How to Specify your Web Site

Web sites are only as good as their designers, but more importantly, web designers are only as good as the instructions they are given by their client’s. Ultimately, it is the client’s choice on whether or not to go with a particular design.

To help you specify your site correctly, the links on the right lead to a series of short articles about how to specify a web site that’s just right for you or your business. By following our advice you should be in a better position to state exactly what you want from your designer, leaving him or her free to concentrate on the technicalities of making your site work. But first, here are a few quotes from our web site marketing experts.

“Always have a Purpose for your web site, and ensure you have plenty of relevant content. Web sites are all about information - not just self promotion.”

Now you know what the experts say, check out the links on the left to get more details about specifying a web site.

“Target your web site’s look and feel to your target market. Its impossible to be all things to all men, so decide who your market is and start from there.”

“Keep your pages to within manageable sizes. There’s nothing worse than having to endlessly scroll through long pages to find the information you’re looking for”

“Make your navigation simple”. Avoid having too many menu choices displaying at once. Use sub-menus on relevant pages , and always make sure you have links back to your main site pages.

“Always listen to the advice of your designer. Very often, they know a lot more about web site marketing and promotion than we give them credit for. A good and knowledgeable designer will always give you a logical explanation as to why he or she is recommending a particular course of action.”

“When specifying gadgets, gizmos and animations, ask yourself why you feel they are important to your web site message. If you can’t convince yourself of their importance, then they probably don’t belong in your site.”

“Don’t go crazy with colours. Keep your colour pallet to about 5 colours, and be sure to make your pages look as though they belong on the same site”

“Select your images carefully. Make sure they are high quality and relevant to your text content. If you have to have large images, make them pop-up in a slimbox”