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If you have a computer, chances are you’ve tried your hand at website design. Perhaps it was just something simple that you made with a graphical editor on a free hosting site like Geocities or Google Sites. Perhaps you really got into it and bought tons of books on HTML, Javascript, PHP, and anything else you could get your hands on. Honestly, either way is just fine. You can design absolutely spectacular sites with high usability either way, so long as you start with a clear design in mind. That’s why I’m going to show you how to plan your website design first, and then how to implement it. I will also show you how to avoid some common mistakes that beginning web designers often make.

First, let us talk about some terms. When I say website design, I simply mean the creation of a website. Whether through the actually use of HTML code or through a point-and-click WYSIWYG(What you see is what you get) editor. When I say usability, I’m talking about how “user friendly” your site is. This could be everything from font size to layout to the interactive and dynamic elements of your site.

This leads me to the next topic: the website design itself. Now just wait. I want you to stop before you do anything else and just think about what you want this site to look like. Take out a piece of paper and a pencil and draw your layout. Think about what your audience will be expecting. Think about a color scheme. Think about other pages and sites that you’ll be linking to. Then take a look at some of your competitors sites and see what they did. Does it work for them? Will it work for you?

When you draw up your layout, ask yourself the following questions: “Where are the navigation links?(links to other pages on your site),” “Where are the links to other sites?(your affiliates perhaps),” “Are you going to have ads on your site, and If so, what kind(text, pictures, both?) and where will they be?,” and finally, “Where will the main content go? What will that content be? How should the audience to react to it?”

Now, consider your color scheme. What is the main subject of your site? If it’s a conservative subject like business or finance, you’ll want to use “cool” colors like blue, green, or gray. If it’s a more personal subject, like dating, or something artistic, like painting, you’ll want to use “warm” colors, like red, orange, or yellow. What is the mood of your site? If it’s somber, use darker shades. For a calm look use medium shades. And if you want a child-like or carefree kind of site use bright shades. (A note about children’s sites: the actual color is less important here than the shade. Use bright, extravagant colors for a children’s site.)

Now look at some of your competitors. What kind of layout and color scheme do they use? Does is seem effective to you? If so, it’s perfectly acceptable to try and emulate it, but don’t be a copy-cat. Your website design should be unique. If you’re competitors all do the same thing, maybe you should try taking a different course. Stand out from the crowd with your website design and it will be more likely to get noticed.

So now you’ve got a basic idea of what you want your site to look like. Now you’re left with one more big question: “How can I make this work in a way that my audience will be able to use it effectively.” That’s right, it’s time to talk about usability.

Usability is as much about code as it is about flow. Your site should allow the user to see what they want to see, but also make them see what you want them to see. This is sometimes easier said than done. As an example of what I’m talking about, let’s talk about ads.

First of all, you can assume that the user looking at your site is looking at your site because they saw a keyword they were interested in(i.e. they searched Google for your sites topic). So whatever ads you include on your site should fit nicely with your main content. A great way to accomplish this is with Google AdSense, but that’s another article. The point in this is that you want your ads to be relevant, but you also want them to grab the user’s attention. The best place to do this is at the top or right-hand side of the page. If you have an article-based site or a blog, you might try to incorporate the ads into the content of your site by placing them between each paragraph. That way your users see ads about things they might want, and you want them to see the ads. This increases the overall usability of your website design.

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It doesn’t matter whether your website is of a personal nature with just a few pages or a larger e-commerce website, having a well-designed site is very important. Believe it or not, website design is something that matters to your visitors. It can make all the difference in whether they leave your site or bookmark it. The following are 7 tips for improving your website design.

1. Pages that load quickly. If your site does not load at least within ten or 15 seconds, chances are that most people will simply leave. You may have speedy Internet connection, but keep in mind that not all folks do. Remember, 56k modems do still exist.

2. Text on your pages should be easy to read. You will want the size of the text to be big enough, and a background color that does not obscure the text. To be on the safe side, it is recommended to use black text on a white background. If you would like to use a little more color, choose carefully, making sure that the page is still easy to read..

3. You will want your website to be easy to navigate. All text links and graphic elements such as buttons and tabs should be easy to read and use. Links found within your article should flow appropriately. You don%u2019t want your visitors leaving because they were not able to figure out how to get your Flash menu to work.

4. Both your website design and layout should be consistent with one another. If you were to switch from one style to another to often, you may confuse your visitors. It only makes sense that if the website design is suddenly too different people are bound to think that they are at another website altogether.

5. Stay away from music and sounds. Not many people like to suddenly be forced to listen to a certain type of music when they click on your site. They may already be listening to their own music. If you think that your site really does need music, turn it off by default and provide a button for visitors to click on if they want to listen.

6. Focus your web design on browser compatibility. For example, not all people use Internet Explorer. Be sure that your site can be viewed using Mozilla, Safari, Opera and Firefox. If at all possible, you may want to test your website on both a Mac and PC. Sites targeting markets such as technology should be careful, because these readers are more likely to use some of the newer browsers and gadgets.

7. Consider your website design for all screen resolutions. Chances are, you like to surf in 1240×1080 with your screen, but remember, some folks still use 800×600, or even 640×768! A website that looks great in high resolution may not be so easy to view correctly in 800×600.

If you have any doubts, consider these tips for improving your website design and test, test and test! You could ask for advice from friends or family if you want. They are not as familiar with your website design, and will likely be able to point out things that you overlooked.

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