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With so much discussion of content and keywords, web developers often overlook one of the most important parts of building a website: making it look good. Your site’s design is the first thing that a visitor sees, and a sleek look can make or break a positive first impression. Your site can have the most informative and engaging content on the web, but if it looks ugly or unreadable due to a bad layout, no one will stick around to appreciate your content.

Top Five Design Tips for Websites

1. Balance your design. Try not to cram too many site elements into any one place, and keep the site fairly symmetrical. That said, bear in mind that some parts of the page will be more eye-catching to users than others. Place your most engaging or important information toward the top left side of the page, where a reader’s eyes will naturally travel.

2. Use complementary colors. Colors that don’t match or are too bright can be shocking and visually unappealing. Many websites offer interactive color palettes that will generate hex codes for various color schemes. Some sites even enable you to input a photograph or graphic and generate a color scheme based on the picture. This can be extremely helpful when trying to match a site’s layout to the company’s logo.

3. If you use graphics, make them good. Poor graphics will detract from your site much more than no graphics at all. Ideally, you should use graphics sparingly as a way to make a bold statement about your site. A professional graphic in the header is enough for most web designs. Of course, your site’s purpose ultimately decides what’s appropriate as far as graphics go; the website of a professional artist or photographer should by necessity have more graphic elements than the site of a technical consulting firm.

4. Make use of white space. Cluttered web pages lead to eye fatigue as readers try to look at too much at once. Also bear in mind that web readers skim pages, so break up your layout with headings, lists and short paragraphs.

5. Make your site easy to navigate. Ideally, a user should be able to navigate your site without needing to read all of the content. The less scrolling, clicking, or searching a user needs to do, the more likely they’ll be to stay on your site.

Incorporating effective design elements into your website will help make the site more user-friendly, meaning that people will be more likely to stay on your page and interact with your content. Attractive sites are eye-catching and stand out among the competition. By focusing on simple rules of design, you can make a clean, professional-looking site that will encourage readers to explore your page.

Photo credits: website by tourist_on_earth/flickr; www.power2progress.co.uk by tracy spence/flickr

Avery Petersen, an image consultant, helps companies get the message out about their business. He loves working with logomojo.com to find the right logo that fits their businesses.

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