Thursday, August 20, 2009

Evolution of Web Design

As a rule, web site layouts & designs evolve. At the beginning of the Internet era, many web site owners became captivated with "bells and whistles" that, on the superficial, might appeal to their target public. Java apps, Flash movies, gigantic animations and other graphic media has become increasingly prevalent over the years.

However, in the precipitate to have the "coolest" site layout design, web site owners forget whom they are creating their site for: Their target audience. Your audience might find that Flash movie irritating after viewing it multiple times. Your audience might not be able to find your site in the search engines. "Bells and whistles" are attributes of a web site that need to be measured and tested to see if they increase or drive away sales.

Below are the largely collective steps of web's evolution typically undergo:

Step 1 - Design Over Substance
Step 2 - Designing for On line Visibility
Step 3 - Designing for Your Audience
Step 4 - Site Redesign

Step 1 - Design Over Substance The first stage is to design a site that the CEO, venture capitalists, and ad agencies like to see. There are all types of "bells and whistles" in this design. An entire site might be a Flash site. Or there might be some beautiful Java-Script mouse over effects or drop-down menus in the design. It's always a pretty design, but the message is clear -- style over substance.

Step 2 - Designing for On line Visibility In Step 2, the reality of an ineffective web layout begins to hit, usually around 3-6 months after the first launch. A site will typically get rejected by many of the major portals, not be indexed by the major search engines, or not get the traffic or customers that were projected based on the various types of marketing strategies used. Typically, that's when corporates decide that they will try to hire a expert on line marketer to promote the site. Entrance page companies, in some way, profile or form, rear their horrid heads.

Unfortunately, many site owners fall for a entrance page company's pitch since the beautifully designed site couldn't possibly be the glitch with low site traffic. Google might have rejected a site, or the site might have been listed in Yahoo and the company cannot understand why they have no extra information. But in no way would many advertising agencies or doorway page companies want to tell potential customers the truth -- they simply did not design and write an effective web site -- because it would mean losing tons of money in business.

Step 3 - Designing for Your Audience By Step 3, afterward expenses an ridiculous amount of money on cool web site designs and various marketing strategies, web site owners generally assume out that they did not design or write an successful Web site for their target audience.

Typically, web site owners will bring in a usability expert to examine possible issues and present various solutions. Bringing in a search engine marketing expert to help with SEF design templates early in the design time can save a company thousands of dollars in on line marketing expenses.

Step 4 - Site Redesign After tender usability and search engine visibility analyzes, web site owners ultimately have an operational web site. A site that is crafted, coded and designed for user friendliness and search engine (SEO) visibility generally gets the the majority traffic and follow-on sales since it was written, planned, and designed for end users.

Conclusions Web sites be supposed to forever be designed with your target audience in mind, not your own individual preferences. Colors have meaning. Expert designers understand the psychology of color and the use of white space to superlative project the image your audience wishes to see.

If not the advanced technology unmistakably payback end users, do not use it on your site. If your venture capitalists like the site, ask if they are going to finish the thousands or millions of dollars to keep you in business. They're not.

Your target audience who will be the only one to determine the success or failure of your site.

Good talented designers meet at http://www.ZenLayout.com

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