Would you buy meat from a grocery store that left the bad meat in 
with the good meat or wasn’t clean? Would you buy a car from a 
sales lot that had totaled automobiles on the front lot? I 
wouldn’t and neither would you. Your website is your grocery 
store; your car lot. You must have an atmosphere that is pleasing 
to buyers. One that tells that buyer that you are not an amateur, 
but instead a trained, seasoned professional. Your site is a 
direct reflection of your product and that is why that having a 
well designed website can make or break your sales.

The first thing to keep in mind when designing your website, is 
"surfability". Take a few minutes a look around at several web 
pages. What makes them appealing? Were there some that you closed 
out of immediately? Why? Take notes and do your research. Keep in 
mind that when a person visits your site they have a goal in 
mind. They are either seeking information or shopping for a 
product. Give the person what they want without having to search 
for it. Be sure that all the information on your site is relevant 
to your product. Make the buyer think that they need your product 
to solve their problem.

Your main page serves a very specific purpose. It should be an 
avenue by which the customer can shop your site. It should be 
easy to view and load very quickly. This is your first impression 
and we all know that first impressions can either close the deal 
or loose the deal. Make it simple. It is best to have links that 
are easily viewable by the reader that will navigate them to 
where they want to be. Tables are often a great choice when 
deciding on a way to design the main page of your site. Your main 
page should load very quickly, chances are if it takes the page 
more than ten seconds to load even on a 56k modem, the customer 
will click away to save time, hoping to find the information or 
product elsewhere. To increase the loading speed of your main 
page you should avoid large graphics or excessive graphics. To 
many banners or special effects can cause a page to load slowly 
as well.

To make your web site more appealing to the eyes, you should 
stick to mild colors. If your site is a content site where the 
user will be doing a lot of reading, it is best to stick to black 
and white. Color can be added when using tables, as a way to 
brighten up the page, but remember to keep the overall look of 
the page professional and appealing to the audience that will 
be visiting most often. Since screen resolutions vary among 
monitors, it is a good idea to set the pixels to a standard 
800x600. You may also choose to set the tables in your web page 
to span a percentage of the page rather than a set number of 
inches. This will be sure to accommodate all screen sizes. You 
should remember that a lot of Internet users will not use the 
same browser as you, and therefore you should be sure that your 
site looks as good on other browsers as it does your own. You can 
do this by downloading several browsers through which to look at 
your page.

Be aware of the fact that the overall look of your website is 
a way to make money. The appearance of the site, if designed 
properly, can be an excellent marketing strategy for your 
product or service.  

Dick Pennington can help YOU
start your own profitable business on the Internet
within the next 24 hours... To learn more, visit:
http://www.dickpennington.com/