When people design a website, they often forget to include a link to their homepage on their secondary pages. If you do not have a homepage link then your visitors may never be able to get back to the main part of your site. This article contains a number of tips on how to properly add a homepage link, so your visitors can always find a way home!
Add a site map to your web design. Site maps serve an important role when it comes to search engine optimization. The search engine spiders use them to crawl efficiently over your site to help rank your pages better. They also serve an operational purpose for you as a designer. A site map is essential to keeping track of your website architecture, so you can add pages to it more effectively.
You want to ensure that your site is capable of being viewed on all types of operating systems and programs, ranging from browsers such as internet explorer to firefox. You also want to be sure that your site works on both windows and mac operating systems so as many users as possible can view your content.
Don't limit your creativity by using the first free or most well known name in website design software. There are virtually unlimited numbers of free and open source packages that will help you to create amazing sites. By using the one that everybody knows the best, you risk producing a site that looks a lot like theirs.
Graphics and various media are great for your site and help keep the attention of the viewers, but don't load every page from top-to-bottom. Pages that are extremely heavy with media will consume bandwidth on yours and the viewer's network, which often leaves both parties suffering. Include graphics when they are relevant and do your best to minimize bandwidth consumption.
Make sure your website's call to action (CTA) is highlighted in your web design. If the visitor can not easily find what you really want them to do next, then you will be hard pressed to get them to move forward in your action cycle. Call out your CTA using icons, white space, a font size increase, bolding or some other format change that works with your design.
Design informative error pages. Many times someone will click onto a broken link, or a link that has been moved, and receive a generic error page that confuses them. Design your error pages so that you give a visitor a reason they may have gotten that error, along with a link to your home page so that they remain on your site.
Make sure your web design is user friendly to all levels of computer expertise. Sometimes the most professional looking and expensive sites can overwhelm a visitor and they will quickly switch to another site. Have a person you know who is not so well versed on a computer try to navigate your site. If they can find their way around, you know your site is user friendly!
Always give users a link that sends them to your homepage from all the rest of the site pages. Knowing the best place for the link will make your site more user-friendly. Follow the tips provided in this article, so that you have an idea of where to put these significant links on your website.
