Client Spotlight | Thought Leadership | Tip of the Month | Home

Website Development Tips
By Darrell Williams, Designer, Justice & Young

1. Building with the latest code and techniques prepares your website to be cross browser friendly and search engine ready. If you don't do this, you are already two steps behind and may never catch up.
2. Keep your color palette simple. Aim to have five colors; eight maximum. After that, your website will become a rainbow of colors that will blind your customer.
3. Even though high speed Internet is king around big cities, dialup still rules the roost when it comes to consumer Internet connection throughout the world. Design & develop knowing that the majority of consumers use dialup.
4. Your website gets 15 to 30 seconds to make good first impression. If your website shows its age or is poor in design/development, your potential client is moving on to your competitor's website.
5. Design your website while keeping in mind what is really important to the client. Many sites fall into the trap of showing off, putting the client's needs second.
6. Website content is a balancing act. If you have too much content jumping at the client, they won't even read the first paragraph. But on the flipside, if you have too little content, the site gives no insight into the company. So take the time and effort to fully develop your content.
7. There are hundreds of Internet browsers out there in the world and they all play by their own rules. You can never test your website in all the web browsers available, but if you thoroughly test in Explorer, Firefox and Safari, you are setting your website up for success.
8. Websites are full of new trends and hot ideas, but the web is littered with forgotten blogs, forums, widgets, dancing gifs and podcasts. When adding the next big thing to your website, it cannot be done half-heartedly. Carefully pick what is right for your website/company and execute it.
9. The life expectancy of a website is 3 years before it should be re-skinned with a new look, re-organized or rebuilt from scratch. It's a year if your site highlights seasonal activities or attractions like an amusement park. A fresh look will bring back old visitors and attract new ones.
10. Make sure all the URLs are registered in the company's name, and you have hosting access or FTP access in your possession. When it's time to refresh a website, many companies struggle to find this information, which can delay a project months.

[ Back to top ]