Website design and usability

First impressions count. Your website represents who you are as a business and brand and shows everyone what you offer. The website design needs to set people's minds at ease and show them that you are credible, your business can be trusted and it's professional. Your website also needs to make them feel welcome and be easy enough for them to navigate, find the information they want straight away and lets them book or call you without any hassles.

Below are some of our tips for great website design and will do the above things mentioned above.

Colour
Use the right colours to draw attention to specific aspects (eg your phone number or book now button). Don't make everything jump out, otherwise, nothing will stand out. We recommend keeping the website clean and avoid using too many colours.

Avoid using too many animations, gadgets or media
Avoid anything unnecessary. Keep flash animations to a minimum and only use media if it helps support your content, information or easily puts your message across quickly. Also, flash files cannot be read by search engine spiders and some browsers may block flash. Flash also cannot be viewed on smartphones.

Easy to use layout & navigation
Organise your webpages so that people can find the information they want quickly and easily. Create a clear navigation structure. Don't be afraid of using white space. Avoid clutter. Surveys show that approximately 76% of survey respondents say that the most important part of a website is the ease in which they can find information. We recommend including a navigation in the footer of your website, use breadcrumbs on every page and include internal links to other pages within your webpage copy.

Typography
Make sure that the content can be read easily. Use fonts, font sizes and colours that can be easily read. Break up the content using headings, sub-headings, bullet points and keep the paragraphs short.

Images
Images say a thousand words and are a powerful element of a website that can entice customers to stay on your website further and book with you. Use images that will be relevant to your audience. For example, if you are a holiday accommodation on the Sunshine Coast, you would use photos of families on the beach instead of businessmen in suits. Showcase your apartments with high resolution photos of your facilities, rooms and building.

Make it accessible
Make sure that your website can be viewed in all major web browsers, smartphones and tablets.

If you need help with a new website design for 2012, or if you would like some recommendations on how to improve your current website, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au.