Basic steps for creating a good website

07-03-2013

The first point you should consider is understanding what information your business website should contain. In most cases, your website should have at least the following basic structure:

• Home page – An introduction to your business, services and/or products
• About page – An overview of your business, future vision
• Services / Product page – An overview of your services/products
• Contact page – Provide all your business contact information, address, email, telephone

There are many other web pages which you can add to your website but these pages will be determined by the type of business you own. Below are examples of other pages you may require for your website:

• Resources page – A resource page can be used to structure information into categories, this information can then be downloaded by website users. You can also charge a fee for users who want to obtain this information. In most cases, free download information is a very useful method of driving web traffic to your website. The resources can be in different formats such as a word document, pdf document, video clip, audio clip, graphic file, PowerPoint presentation, there are many formats which can be used to deliver information to your website users. Downloadable information is a great way to advertise your business, especially if the information you provide is free.
• Image gallery page –An image gallery page is a good way to visually present your business, for example, if you are a property developer you may want to show before and after images of property developments or if you are a photographer you may want to compile a gallery of images into categories which would provide a good method of demonstrating your work.
• Payment processing page – A basic payment processing page can be a useful mechanism for accepting payments from your clients. More advanced payment processing is known as eCommerce. There are many payment processing providers such as PayPal or Google Pay. In most cases, these payment processing providers will only charge a fee if a payment is made. Most banking payment processing has a monthly fee so you should consider and research which is the most cost-effective for your business.

The above pages listed are only a few examples of how you can create more interaction on your website. A good way to find out what else you can achieve is to simply look at what your competitors are doing.

Listed below are some of the most common requirements for an effective website:

• Meta Tag Data – meta-tag data is used by search engines like Google to find and correctly catalogue your website. The meta tag data you add to your website must be relevant to your business. There are three main types of meta tag data:
• Title Tag – The title tag is important for website design search engine optimisation. The title tag is used to form a part of a search engine result. It is important to keep your title tag short but you should also try to incorporate the most common keywords in your title tags. Each web page on your website can contain a different title tag.
• Keyword Tag – The keyword tag contains words or phrases that potential visitors will use in search engines to find your business website. The main text on your website should also contain these keywords. Each page on your website should focus on a specific set of keywords and the text information on this page should reflect against these chosen keywords.
• Description Tag – The description tag is normally placed under your title tag and should contain a short description of your website page. This is an opportunity for you to sell your products and services to your potential clients. Search engines use the description tag to form a basic description of your business in search results. It is advisable to keep your description tag short and straight to the point. Get your message about your business within the first two lines of description text.
• Fonts – Keep your fonts (text type) simple. I would recommend Verdana or Arial font types. These fonts are easy and clear to read. Avoid fancy fonts which are difficult to read as this will only distract a user from the key information you are emphasising.
• Colours – Use high contrast colour combinations on your website, for example, if your background is a light colour use a dark colour for the text. I would recommend an off white colour for the background and a dark grey (all most black) colour for the text.
• Compress your images – When adding images to your website it is advisable to compress the images using a graphic application. Your images should be set to 72dpi (dots per inch) for displaying on a computer monitor, lower resolutions on a website page will not affect the quality of the image being displayed. You should save your images using, .jpg or .gif format which is the most common format used when adding images to a website, jpg images are suitable for complex images and .gif are suitable for a simple banner of title images.
• Designing your website template – In most cases, it is advisable to design your website for HD monitors which use a 1920 x 1080 screen resolution. Although you may have a large screen monitor, many of your website visitors may have a smaller screen size so it is advisable to create a responsive website design solution. This type of website is adapt to the user's screen size in real-time so anyone can view the website on any type of internet device. Responsive Web Design is a more complex solution so you may need assistance from a professional web designer.

The above comments are only the basic considerations you should make before developing a website. Below I have listed some informative websites where you can obtain more information. A good web development company will provide free consultancy at the initial stages of developing your website.

• http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp
• http://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/html/
• http://www.htmlcodetutorial.com/

You can find many other website development resources by simply visiting your favourite search engine and typing in “website development help”.

Article created by: DCP Web Developers London