Resources

If you are new to web design your head is probably spinning with questions as well as excitement to get started. Many people find that hiring a web designer is a good way to go because they simply do not have the know how to get the job done. If you don’t need your website to be up and running in the next couple weeks you can take a crash course in web design and attempt to do it on your own. Not only can you realize your creative vision, you can also save a lot of money if you do it on your own, and you just might find your new hobby. Web design can be a lot of fun!

The first thing you should have if you are undertaking a web design project for the first time is a web editing software program such as FrontPage. Many of the software programs such as this are really easy to use, and offer guidance through the web development phases. There are more complicated web design software programs out there, but you should stick with something along the lines of FrontPage because it is very easy to use, even for a beginner.

Even with an easy to use program such as FrontPage you may want to study up on the benefits of html formatting, Meta tags, and search engine optimization. All of these elements of web design work together to get visitors to your web page. No one designs a web page to sit on the Internet without being seen. Combining the use of html, Meta tags, and search engine optimization you will be working with the search engines to get listed in the results pages of search engine results. This is the first step of creating a user base, no matter what your web page is selling or what type of content you provide.

Next, it is important that you incorporate quality content in your web design. It can be a lot of fun to incorporate graphics, gimmicks, and fun elements that are associated with today’s web pages but quality content is much more important than all of these things. This is not to say that you can’t add color, style, and personality to your web design but that should not be the basis. The content of your web design should be the priority and any graphics and gimmicks should be very secondary. Search engine bots and crawlers do not recognize graphics, so if you want to be seen in the search engine results you need to have content that speaks to the bots and crawlers. Quality content is the key to your web design bringing in the traffic.

Website optimization is a big deal right now and it is difficult to get into web design without delving into this area of the business somewhat. Remember that optimization standards are changing all of the time, so don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Your first priority should be to provide quality information, content, or services to your current and potential customers. When you feel as though you can do this you can then worry about whether or not your website meets all or some of the optimization standards that are out there. If you have a lot of content on your site you should try to hone in on popular keywords and use them throughout your articles and text. Web site design should also include links within and outside of the website. Links are basically a roadway for the search engines to follow as they browse the Internet. If you have links to your pages you will be sure that all of your pages get crawled and you have a better chance of being seen on search engine result pages.

Perhaps you don’t care all that much about search engine optimization because you are designing a family website or something to that effect. If that is the case you can use all of the graphics that you want and really not worry too much about links or html. If you don’t necessarily need a lot of traffic to your website to be happy, then you can really get creative and do some fun things. Your intentions for your web design will really influence how you should do things to be successful. Of course, one of the best things you can do in web design is to have fun because it’ll shine through in the end result!