So, you are embarking on a new web design or perhaps a new webiste atogether. You want the website to look great and to be capable of generating a return.

There are lots of factors that determine (or not) the success of a website. Not least of which is how competitive a market you are in and how much notice you have taken of SEO ( Search Engine Optimization ) from the outset.You can get SEO services from many SEO companies.

Regardless of the above, here are four important ideas to take into consideration to make sure your website performs as well as it can.

1) Do not use splash-pages. A splash page is the first page you see when you reach a website. It usually has a attractive image with words like ‘welcome’ or ‘enter here’. In reality they serve no real purpose and give your visitors a reason to click on the “back” button! Do yourself a favor and give them the value of your site with no splash page.

2) Do not use too many banner advertisements Even the least sophisticated internet users have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements and so you will be wasting valuable web-site real estate. Instead, provide more valuable content and incorporate relevant affiliate links into your content, to let your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy. The exception to the rule is that if you have a very busy page, you can sell the real estate for money. Don’t go over the top through.

3) Have simple and clear navigation If you provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu, you minimise the chance of a visitor becoming frustrated and leaving your site. Stay away from Flash based menus and multi tiered dropdown menus wherever possible.

4) Give the visitor a clear indication of where they are on your site When visitors are browsing your website, ensure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. One way of doing this is by offering ‘Breadcrumbs’. Breadcrumbs often appear across the top of a webpage and usually below any title bars or headers. They provide the links back to each previous page that the visitor navigated through to get to where they are. eBay is a perfect example of ‘breadcrumb’ use.

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