What Makes a Great Website and How do you Design One?

I am currently designing my company website and I ask myself the question what makes a great website? In some ways it is more fun to say what doesn't make a good website because during my reasearch I have truly seen some stinkers! Colour choices that make you reach for your sun glasses, font types that have you baffled and consulting code books while being bombarded with more advertising than bullets in an AK-47. In fact I think being shot with the AK-47 would be a lot less painful!

So what should you consider when designing you website?

Assuming you already know what your products are, you primary and most important person to consider is the user, your client, the buyer, the person who is going to let you retire before they have to carry you off in a box! You may think your website is a style icon that Andy Warhol would approve of which is fine, however if you client is homer Simpson you may just have missed the mark.

So apply the KISS technique, keep it simply stupid. Always consider your client, the average UK user spends 23 hours online with are US cousins once again winning with 32 hours with average viewing times. Average times spent on websites vary hugely depending on the wide variety of differing websites and the services they offer. However the most common factors causing a person to leave a website are:

• Poor Navigation
• Accessibility
• Advertisements/Pop Ups
  
• Slow Page Loading
• Poor Font Choice

Poor Navigation: Like getting lost in any big city raises the blood pressure, misdirection and poor navigation around a website only gets potential clients annoyed and leaving just as quickly as they arrived. Constructing a good site map is essential to make the website user-friendly and making the most of every visitor.

Accessibility: It doesn't take much to run some beta-testing on your website before it goes live to make sure that it runs on most browsers like Internet Explorer and Firefox and look as it should. A little bit of time and a little bit of code can make a whole world of difference to a customers experience and your balance sheet.

Advertisements/Pop Ups: It is true that banners and advertisements can generate extra income but is  this to the detriment to your main revenue source. People often report a site as looking cheap or unprofessional with too many banners and people need confidence before they buy. So ask yourself just how much do those banners add to your bottom line? Pop Ups...... I don't think I have to say too much here, a tool dreamed up by web techs and marketers that cost you money and designed to absolutely without a doubt with a 100% success rate drive your customers insane and make them vow to never return.

Slow Page Loading: With good web design and coding this should be easy to overcome, with the invention of broadband gone are the days where you have time to make a cup of coffee while a website loads up.

Poor Font Choice: There are standard fonts for websites for a reason, they are easy to read and code. It may look good but if visitor can't read what you saying then you might as well be talking a foreign language that google translator doesnt recognise.

Here are just a few of the most popular moans that the average web user reveals when asks, but then again if you don't believe me why don't you go and ask. A little bit of market research never hurt anyone! In truth everybody has an opinion so what are your gripes and pet hates when it comes to websites? What has you closing a website down quicker than you can say "hell no."

Below for your amusement are a few stinkers, if they belong to you i am sorry, but then again you have got some free promotion!

http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/worst-websites-of-2010-contenders.html

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Posted in: Advertising,Best Websites,Business,Design,Fonts,Marketing,Online,Website

When is a Job Just a Paycheck?

My whole reason for setting up this blog is pretty much down to this question, is my job just a pay cheque! For me the answer was yes, and every day that I travelled in to work a little bit more life was being sucked out of me and I began to exist rather than live. With commuting and time spent at work we spend so much of our life in and around work, shouldnt we take some form of pleasure from it? Does the perfect job exist out there for everyone, well in truth probably not. Every job comes with its benefits and detractions, but shouldnt we strive to try to find a more favourable balance? Attempt to gain some form of enjoyment from what we do, or who we help?

I know that life is not always that simple, with age comes responsiblity and commitments, mortgages and in many instances a clutch of children. So moving job or changing career is not so easy and not without risk. Then again isn't life one big risk? Hell if you live in a big city you take a risk everyday deciding when to cross the road. Besides doesn't being happy or not at work affect your home life, your relationships? Isn't a happier person at work a happier person at home?

Still reading? Well if you are then answer these few short yes or no questions and decide for yourself if you should be looking to make a few changes?

Job or Pay Cheque?

• Come Sunday afternoon is your mind drawn to the thought/dread of work Monday morning?
• When commuting to work does your face resemble that of a lady who has had too much Botox devoid of expression?
• When someone asks you what you do, you answer in a sentence and change the subject quickly?
• When at the office does there seem to be time dilation with minutes taking hours as you watch the clock?
• Do you view sick days as extra holidays?
• Is the highlight of your month checking your bank balance to see you have been paid?

If you find that your answer to the majority of these questions is yes, or you are reading this blog while at work then perhaps your job is not a career more a burden. Realising this is but the first step however don't go home and announce you have quit your job and be surprised to see your wife throw something sharp at your head before taking the car and the children!

Making a plan, before you announce to anyone that you want to change your job it is wise to have a few prepared answers to hand out to the insults and shouts of  "are you crazy!" You may not exactly know what you want to do or can do but with the invention of the internet you could use a few google searches for something other than the sports results!

Education, education, education it isn't true that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, you just have to throw

a bigger stick so that with poor eyesight they can find it in the grass! While always being careful of what you sign up to there are now thousands of online courses that you can do depending on your ambitions and ability. You would be surprised at what you can do, although I advise caution when applying to study nuclear physics at home and ordering plutonium to your home address. The FBI I have heard don't tend to knock on your door before finding out how you're getting on with the practical side of your home study course! Seriously though a little bit of self-study can go along way!

They say that some of the greatest inventions were made by mistake or written on the back of napkins or cigarette packets. The vacuum was made by a janitor who eventually had someone else do his cleaning. The flushing toilet was invented by the unfortunately named Thomas Crapper, proving that not all ideas are full of ....... Yes you guessed it! Penicillin was created by mistake after the eminent scientist Sir Alexander Flemming didn't do his laboratory washing up and noticed some interesting fungus, the trick was he acted on it and never had another headache again when speaking to his bank manager! I am not saying that every idea is a good one, the solar-powered torch certainly wasn't a bright one but how do you know without at least trying.  You don't need to reinvent the wheel just have an idea and have the courage to investigate it. Mark Zuckerberg had a little idea to make keeping in touch with his friends easier, now he can pretty much keep in touch with anyone around the world on his site Facebook!

So if I have made you think for a faction of a second or raised a nagging feeling then read on with my blog because I would be a hypocrite if I didn't take my own advice and find a job and career that pleases me and in time hopefully my bank manager. I am gradually trying to build my own business and act on the ideas I have so follow be and see how I get on. I would invite your comments and opinions, or even tell me if you have made that jump to something new successful or minor disaster, all views welcome!

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Posted in: Debate,Education,Employment,Funny,Happiness,Job,Money,Online,Work