There are two facets to web design: the website itself and what happens behind the scenes. There is more to web design than just placing pictures and choosing fonts. Some novice designers get so headstrong about designing graphic-intensive websites that they actually end up making the site less effective than if the site was spare and more streamlined.
“If the site has too much to look at, you’ll reduce the amount of click-throughs, both within the site and to your affiliate links. With a website, it’s important to remember the mantra, “Less is More.””
Here are some major ways that overloading a website with images can be a detriment.
No. 1 — Overusing Bandwidth
Most good-quality web hosts should be able to handle the bandwidth of a graphics-heavy site, but this is still something to consider. Remember, you have not only to consider the bandwidth of your own web host, but also the connection speed of your users. A site too overloaded with graphics can load very slowly for visitors on mobile phones or slower connections and computers.
No. 2 — Complex Graphics
In some cases, search engine spiders won’t even index the site if you use complex graphics program, such as Flash. This same issue applies to No. 1, as users may not be using Flash compatible software. No user wants have to download a new plug-in to view your site. Chances are if this is the case, the surfer will surf away.
Only use this type of technology when it is becoming more commonplace. While, yes, you want your site to stand out, you don’t want to do this at the risk of alienating some users.
No. 3 — Poor Navigation
If the site has too much to look at, you’ll reduce the amount of click-throughs, both within the site and to your affiliate links. With a website, it’s important to remember the mantra, “Less is More.” If users need to click around to get information, rather than get it all on one page, they’ll be more likely to click affiliate links as well.
Best Ways To Design A Website
If you avoid the pitfalls of being too graphic intense, you can increase traffic. Visitors will be more inspired to click around and come back. Search engine spiders will accurately index the site and list it in search engines. So avoiding all of the above pitfalls will increase traffic by bringing in more search engine traffic and limit your bouncerate. Here are ways to increase traffic with site design:
No. 1 — Quality of Content
The more pages a site has, the more authority it has, sort of 🙂 Try to keep up the quality. This will increase the chance of you getting that inbound link and social shares (i.e. traffic). Well researched content that is formatted nicely is key.
No. 2 — Proper Coding
The HTML and CSS used to display and content is also highly important and since 95% of you will use WordPress, the theme may kill your site. Speed, speed, speed. That’s what have to think, if it looks good that’s just a bonus.
Unfortunately most WordPress themes are pure s*it when it comes to speed, this is especially true of “premium” themes. The creators of these themes often cram in everything they can, plugins, builders and such.
So always test the theme before you buy. Head over to Pingdom and test the demo URL. Check how much CSS and JS loads. After you check a few you will a feel for how much is to much.
No. 3 — Internal Linking
Establishing the success of a site not only rests on where it ranks in a search engine, but also surfer’s habits once they land on the site. Many site owners focus too much on affiliate links, without also concentrating on keeping people on the site. This can be done using links within content, so a web surfer will click on link deeper within the site, rather than going offsite to a third-party website or back to Google.
The longer a visitor stays on a site the more likely he or she is to click on an affiliate link or fill out a sign-up form.
The idea is to be a repository of affiliate links and to become a trusted authority on a given topic. This is important for increasing your reputation, web traffic and interest. It will lead to more incoming links from other sites, which will in turn increase your search engine ranking. What it comes down to is that the more professional your site is – both in appearance and functionality – the more traffic the site will get.
