Design Tips.pdf

Planning & Design

Design Tips

Suppose you already have a website that you’ve created for a

hobby or subject of interest. Now you want to take the next

step and start up a small online business. In this tutorial, we’ll

provide information, guidelines, and useful tips to help you set

up a commercial website.

Topics discussed include the following:

Creating a Web identity

Identifying your target market

Defining goals and business needs

Registering domain names

Choosing a Web host provider

Using multiple email accounts

Optimizing for search engines

Planning & Design

Design Tips

Today, it’s very rare to find a business that doesn’t have some kind of Web

presence. Whether your company is small or large, whether you intend to

sell your products or services over the Web or just promote them, a

website allows you to reach a much wider audience than is possible using

more traditional methods.

Over recent years, setting up a website has become a much less

complicated process. Since the first release of WebPlus, the Serif

Development team has worked hard to make the program easy to use and

accessible to even the novice user. In addition, Web hosting providers

offer a wide range of low cost packages to help you get up and running.

However, creating an effective commercial Web presence requires more

than just creating, registering, and hosting your site—it involves careful

planning. In particular, you need to give some thought to your Web

‘identity,’ audience, goals, and business needs. We’ll take at look at these

areas first, and then move on to discuss domain names, Web host

providers, and other commercial website considerations.

Creating a Web identity

Your Web identity refers to the way in which your business presents

itself, and delivers its message, in printed and online media. The main

elements of Web identity include:

Your logo

The mood, look, and feel of your site (for example, colour, font style,

and layout)

Any other elements that make up your corporate image (brochures,

catalogues, flyers, and so on)

The way in which you present text and graphical content (do you want

to convey a formal, business-like approach or a more casual one?)

While there are no set rules for developing a Web identity, the most

successful ones are simple and recognizable , homogenous —aim for a

consistent message throughout your site, and have staying power (it is

desirable to be modern and current, but not so much so that your Web

identity may quickly go out of fashion).

The following WebPlus templates present very different Web identities.

Planning & Design

Design Tips

Example 1

A clean and simple, no-frills

layout with a clear message.

We immediately know what

this website is selling, and how

we can buy it.

The ‘more info’ links keep the

page content to a minimum,

but make it easy for visitors to

find additional information if

required.

Example 2

A fun, modern, trendy, site

that offers a wide range of

products, services, links, and

interactive content.

Websites like this one can be

confusing so it’s important to

have a structured layout.

Here, the columnar layout and

simple colour scheme give

order and consistency to an

otherwise busy site.

You can purchase additional

themed packs of templates. For

details, see the Serif website.

Planning & Design

Design Tips

Getting the message across

Your website should help people

understand what product or service you

provide, and why they should buy it. Put

yourself in the position of a first-time

visitor to the site and ask yourself the

following questions:

Who is the company or person

behind the site?

What are they trying to promote or

sell?

Are they offering me something that

their competitors aren’t?

Is the subject of each Web page clear?

If applicable, is it easy to buy the

product or service?

Is it easy to navigate the pages of the

site?

Is it clear where I should go to find

more information?

WebPlus provides a range of

predesigned colour schemes,

which you can apply to your site.

To select a colour scheme:

1 Click the Swatches tab.

At the bottom of the tab, the

five main colours in the

current scheme appear as

numbered samples, from 1 to

5, You'll also see additional

samples labelled H

(Hyperlink), F (Followed

hyperlink), A (Active

hyperlink), R (Rollover

hyperlink), B (Background

colour), and O (On-page

colour), which apply to

hyperlink, background, and

page colours.

2 On the Page context toolbar,

click the Colour Scheme

Designer button to open the

Colour Scheme Designer .

3 Click the Colour Schemes

tab.

4 Select a different colour

scheme from the list, click

Load and then click OK . Any

regions in the site that have

been assigned one of the

colour scheme numbers are

updated with the

corresponding colour from

the new scheme.

For more information, see online

Help.

Using colour and special effects

The rule of thumb is ‘keep it simple.’

Pick a simple colour scheme and use it

consistently throughout your site. If you

don’t know where to start, take a look at

other websites to get a feel for what

works and what doesn’t.

For a detailed discussion of colour

schemes, see the “Getting Started: Colour

Schemes” tutorial.

Avoid adding too many special effects as they can distract viewers from the

content of the site. (Note also that files containing spinning or flashing

effects tend to be very large and can take a while to download, which can

be irritating for visitors.)

Planning & Design

Design Tips

Identifying your target market

If you have an established business, you

should already be very familiar with

your customer base and target market.

If you’re just starting out, you’ll need to

establish not only who your potential

customers are, but why they should

choose your product rather than your

competitors’ (for example, you may be

offering a unique feature, a

personalized service, or free delivery).

The more you know about your

customers and their needs, the more

successfully you’ll be able to market

your product to them.

Similarly, you should have a thorough

knowledge of your competitors and the

products and services they are offering. You can use this information to

help you market, develop, and improve your product, and ensure you

continue to respond quickly to market needs and trends.

Defining goals and business needs

If you’ve put together a solid business plan, you should have realistic

strategies and objectives for business development and growth. You’ll also

be aware of your business requirements.

Your business requirements may comprise staffing, premises, IT, and so

on, but should also include website requirements such as Web space and

transfer bandwidth requirements, security, E-Commerce shopping cart

provider, payment options, email accounts, and so on.

With this information to hand, you’ll be better equipped to design and

implement your site, and also choose the most suitable Web host provider

(we’ll discuss this later).

The UK government’s Business

Link website at

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk

is a great resource—both for those

who already have their online

business up and running, and for

those who are just starting out.

You’ll find a wealth of information

and advice, including topics such as

customer needs assessment;

business plan preparation; sales and

marketing strategies; tax

considerations; IT and E-Commerce;

as well as links to local trade

associations, market research

reports, and case studies.

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