Web Design Doncaster

Web Design Doncaster Guidelines
Web Design Guidelines
If you advertise for a search term such as web design doncaster online, one of the best ways to improve your
results (traffic, sales leads, conversions) is to improve the search engine optimisation for the keyword "web design doncaster". It may sound obvious, but the easier you make it for customers to find "web design doncaster" the
website or information they’re looking for on web design doncaster, the more likely they are to make an enquiry.
Web Design Doncaster has developed the following set of guidelines to help you maximize
the effectiveness of your web site.

• Contents
• General suggestions
• Including a call to action
• Making your site easy to navigate
• Simple page layouts
• Incorporating search on your site
• Writing for the Web
• The purchase process: browsing, buying, checkout
• Creating a search engine-friendly web site
• What to avoid
• Provide alternative content for images

Web Design Doncaster Guidelines
1. General suggestions
There are a improvements you can do to test the effectiveness of your web site optimised for web design doncaster:
• Ask people to look at your web design doncaster website and tell you what they think.
• Go through the experience of trying to enquire about web design doncaster on your site, and ask friends and
family to do the same. Note the ways the customer experience can be streamlined.
• Set target dates for improvements and stay on track.
• Test your site with different browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox.
• Know your visitors and your target audience.
• Survey customers shortly after you launch so you can make improvements right away.
2. Including a call to action
The “call to action” is the primary action you want customers to take when they visit your
web site. For example, if you want someone to add items to a shopping cart, or even just go
deeper into your site to learn more, you might put “Add to cart” or “Learn More” buttons at the
top of the page, in a place that stands out from other content.
• Focus on one primary action per screen. Don’t clutter too many products on one screen.
• Make the call to action button clearly visible.
• Make sure visitors can see the call to action button without having to scroll.
Don’t bury the call to action under pages of information. If you have a lot of information,
consider using a pop-up box with additional info or tabs to consolidate.
Article Headline text
supporting
photo
Section
Article headline and opening Section headline and description
Article headline and opening Section headline and description
more info... more info...
more info... more info...
call to action
logo
bread crumb › bread crumb ›
navigation
navigation
navigation
navigation
navigation
navigation
navigation
Article Headline text
supporting
photo
Section
Article headline and opening Section headline and description
Article headline and opening Section headline and description
call to action call to action
call to action call to action
call to action call to action
logo
bread crumb › bread crumb ›
navigation
navigation
navigation
navigation
navigation
navigation
navigation
clear call to action too many calls to action = confusing
Web Design Guidelines
3. Making your site easy to navigate
Help potential customers find what they are looking for as quickly and easily as possible.
• Design your site with a clear hierarchy.
• Use descriptive categories.
• Maintain consistent navigation.
• Use breadcrumbs to let visitors know where they are.
• Use color to distinguish between visited and unvisited links.
• Use local navigation to link to related content. Guide visitors to similar products, related
products, background information, author biographies, product reviews, customer
testimonials, etc.
• Provide multiple ways to find products. These can include browse, search, wizard,
featured products, top-sellers, related products, etc.
• Make sure your logo is clickable and takes the user to your home page.
• Make sure each page is an effective landing page. Visitors should know exactly where
they are in the site and what they are looking at. If your site promotes different items in
the same category, visitors should be able to view other items easily.
Remember, most visitors will not start out on your home page. Consequently, each keyword
landing page needs to function like a home page—the user should easily figure out where they
are on the site.
clickable logo
clear hierarchy
breadcrumb
consistent navigation
descriptive categories
consistent layout and
structure, clean visual design
related products and information
color distinction betweenvisited
and unvisited links
efficient design to keep info on
the same page
no need to scroll
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Product Title and Model #
add to cart
buy
home › products › specific product Related Products
product info product description
Section
logo
navigation
navigation
navigation
navigation
navigation
navigation
navigation
view cart
1
2
3
8
4
9
10
5
6
7
Web Design Guidelines
4. Simple page layouts
Improve the user experience with a good layout that employs a clean visual design and
straightforward text.
• Use a consistent layout. Define global and individual page templates.
• Use a clean visual design—don’t clutter a page with images.
• Use color and contrast to guide a user through the Web site.
• Use headings, lists and consistent structure to increase legibility.
• Make sure pages can be seen on lower resolution screens (800x600).
• Keep calls to action at the top of the page, so the user does not have to scroll to find them.
5. Incorporating search on your site
Include search if necessary to help visitors find relevant content.
• Keep search features simple and visible.
• On home pages, search should be a type-in field and not a link.
• Keep the search input field wide enough to contain a typical query.
• Try to keep search results useful. People rarely look beyond the first page of results.
• To increase sales, make sure your search results link to product pages.
key message first
simple search feature
tab structure to keep
info on the same page
printable, legible,
one-column summary
descriptions
high quality graphics
Product Title and Model #
product description
add to cart
buy
home › products › specific product Related Products
Section
logo
navigation
navigation
navigation
navigation
navigation
navigation
navigation
view cart
product info
1
2
3
4
5
Web Design Guidelines
6. Writing for the Web
Typically, visitors scan content on the Web instead of reading it. Keep your information as clear
and concise as possible.
• Use summary descriptions, subheads, bulleted lists and short paragraphs.
• Use keywords you’ve selected for your search marketing campaign in your web page
content, so the pages will appear in an organic search.
• Put your key message first.
• Include one idea per paragraph. Highlight keywords.
• Make your points on each page clearly but quickly, using as few words as possible.
• Don’t provide a PDF for online viewing. Convert everything to HTML if possible.
• Design printable versions of pages.
• Use a standard one-column format for easy reading.
• Use high contrast for easily legible text. A familiar example is black text on white background.
• High-quality graphics, good writing, and use of outbound hypertext links increase credibility.
7. The purchase process: browsing, buying, checkout
Make it easy for visitors to browse and buy the products they’re looking for, and give them a
smooth, reassuring checkout experience.
Tips for an easy browsing and buying experience
• Make sure your product detail page includes all the relevant information a typical user
needs to make a purchase decision.
• Add related content to cross-sell and up-sell.
• If you have additional information, provide buttons so the user can access that
information without leaving the page.
• Don’t discourage visitors with required registration and poor shipping charge policies.
• Provide easy access to your shopping cart. Give customers the option to continue
shopping or proceed to checkout.
• Include all necessary features in the shopping cart process. Provide product details in
the cart, including the image of the product, and a link back to the product page. Make
it easy for visitors to edit the shopping cart (change quantities or options, delete an
item, etc).
• Reassure customers at the right time and place. Provide links to product warranties,
shipping costs, return policies, testimonials, even optional extended service plans.
Web Design Guidelines
• Add trustworthy third-party icons. Logos for credit cards and services like HackerSafe
and the Better Business Bureau increase customer confidence.
Tips for an easy checkout
• Provide shipping costs as early as possible in the checkout process. Buyers don’t want
to be surprised by a cost after going through a long checkout.
• Include a progress indicator on each checkout page. Give shoppers an opportunity to
review what they did in previous steps and a way to return to their current step if they
go back.
• Ask only for required data and provide examples for its use. Save and auto fill previously
supplied info.
• Validate fields.
• Use clear labels and reasonable sizes for input fields.
• Differentiate shipping and billing addresses. Also, if the shipping information is the same
as the billing information, include a checkbox to automatically fill in the same information.
• Provide clear explanation after errors.
• Provide customer support. Offer alternate ways to place the order ( e.g. a toll-free
phone number).
8. Creating a search-engine friendly web design doncaster site
Make it easy for search engines to find and list your site.
• Use page titles. Make your titles unique to each page, and use relevant keywords on each page.
• Add a site map.
• Use meta tags. Only use relevant keywords in your meta-description.
differentiate ship-to
and bill-to info
progress indicator
view cart
customer support
reassure customers
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Gift certificate redemption at payment.
checkout shipping & payment gift-wrap place order
Full Name:
Address 1:
Address 2:
City:
State:
Zip:
Tel:
Want to place this order offline?
Call customer support at
1-800-123-4567 for phone orders.
Or download the order form (pdf)
and fax your order.
Next screen: shipping method
ship to:
logo
Next screen: shipping method
continue
view cart
2
3
4
5
1
Web Design Guidelines
• Be aware that your content is constantly crawled by search engines. Keep your content
original, update it frequently, and vary keywords and phrases to try different ways to
attract customers.
• Develop simple, logical internal navigation. Make sure it’s easy for visitors to link
between related sections and pages in your site.
9. What to avoid
Don’t clutter your pages with unnecessary details.
• Avoid frames. They make it difficult for visitors to bookmark your site.
• Avoid horizontal scrolling.
• Avoid splash pages or animated content.
• Avoid new browser windows.
• Avoid flash-based content unless required.
• Use meaningful graphics to show real content.
10. Provide alternative content for images
Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
• Use Alt Text for images and animations. This way, if images don’t load, the user will still
see some messaging.
• Make flash content available in another format. Not all visitors have flash downloaded to
their computer.
These guidelines can help you provide a streamlined experience for the customers that come
to your web site. And that, in turn, can lead to sales and repeat customers.