Increase your sales by improving your Web site design

Getting Web design right is both hard and controversial. If you ask a cross section of the population their opinion of a particular design, there are usually as many opinions as the number of people. To try to understand design in a business context, I think that it's worth asking what the difference is between design and art? I would define design as the constrained application of art. Good designers are interested in the practical application of their creative output. And design is not just about aesthetics, it also embraces usability, cost and other more prosaic factors.

Designing a Web site that can sell successfully has many of the elements of ordinary sales and marketing, combined with creativity.

Design basics

The aim of design has to be to support the objectives of the site. In the case of ecommerce sites this is primarily to sell.

How can design help? First of all we must communicate the brand message that the company wishes to convey to the target demographic. If there is any disconnect between these two, this will jar with prospects and significantly reduce their likelihood of buying. To use an extreme and silly example, the brand communicated for extreme sports will be different from insurance sold to over-50 Saga types.

The next objective of design, and closely related to brand, is the prime message. Maybe the site wishes to communicate freshness, maybe stability. Whatever it is, it's the objective of the designer to create an emotional reaction in the people engaging with the site.

Design has the chance to bring clarity to what is offered on the site, establish trust and clearly explain how the offering can be accessed. The topic of usability merits a whole section.

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Basic Rules on Page Layout and Color

For one to be able to stand out from the rest, one needs to go out of the box, break the rules, and some other clich้s that apply to breaking out from the traditional. But before breaking any rule, you have to understand first the basic and foundation of the rule itself.

First off, let's talk about page layout.
The Rule – Too much boxes is bad for your health.

One designer said that a mark of a designer is when he or she starts to use boxes and rules in his or her pages. When you look at your page and realize the need to make something attractive and creative out of the boring stuff you've just made, and then decide to throw around a box or two or place rules between columns, then that's the time when your creativity is getting out from confinement.

Before using all the box there is in your software, just remember to do it in moderation. Anything in excess is a bad thing. Sure, boxes and rules are a good way to highlight important information. But if you're going to do it in all your pages, or put virtually everything in a box, then nothing will stand out from the crowd.
The Rule – Do not divide the page in halves.

The best way to infuse excitement and innovation in your documents is to divide the page into thirds. Afterwards, place the most important objects like the headings, photos, and visuals, at the top or bottom third.

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