The Web is synonymous with a treasure house of information. People throng the internet to access websites in order to derive content that they need. And in the rush to seek this information, it is but natural they ignore undesirable advertisements, banners and animations.

The underlying statement is: Blatant advertisements seldom work on the internet. The key lies in educating the consumers in a bid to arouse their interest in the product that would prompt them to make a purchase. By giving the visitors what they want the site not earns their trust but also makes them come back.

Website Name
The website names should ideally consist of one, or maximum two simple memorable words that are easy to pronounce and remember. It is advisable to buy variations and .org and .net extensions of the website name. This would ensure not losing out on people who misspell it and also avoid any threats from competitors.

Giving Visitors What They Need
Before creating any content on the newly built website, one should have done extensive research on consumer needs and demands. You can use keyword tools like Overture's term and Word tracker’s free trial to find the keyword combinations that consumers use to find sites with your objective.

Navigation
Navigation keys are to a website as aisle signs are to supermarkets. Like the signs of a supermarket guide people to their desired products, the navigation keys help track the site. Good navigation keys on a web site should be clear and direct the consumer to what they need. Links should be placed at a place where they are easily visible. A menu bar should be placed at the top of the page and another on the left-hand side that offers detailed options. The main menu should always be visible. Drop down menus should be avoided as they don’t always work and end up confusing people.

CSS
The source code determines the look and speed of the website and also monitors the search engine robots. The Cascading Style Sheets create and control the page style and layout like position of text, navigation and graphics.

Screen Space
Liquid designs enable the websites to occupy full screen space by stretching the layout to fit the screen. The content fills in the entire screen irrespective of the resolution and thus avoids waste.

Background Colors
The traditional ‘dark-on-light’ format works best as far as the text color goes. If there is an image in the background, it should contrast well with the text color and not hamper reading. The background should maintain a single consistent color.

Graphics
The use of graphics on the web page should be very judicious and minimal. They should be used only in a case when something can’t be communicated in words. For example in case of some product, and image of the same can be presented.

Prioritizing Content
Every web page should concentrate on one particular element that is of prime importance.

Fonts
The font type that works best on websites is sans serif fonts. They are simplified letters that are very readable at small sizes and on most screens. It is advisable to vary the font size throughout the page as a consistent size would bore the reader

Bite Sized Paragraphs
Breaking down the full content into small paragraphs makes it easier for the readers to go through it. The compact layout also makes the content more attractive and easy to browse through. Dashes and bullets are also excellent means to mark out key points.

Links
The links should be very easily distinguishable and follow the standard format in underlined blue text color. Visited links are purple. There should be a special affect on the mouse to emphasize that they are at a link.

Speed
Speed is a priority and should not be compromised! Pages should load instantaneously even on slow modems. To attain this all unnecessary graphics should be removed and the source code bloat should be reduced. Also, all the font tags should be removed and CSS should be used instead to style the text.

There is no sure-shot way to ensure a successful website but keeping these pointers in mind would ensure continuous incoming consumer traffic!

Michael Henderson, an eminent web developer and SEO expert has a successful career to boast of. He has worked on many international projects with various web design companies. He has an in-depth knowledge of website development and website design. The WWW standards has appointed him the consultant for all the corporate clients who need help with their web demands and to instruct the web designers to design web pages that adhere to the W3C standards.