It is straightforward to build a web site and even simpler to make mistakes. Keep away from these 5 pitfalls at all costs and your site is already plenty closer to succeeding.

3 – Design for paper
Not having a dig at graphic designers (as some work very well on websites), but there are also lots that do not get their head around the fact that a piece of paper is totally different to a website. Numerous times I have been handed layouts that work on a widescreen, but would involve horizontal and vertical scrolling on a regular sized screen. Or the layout calls for a variable screen width, but all of the components are fixed width.

You have to allow for the fact that there are a myriad of browsers, operating systems and screens in use and they will all present your site in a different way.

4 – Just test your web site in one browser
Different browsers will display your site in different ways. The formatting between, as for instance, Internet Explorer and Firefox can be slightly different when using certain techniques. A web site that works in one browser does not always look its best in another. It is a difficult and frustrating process, but you have to check your site in different browsers, different operating systems and different screen sizes.

5 – Build a web site and sit back
I am always astonished at the number of people that think that building a web site is the lifeline their business needs. Pay a few hundred for a website and then they will be run off their feet fulfilling orders.

This is not the case. Just because you pay for a site, this does not mean that it will be an overnight runaway success. With every new site you need to market it. That means promoting it to customers and local marketing, promoting it through social media and article writing, pay per click schemes, optimisation and a whole lot more.

Without marketing, your site is as good as non existent.

5 Web Design No Nos – Part 1

It is straightforward to build a web site and even simpler to make mistakes. Keep away from these 5 pitfalls at all costs and your site is already plenty closer to succeeding.

1 – Use a lot of colours
applying stacks of colours is a sure way to get carried away and take the stylish look from the site. Too much is only that. You merely need a handful of colours that compliment each other. Yes, using 30 different colours on different flashing backgrounds might make the links stand out, but at what price?

Also, be very aware of the colour palette you settle on. I was recently asked to use a theme on a site, with part of it red text on green and the rest green text on red. An attention-grabbing amalgamation, in particular as the website was for an opticians, who might be dealing with red-green colourblind customers…

2 – Hide the navigation
Unbelievably, plenty of people design sites and miss elements of the navigation from the screen. I’ve had graphic designers pass me final proofs to work from, that the buyer has signed off, that immediately I look at and spot an essential part of the navigation is missing.

It does sound unfeasible, but on shopping sites I have seen designs that are absent easy bit for instance a link to the shopping basket or checkout. If a customer adds a product and then goes back to view more, but then wants to checkout, they straightforwardly cannot buy from you.