For a business setting up a website today there are a lot of considerations. Aside from the obvious choices of the demographic of the website and how to best appeal to them, there are many aesthetic issues. A lot of these issues have basic rules that can help, especially when it comes to not looking dated. The internet is a fast-changing place, and it’s easy for independent businesses to fall into the trap of looking appealing in the same way that websites did a few years ago.
If you’re having to think about what will appeal to people then you need to sort out what will put them off first. This is about taste, and it’s not as hard as it seems. Think about what makes you back off from a website. There is a standardised text, flashing text, smiley icons, music in the background – all of these things scream bad at the user. You shouldn’t make anything feel forced upon them. People are savvy to overt manipulation these days, and desperate, flashing text is about as much use as claiming to be the president of the Sudan in need of someone’s bank account details.
Some other things to do with taste relate to text. Keep things simple and clear. Think of the way Apple products look – chic and simple. That’s what the internet is these days. A main page at least should be uncluttered. It’s a mistake of government sites especially to force as much information as possible onto the first pace. It’s better to have links to further information, but the initial look to be uncluttered and polished.
The 90s has a lot to answer for, not least tacky internet gimmicks. Don’t fall into the trap of using flashplayers most simple functions. No one will be impressed. At best, people tolerate text fading into screen, but that’s become a bit of a clich there days too. Having the pages clean neat, and with a good font is what this is really about. Graphics are for ad companies and people that really know their potatoes.
As mentioned at the very beginning, if you know your product and you know who your customer is you’re half way there. If you really want help upping the profile of your site once it’s online you could use an SEO specialist. SEO is a dark art, and as such it takes more time and resources than is practical for a business that has its own stuff to deal with.
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