Tips for Designing a New Site

With more and more people developing websites and working from home, it has become quite essential for people to know how to go about developing websites. The following are a series of steps that will help you to create and maintain your own website:

Step #1- Get a Domain Name

The first thing that needs to be accomplished is choosing a domain name, which is the name that you designate for your website. In order to obtain a domain name for your site, you will be required to pay an annual fee for the name.

Step #2 – Choose Inexpensive Web Hosting

The best web hosts are those which will provide you with the service that you require. Server hosting companies are those that have multiple computers that connect to the Internet. When the web pages are posed on the computers, the entire world is able to connect to the information and view the data. Next, you need to register for a web host account for the site.

Step #3 – Design the Pages for your Website

Once you have determined what your domain name will be as well as which web host you will be using, the next required step is to design the site’s content. If you are one of those people who plan on hiring a website designer, you will not need to worry about this step.

The first step is to come up with something to put on the site. Fine-tuning the details and information can be done later. There are many free and commercial web editors that are available on the internet. For those who do not mind spending money on commercial editors, Dreamweaver is an excellent option.

When choosing fonts for the site, don’t pick the flashiest and don’t choose the brightest colors. Visitors will be more likely to spend time on a site that gives off a more professional vibe. Fonts such as Arial and Verdana are usually the best choice as they are attractive yet simple.

Although images can be an excellent attribute to a website, simpler designs have been proven to be the most effective. Do not feel the need to clutter your web pages with large images that take forever to load. A better option would be to use logos or small icons in order to attract the visitor’s eye to certain areas of the site. For the most part, the visitors are far more interested in content than in images.

In short, don’t be afraid of white space. Blank areas, as long as they are not TOO big, give the appearance of neatness and professionalism and not of lack of content.

An important part of website design is a concept known as search engine readiness. This begins at the design step of the website, not after the site is designed. Some simple research will help you to determine how to properly complete this step.

Step #4 – Test the Website

This step, although it is listed separately, should be done at the same stage as web design. Ensure that you test the pages during the designing process in browsers including Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8, Opera, Safari, Chrome, and Firefox.

Because of the browsers are free of charge, it will cost you nothing to install them and check your sites in all of them. You also want to ensure that your website will work in future web browser versions. One way to do this is to ensure that the codes for your pages are correct.

Ensure that all links are your site are working as broken links will look extremely unprofessional and, more likely than not, will cause the visitor to leave your site. Buy domains here.

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