3 pieces of advice for creating your website

Thursday 9/2/10 time 2:57 AM - Helena @Moogo

There are thousands of websites created every day, some of them better, some of them worse. If you want to keep your website friendly to your visitors and also reach your business goals, we have some good tips for you to keep in mind.

1) Remember the basics of usability

Every website is advised to have certain elements in order to be successful. Think about yourself when you're going around on the web. When you visit a website for the first time, you probably want to know what the website is about, if it contains information that you need and how it helps you to achieve what you're looking for.

Like usability expert Lisa Duddington wrote in one of the guest post "Usability, your secret to more customers" on Moogo blog, you need to answer at least 4 questions for your visitor:

1. Where am I?
2. What can I do here?
3. Why is this site better than all the rest?
4. Where can I go next?

When answering those questions on your site within the first seconds, you'll get already very far!

2) Don't copy famous websites' design

I believe that copying other sites design is especially usual for small companies. It all makes sense, as smaller businesses don't have resources to make as large scale research, website design and usability testing, as big ones have.

However, usability guru Jakob Nielsen has written in his recent post "Should You Copy a Famous Site's Design?" that this might not be a great idea. The bottom line is that although the design works for another website, it doesn't necessarily work for you. It all depends on a context and the whole website concept. According to Nielsen the only way to really know what works and what doesn't, is to make usability testing.

3) Don't try to put everything to your site

When someone creates his/her first website, it's normal for them to try out all the possibilities they have. When a website builder like Moogo gives an opportunity to fully change and design your website's background, color schemes, fonts and all the other design elements, as well as use numerous features, it is tempting to do it all.

Sometimes it works out, but quite often it doesn't. When trying out everything, you might end up with a very messy site that visually just doesn't work and is confusing for your visitors to navigate.

Less is more, especially when you're not entirely sure what should fill up your website. Create a good vision of what you really need on your site and then just execute it. Yes, I know it's easier to say than to do, but believe me, it will save you from a lot of work later on.


Do you have any other tips for a person who is just about to start to create their own website? Please share them in the comments!