With this in mind, you need to consider usability and layout above anything else. In no particular order, I have put together a list of what I think are important things to consider on a website.

Clear Navigation

Navigation should be clear and simple. To avoid confusion keep the main navigation in a consistent position, and style, throughout the site. If you have lots of pages, help the user by highlighting the active page or have a clear title so that the user doesn’t get lost.

Consistent Theme

Keep your colour scheme and theme consistent throughout the site. This is important not only for branding, but also so that the user knows they’re still on the same website. It’s more important to keep the main elements in a fixed position throughout but unless the design requires otherwise, it’s good to keep the colour schemes and typefaces the same too.

Hierarchy of Content

Organise your content effectively. Keep your most important information more prominent. Use borders, boxes and white space to separate content. Newspapers are a good source of inspiration for this.

Clear Interesting and Relevant Text

Avoid babbling. People don’t read websites like they read books: they scan them. Break up large chunks of text with interesting headers and keep your content relevant and on point.

Home Logo

Have your logo in a prominent position, keep it the same on each page and link it to the homepage. It’s generally preferred by most to have the logo in the top left corner, this is also important for branding purposes.

Tagline

You should have a 5 to 8 word tagline summarising your site preferably next to the logo (or close by). This is important so that people know instantly what your site is about without having to read through long and extensive blurbs.

Links and Images

If you have a text link within a paragraph, let people know it’s a link by underlining it or changing its colour, make sure all text links are styled the same. If an image is clickable think of a way to let the user know this.

Use of Colour

Colour is a very effective tool if used correctly. As websites serve a very functionally purpose and often have goals, Use colour to support this. Don’t confuse your visitors, use colour to compliment the content not distract attention from it.

Limit Amount of Typefaces Used

You should limit the amount of typefaces used, if you have lots of different ones it can add noise to the site and also mess with the hierarchy of content. It’s fine to use as many as you want as long as you have thought it through. Keep headers, sub-headers, links and text the same throughout the site.

Clear Contact Info

If you want your visitors to contact you, have your contact info accessible from every page. I have mine at the top of every page but you don’t have to.

Footer Links

Footer links are good so that people can navigate from the bottom of the page instead of scrolling up to the main navigation. Little things like this just make it a tiny bit easier for your visitors.

This isn’t a list of rules, its just some useful tips I’ve picked up along the way from reading loads of books and running a website design studio. There are many other things to take into consideration. A good book to get you started is “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug

The main thing is that your website supports your goals and everything on it is relevant.

Below I have outlined a few ways to promote yourself and your business.

Get Yourself a Quality Website

Don’t compromise with the quality of your website. Get yourself a good web designer who knows what he’s doing. Make sure your content is strong and relevant. Put your web address on all promotional material, and use your site to collect email addresses for marketing purposes.

Send Out Newsletters

Start sending out newsletters to your clients and customers. Try to provide them with useful information so that they have something to take away. The more you can help someone, the more likely they are to come back or tell a friend about you.

Set Up a Blog

Blogging is a good way of attracting people to your site. Blog about interesting things and try to provide useful information for your readers. Not only is this good for SEO, but it helps you build a reputation within your area.

Twitter & Facebook

There’s loads of social networking sites out there, and they’re all free (I think) so set yourself up pages and accounts on a few of the main ones and start networking. Have them all branded the same and keep them consistent. Try to direct people to your website by giving them incentives like useful articles.

Get a Youtube Channel

Set up a Youtube channel and start video blogging. Or just upload any of your own interesting videos. Remember to direct people to your site.

Do all of this on a regular basis and you should start to generate a good amount of traffic to your website. Remember, provide people with useful and informative information with the hope that they’ll come back, and hopefully subscribe to your newsletter (hint, hint).

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1. Filter your content until you are saying exactly what you need to say, and no more.
2. Try to write in a relaxed and easy manner. (Overly formal corporate vernacular is unwelcome in today’s society….. and its boring.)
3. Split your content into short paragraphs.
4. Give each new section a nice big header. (This way, people can scan through to the information that they want).
5. Include links to other parts of your site so that people can click through to more relevant areas.

Remember that the web is all about convenience; keep your content short and relevant.

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Blogging

Blogging is important for a few reasons. It will rank your site higher in the search engines if you’re constantly posting fresh information and keeping the site dynamic. Also it helps your audience create a relationship with you.

Social Networking

Set up accounts on all the major social networks and start to promote your business to your new audience. You don’t have to go over the top and become a social network fanatic, but a few daily updates will gently let people know your there.

Newsletters

Newsletters are a great way to generate traffic, try to send people entertaining and useful information. Be very selective with your content because after a few boring emails, they won’t even open them anymore. Don’t become a spammer, no one likes spam.

Google Adwords

Google Adwords can be a very useful tool if utilized correctly. Google are eager to help out new customers, and there are plenty of useful articles online about how to use the service.

Tell People

Put your web address on all of your promotional material. Tell everyone you meet that you have a great website and that they should check it out. The more people you tell, the better.

I hope this article has given you a few ideas and that you start to generate some more traffic. Of course these are the basics, but you can get as creative as you want.

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1. Your Website Should Have A Clear Goal

A good website should be planned and designed with a goal in mind. Whether it’s to generate leads, sell a product, or display information, the design of the site should be dictated by this goal.

2. Keep Your Site Practical And Usable

Unless the goal says otherwise, then the site should be practical, usable and very easy to navigate. People should know where they are at all times, and preferably how they got there.

3. Make Use Of Website Design Conventions

People spend hours on the web looking through lots of websites, naturally they begin to sub-consciously learn how to navigate and use the web. If you conflict with these habits you’ll confuse the user. Avoid this by keeping the layout of your site consistent.

4. Keep Your Information Clear And Concise

When writing the copy for your website, keep it clear and to the point. Avoid unnecessary sentences and decorative words. People don’t have the time for this so just give them quality information.

5. Have Lots Of Calls To Action

Your website should support your goal in every sense possible. Have clear calls to action. If you want people to contact you, then have your contact details on every page in a clear position. If you want people to sign up to your newsletter, then give them lots of opportunities to sign up.

The only real rule I would state, is that your site should have very clear aims and objectives, the rest will follow. Goals will ultimately dictate the design and layout of your website. Feel free to comment below and ask any questions you might have about this post.

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