. It is important to design the code for a website that is compatible with the four main web browsers: Internet Explorer, Safari, Netscape and Firefox. While the page does not have to be compatible with all four, it is important that the web designer recognizes the shortfalls of a particular browser and provides instructions on the website for which browser a visitor should use to be able to see and use all of the features.
Maintenance
When designing a website it is critical to consider what future goals the website must reach and how it can be viable a week, a month, a year, or several years into the future. One important consideration is who will maintain the website. Is there a dedicated webmaster or a series of freelance web designers? What percentage of sales should be created from traffic on the website and how will success be determined? One strategy for tracking traffic on the website is to use unique E-mail addresses for different parts of the website. For example, have a different E-mail address on company business cards than on the website. Further, there are applications that can be installed that will allow an individual to start either solicited or unsolicited chats with visitors to the website and get their perspective directly from the source.
