A well-designed and clearly written website can do wonders for your business. Meanwhile a website that lacks clarity, clear messages and good looks will be more likely to fail. But it’s not always easy to get it right.

The first point of call should be an experienced web design company. WebCreationUK, for example, has a wealth of experience and a huge portfolio of proven work. Dedicated designers know exactly how to make your website shine against the competition. They can also put you in touch with an experienced copywriter.

Here we bring you some great tips for successful website design:

Focus and goals: Think about the purpose of your website. Is the website simply there as a portal for people to browse? If so, then perhaps one of two pages with simple messages such as a general description of your business and contact info will suffice. Or do you want an e-commerce site with multiple pages, photos of your products, background information etc?

The next step is to communicate these goals to your web designer. Changes in basic design cost time and money so be clear form the outset what it is that you want to achieve. Most good design companies will take the time at the start of the project to discuss exactly what it is that you are looking for with your website.

Content is king: We’ve said this time and again in this blog but still we see websites that are poorly written. Many have basic spelling and grammar errors, which look unprofessional, and so many do not communicate a message. Design is important but so is the content of your website. Your website needs to succinctly convey your business purpose and attributes.

The details: A website that is “over-designed” can be off-putting to the user. So details, such as design elements and colours, should always be “transparent” to the viewer. It’s rather like an overly colourful or designed interior of a house. If it calls attention to itself, it has defeated its purpose.

Gimmicks are old-hat and annoying. So steer clear of the cartoons, singing cats etc. This is just clutter and will be a turn-off to most website users over the age of seven.

Good navigation: Web users are an impatient breed. They want to be able to explore your site with ease and direction. They want access to key information and good labelling. At no point should a user be left searching for info or guessing where they might find it.

Easy contact: Make sure users can contact you. Whether it’s via phone, email, live chat, or a forum. There should be a straightforward process at the click of a button.

With this tips you should find yourself the owner of a potentially successful web business.

One of the fastest growing trends for websites is “interaction”. That is, interaction with visitors/customers and your on-line business. A successful website will offer a range of interactive features that allow customers to offer feedback, such as reviews and comments, and to share information.

Rather like a high street shop that has gained a reputation for being approachable, open and knowledgeable so an interactive ecommerce or e-retail site offers a great degree of service for customers.

Research has shown that on-line businesses that offer interactive features create a more effective web presence with increased customer conversion rates and improved brand loyalty and recognition.

Here are some of the key tools for a more interactive ecommerce site:

Newsletters: Collect email addresses of potential customers and send out direct promotion via newsletters.

Comments/reviews: The usual place for this type of interaction is found on blogs. This also allows you to build on content, especially via user-generated content.

Google map: An interactive Google Map can be used in a number of ways. It can display an interactive map of your location or you can use one of its features, such as distance calculator, to add more functionality.

Related articles: You can improve the readership of your website by offering visitors content that is related.

RSS feed: This makes it simpler for users to subscribe to your website updates by email.

Social bookmarking: Visitors and customers can use social bookmarking to manage favourite content and share it with others. It also helps in promoting your website and therefore generates more traffic.

Feedback forms: These are still an effective and easy to collect responses from visitors and customers. Try to customise the form to the specific needs of your website.

Survey/polls: Another way to collect vital information from customers.

Most good web design companies will be able to work with you to add great interactive features to your website. Check out what leading web design company WebCreationUK could do for your site.

When did you last take a critical look at your website and its design? Is it up-to-date? Does it offer a pleasant and inviting user experience? Here we bring you a short checklist of major web design no-nos.

Background music: So last year – and so annoying. Plus anyone who is still on dial up broadband will need to wait ages for these websites to load. Give this gimmick a miss unless it really will add value, such as if you’re a leading and recognisable brand.

The text: Can visitors read the text on your site. If it’s too small – or even, too big – the website will be a turn-off. Make sure all the copy on your site is legible.

Pop-ups: More annoying than background music, pop-ups, especially those with advertising, are a huge turn-off for potential customers and visitors to your website. Lots of people now have pop-up blockers but if your pop-up has managed to get past this block the users will only find your site more annoying.

Why alienate potential customers with these small features when you don’t have to? To find out more about great website design and some of the best deals in the UK, check out leading web design company WebCreationUK

There are essentially a few basic rules to creating a great website. Here we detail the basics so that when you’re starting your new on-line business you can clearly focus on what is important.

Choose a name: Your new website needs an identity. You want a name that says something about your company or your brand. So instead of “outdoors clothing sales”, why not go for something more funky and catchy such as “LivingThe Outdoors” or “WeLoveTheOutdoors”? But make sure the name is:

* Easy to write and remember (no tricky spellings!)

* Something you can say out loud easily

* Not already in use by someone else

The domain name: It’s claimed that having a strong keyword in your domain name will help with SEO. But remember that a domain name should also reflect your brand. People need to be able to tell your website apart from the others.

So use a non-generic name for your site. For example:

* haglof.co.uk is great

* haglofbackpacks.co.uk is also great

* But bestbackpacks.co.uk is terrible.

Domain name variations: Buy .co.uk and .com and possibly .net and .org But there’s little point in buying any others.

Your logo: The design of your logo is a tough call – but it is important for your brand identity. So pay a professional to do it for you.

The design: Again, go to the professionals. Check out their portfolio (have a look at the portfolio of WebCreationUK to see a wealth of great web design). Cheapest isn’t always the best, yet nor is the most expensive. Ask people for references and make some initial enquiries with designers before committing.

Copy/content: Again, hire a professional. It’s all very well having a good-looking site but if it doesn’t read well then no-one is going to hang around and buy/read anything. A good copywriter will get your company message across succinctly and write engaging copy that will encourage greater traffic.

So we’re more than half way through the year and it’s interesting to look at the website design trends that have had the most prominence so far in 2010.

Mobile websites: Mobile phone internet browsing is fast-growing in popularity and to meet consumer demands many designers have been redesigning websites to suit the on-the-go format. Expect this trend to develop in the next couple of years.

Interactive designs: Flash and now jQuery have increased the interactivity of a great many more websites. Using either of these tools on a site makes it more engaging for users.

HTML5/CSS3: Web designers are beginning to use both of these languages. Although far from being standard at the moment they are starting to be introduced. HTML5 enables designers to produce cleaner code and more easily implement videos and audio into websites. Meanwhile CSS3 allows designers to add more style to a site, for example, rounded corners and multiple backgrounds.

On-line videos: YouTube and other video streaming services are increasing the presence of videos on-line. Now numerous companies are adding video to their websites as a further enhancement for visitors. Videos can be used, for example, to advertise products and attract more customers.

Typography: While last year saw the start of “font replacement methods”, which allow designers to use a range of more exciting fonts, 2010 has seen a continuation of this trend. One of the most used font replacement methods is cufón, which uses two Javascript files to display the font to be used on the website.

* If you’re looking for a forward-thinking web design company to launch your new business website or to re-launch an existing website then check out the portfolio of sites already created by leading web design company WebCreation UK.

Web design. Check. Content. Check. SEO. Check. But how often do you check the traffic on your website? And how effective is this traffic at converting visitors to sales?

Do you examine your traffic reports regularly? Many people use Google Analytics to find out more about the visitors to their sites. The programme offers a huge amount of information in report form.

It’s a good idea to find out more about what this information can tell you about your website.  For example, do you have a high “bounce rate”? This is the rate at which visitors come to your site and then leave. Where have visitors come from? How long they spend on the site? Which pages do they look at? How long do they spend on your site?

Many website visitor tracking programmes reveal the path that visitors take through your website, from entry page to exit page. This information obviously tells you something about your website, its pages and the way people browse.

If you owned a high street store you could actually see what people were looking at most on the shop floor and you could map the route they took through the shop. With a traffic analytics programme you can find out even more about your e-commerce site.

This is the kind of information that could boost your sales if you use it effectively.

The WebCreationUK Advanced SEO Programme will help maximise your website’s performance within search engines, come speak to us for more!