So, you've decided to take the plunge! Remember this hoary old cliché:
"CONTENT IS KING"
No matter how fancy - technically, artistically, design-wise a site is, if its content is not well written, it will not be a success. Do not ever be tempted to transpose paper documents and brochures on to a web page.
Your visitors will not have the luxury of reclining with a drink and your pages in their hands - they will always be in a hurry. Either they shouldn't be on the Internet at all, they are paying big money by the second or there are plenty of other sites in the same business that are competing with yours.
Your visitors will not read to enjoy your flowery prose. They simply want to collect information that will enable them to make a choice.
How People Read Web Pages
Print on a computer monitor is poorly legible compared with print on a paper page. Reading times are at least 30% slower. 80% of Internet surfers skim-read or scan pages looking for key words and phrases. The gist of a page has to be apparent within 10 seconds. If a visitor's interest is generated, he may want to print out the page so ensure that your design is printer friendly.
Many people's eyes are drawn to the links on the page so ensure they are descriptive. No 'click here' but 'our contact page'.
People read text before viewing images so include graphics only when necessary (they also take a loooong time to download).
Take your content and trim it, trim it trim it. Cut out any hype - your visitors will not have the time. The tone should be tight but informal and friendly. Concise text is speedily absorbed.
MOST IMPORTANT: Give your customers the gist of the page in the first 50 words as a paragraph, a summary or a bulletted list. Both they and the search engines will thank you for it. Add the details of the page underneath. Do not make the page more than about three screens long - rather add a details page if visitors want more information. Even within the three screens, take care to lay out the page carefully.
Get Personal!
The Internet enables you to take a much more personal tone with your prospective clients. Establish contact with them, engage them, get their trust, enter into a relationship with them whilst still retaining objectivity. If you are a small business, add pictures of staff members.
Now that we have established what your page content should generaly look like, its time to go into the structure of web pages.
Best Website Designers PO Box 15274, Bellair, 4006, South Africa
Ph/Fax.: 031 465 7781
Cell: 082 488 8493
| Email: hog@warthog.co.za
This page URL: www.warthog.co.za/about.htm
|
|
|
