General Guidelines for Your Website

Keep these guidelines in mind as you plan your website's layout and content.

"Content is King"

This is not just a clever saying. It is critical if you want a successful and effective website. Your site will be one of many millions, and people get distracted easily and quickly. Keep them interested with fresh and entertaining content regularly. If you let the content go stale, then people will leave and may never return. Additionally, you must keep the content relevant to the overall mission of your site. For instance, don't waste time on cookie recipes if you are trying to sell vintage floppy disks.

Your site should be a venerable treasure trove of useful information

Nearly everyone using the web starts at one of the major search engines to find what they are looking for. Your website should contain lots of interesting, relevant content that enhances the site's purpose which can greatly increase the chance someone will find you. Plan to post articles frequently and share your knowledge and experience with the community through mediums such as a blog, product reviews, or tutorials.

Write content for your users, not the search engines

Be wary of SEO (search engine optimization) "gurus" who try to sell you what amounts to snake oil. An unscrupulous SEO expert will deliver short term gain at the expense of long term ruin. Page content is best when it's clear, targeted and useful. Incorporating keywords in the content is good, however, do not insert them too deliberately for the sake of having keywords in your content.

Consider these two examples:

GOOD: "Floppy Company has over one billion vintage floppy disks available and over a million different titles. Our vintage floppy disks are guaranteed by the seller to be genuine quality and of the specified vintage described."

BAD: "Floppy Company vintage floppy discs are vintage floppy disks available in over one million vintage titles. Our vintage floppy disks are guaranteed vintage floppy disks by the vintage floppy disk seller in their description in the vintage floppy disk catalog."

Use consistent format throughout the site

Each page of the site should follow a similar format. For example, pages start with a Title then the Body. Use consistent fonts, colors, iconography etc. to keep your site visitors engaged and interested to read more.

Pop-ups and annoying ads are bad

Pop-up windows and overzealous ads are annoying. Do not use these techniques.

Take advantage of Social Media

Share and get noticed by using sites like Digg, del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Reddit, and many more. Social media sites are a fantastic way to leverage the coveted word-of-mouth and viral advertising that businesses salivate over.

Also, read and join blogging sites where you can gain insight into what people like and perhaps call attention to your own site. Get involved in communities and create one of your own if you have the time.

New Web Site Checklist

Once your site is online you'll need to add content, logo, etc. Here is a checklist of the most common items that need attention.

Site Logo

A logo is not required, however, it is a useful item for establishing your identity.

Typically logos are placed at the top-left of the page because this is the first place most people look and they expect it to be there.

Your logo should be clean and professional looking. n390 offers professional graphic services to help you create a unique logo.

Site Name and Slogan

The site name is usually your company name and may or may not be incorporated into the logo.

A slogan is a short phrase (two or five words) that give people a sense of what you do and what to expect from you.

Home/Front Page

A really good use of the home page is to treat it like a bulletin board. Create content using the "Story" or "Article" option and publish it to the front page. Keep it fresh with new content such as updates, blog postings, etc.

About Page

Use the about page to tell a story about yourself or company. Who you are and what you do. Try for two or three paragraphs and include a picture or two if can support the story.

Contact Us

The "Contact Us" page is mainly a web form visitors can use to send you email.

If you want add a street address, phone numbers, map, etc.

Page Layout

Although there are numerous ways a page can be arranged, each n390 Web Package starts out with the following structure:

 

Header - the section of the page at the top which displays the site logo, name, slogan and often the main menu.

Main Content - the section of the page where you insert and manage content. This section sits prominently in the middle of the page.

Sidebar Left/Right - the columns on either side of the main content section. Within these sidebars are sections called blocks; these blocks can display secondary menus, pictures, etc. The items in a sidebar are not edited directly. Note: The sidebars will collapse when there is nothing designated there, and the content section will span across the entire width.

Footer - the little bar across the bottom of the page. Typically used to define the bottom of the page with text about copyright or credits, the footer can visually communicate the bottom or end of the page.

 

Web Page Layout: diagram of common web page layout

Choose a Color Theme

You may choose from a stock color theme or create your own. This guide illustrates some possibilities for colorizing your site.

 

Background

Most layouts have a background color for the whole page that shows in the browser and a background color for the area that contains all of the page elements.

Box Title and Body

The sidebars contain what is called boxes that show things like menus, pictures, etc. These boxes have a title and body which can be shaded any color you like.

Headings and Paragraph Text

Links and Paragraph headings may be colorized for emphasis.

 

Page Layout and Theme

Selecting the Font for Your Site

When selecting a font type for your website, consider how the font will influence readers' perceptions. For example, is your site content serious or informal?

In addition to setting the tone of your site, consider that some fonts are easier to read than others, and only a small number are widely available.

There are two main types of fonts: serif and sans serif. Serif fonts have little "tick" marks at the ends and tend to look best when printed. San serif fonts are more smooth looking and look better when read on a computer screen.

1. Set the tone of your site

Comic Sans Serif is a good choice for a more whimsical site like one geared for kids, while Times New Roman is a little more conservative and often found on news pages.

Note that the font applies to all text visible on a website.

2. Readabilty and Availability

In general, a sans serif font looks better on computer screens while serif looks good printed on paper. Both font types look fine on the computer or PDA screens.

The more important part of choosing a font is availability. Not all web browsers have all fonts. This is especially true of PDA browsers like Blackberry, Palm, etc. Microsoft's Internet Explorer supports only a small number of fonts as well.

So, what fonts are best? The below set of fonts are called "Web Safe Fonts" and are highly recommended:

Web Safe Fonts

3. Font Size

Numerous studies show that font size is a major issue with web users. In particular, most people do not like fonts that are too small or mixed. In other words, tiny font and several different types on the page annoy the majority of web users.

The recommened default font size is 10-12 point. Start with that and adjust up or down for elements such as titles, headers, footnotes, etc.  However, bear in mind that each user can adjust the font on their own browser to whatever is most confortable for them. Therefore, attemts to fix the font size to match your design or preference can be counter productive.

Select a Header & Footer Image (optional)

If you want a picture or image in the Header and/or footer, you can pick one from our gallery or upload one of your own.