Website design techniques for online success

1. A navigation scheme that is consistent from page to page is the backbone of a well-designed, easy to use website. A simple, easy to understand menu system is a very important component of any quality website design plan.
    
2. Fast loading pages will prevent your dial-up visitors from getting impatient and hitting the back button. Keep the page size to the absolute minimum and optimize images as much as possible.
   
   Create your long pages with a series of short tables instead of stuffing everything into one long one. This way the tables will load one at a time and give the appearance of a fast loading page.
    
3. Design your pages to look good in all browsers and at all screen resolutions. Don't use the dreaded "This site best viewed with Internet Explorer 4+ at 800x600 resolution". And avoid forcing your visitors to scroll horizontally to view the right side of the page.
   
   Effective website design means designing tables with the horizontal width set to 100%. This allows the page to scale to match different screen resolutions.
    
4. Be consistent with your use of fonts and colors. Verdana and Ariel used in conjunction with dark text on a light background are easiest to read on a computer monitor.
    
5. Integrate the basic fundamentals of search engine optimization into your website design. Optimizing your site for the search engines will pay great dividends later by resulting in more traffic and sales.
    
6. Make it easy for your visitors to contact you. Create a "contact us" page and link to it from every page on your website. A form works better than simply providing an email address (and helps prevent spambots from finding you).