Design Your Site For Your Customers

The most important person that you need to please when you design your site is your potential customer. I can not stress that enough.

I have clients who have told me "I don't like this design or that one or I like these colours", etc. I want to please my customers so I try to create a design for them that they will be happy with, of course.

But my clients don't often think of their site visitors or their own potential customers when they ask me to design their site. Sadly most are thinking primarily of one thing - how to make money from their website. And because their focus is on making money rather than pleasing their customers, more often than not, the website won't sell. And as much as I try to advise them on how they can improve the quality of the site, they stick to their own ideas of what the site should look like. Then they email me later on and ask me what are they doing wrong. Oh brother!

If you want to have a successful website you must think of your visitors first. Before you hire a designer or design a site yourself, you must define:

• Your Target Audience
• The Purpose of Your Web Site
• Procedures ie. What Material or Content Will Be Used
• Your Goals

• Utilizing a Simple and Consistent Design
• Making Sure the Website Design is Compatible To Most Browsers, Especially Internet Explorer and Firefox
• Making Sure Your Website Loads Quickly
• Implementing Clear and Easy Navigation Systems
• Maintaining Your Site and Regularily Adding Fresh Content

About the Author

Karen Blundell is a web designer and internet consultant based in Welland, Ontario. Her focus is to assist home and small business owners succeed on the internet. You can find out more about her services at http://webzonecentral.com