Website design:

Website content.

Before considering what to put on your website, you should first consider what you should not put on your website.

1. Slow-loading pages. If the homepage does not load in 10 seconds, most visitors will leave.
2. Special effects that require the installation of extra software to view the site, such as Macromedia Flash.
3. Pop-up ads.
4. Unnecessary special effects - such as flash screens or animations.
5. Music that plays automatically that the visitor can not stop.
6. A requirement to register and log-on before viewing the website.
7. Confusing navigation and hard-to-find pages.
8. Content that is out of date.
9. A lack of contact information (web form only). Always include an e-mail address and phone number(s).
10. Text that moves. Text that vibrates. Text that scrolls in neon lighting. Text that dissolves. Text that glows. It is quite annoying, often very hard to read, and it will date your website back to the 1990s.

1. Avoid adjectives such as "fabulous, wonderful, awesome, amazing, brilliant, friendly" when describing your products or services. Be specific. For example, instead of saying "Work guaranteed" say "We guarantee the work will be done within 12 hours".
2. Your spelling and grammar must be correct.
3. Keep exclamation marks to a minimum. Don't have: Special! Today only! No where else has it! Bargains beyond belief!!!
4. Keep it simple. People have short attention spans, especially on the internet.
5. Do not make your paragraphs too long and bulky. White space is good on a computer screen.
6. Do not be too colloquial. "We're gonna give you a wicked as deal" will not project the desired image for your website (unless, for example, you are selling hoodies to teenagers).

1. Imagine you are chatting face-to-face with a potential client. Tell them why they should choose your business over someone else’s.
2. Write some information about your business and the people who work there, including the history of the company and its main achievements.
3. Think of the questions that people most often ask you about your business. Write down the questions and the answers.
4. Lay the groundwork for a sale by writing content that focuses on satisfying your customers’ needs. Help them identify problems they want solved, and explain how your products or service offers solutions.
5. Include the costs of your goods or services. We all know how annoying it is to visit a website to research the price of a product or service, and not finding one.
6. Ask visitors for their business. Have specific calls to action on your site. Make it simple for prospects to contact you. Include your company name, physical and mailing addresses, e-mail address, local and toll-free telephone numbers, and ordering information (where applicable).
7. Keep your website current. Update and add new content regularly to stimulate return visits.

Website layout.

Once you you know what you want on your website, you need to decide how it should look.

Follow the old K.I.S.S. Principle - Keep It Simple & Straighforward.

A menu on the left and content on the right, or a menu on the top and content underneath works best. Do not try and be clever by having a menu upside down along the bottom, or one that moves. Often the homepage will be different to the inside pages, but all the inside pages should follow the same layout.

FONTS.

There are two types of fonts - serif fonts and sans serif fonts (sans = without). Serif fonts have “dangly bits” hanging off the letters, sans serif fonts are smooth, e.g.



In printed material, such as newspapers and novels, serif fonts are easier to read. Most newspapers and novels are set in Times Roman or Georgia. On a computer screen, sans serif fonts such as Arial or Verdana are easier to read.

Times Roman
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Etiam urna elit, interdum in, imperdiet ac, mollis eget, eros. Nulla vulputate vestibulum nunc. Aenean sollicitudin nibh sit amet mauris. Sed egestas dignissim orci. Pellentesque dui turpis, ultricies non, mattis eget, dignissim vitae, massa. In velit tellus, accumsan nec, rutrum et, ullamcorper a, mi. Pellentesque cursus scelerisque quam.

Arial.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Etiam urna elit, interdum in, imperdiet ac, mollis eget, eros. Nulla vulputate vestibulum nunc. Aenean sollicitudin nibh sit amet mauris. Sed egestas dignissim orci. Pellentesque dui turpis, ultricies non, mattis eget, dignissim vitae, massa. In velit tellus, accumsan nec, rutrum et, ullamcorper a, mi. Pellentesque cursus scelerisque quam.

Verdana.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Etiam urna elit, interdum in, imperdiet ac, mollis eget, eros. Nulla vulputate vestibulum nunc. Aenean sollicitudin nibh sit amet mauris. Sed egestas dignissim orci. Pellentesque dui turpis, ultricies non, mattis eget, dignissim vitae, massa. In velit tellus, accumsan nec, rutrum et, ullamcorper a, mi. Pellentesque cursus scelerisque quam.

As you can see from the above examples, Arial is a smaller font than Verdana, and not as "stocky".

What if you really want to use a fancy script?

If a computer does not have installed the font the website designer has told the website to use, the computer will simply subsitute something else.NIf you want to use a fancy font (e.g. for headings) then Code Monkey will set the font as an image so that all computers will see it the same.

COLOURS.

Not all computers see colours the same. There are 216 "web safe" colours, that appear the same on all computers. You can check them out at Techbomb. If you think that most of your website visitors will be on relatively modern computers, then you can choose from a much greater range of colours that you can check out at December Communications.

DIFFERENT COMPUTER - DIFFERENT LOOK.

A lot of internet users are not aware that websites look very different on different computers depending on:

• the dimensions of the computer screen (eg 15", 17", standard screen, widescreen, etc)
• the resolution a screen is set at (eg 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, etc)
• the browser being used (Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, etc).

E-MAIL CODE MONKEY for further advice on the layout of your website.

Website updating.

One of the most important things about your website is keeping it up to date.

In most cases, probably not. When your hair needs cutting, you go to the hairdresser, when you are sick, you go to the doctor, but for some reason when your website needs updating, many people think they can learn how to do this themselves. While there are countless companies who claim you can "Learn how to update your own website in minutes" be aware that they are simply selling you a program for $99.95, $199.95, etc, and once they have your money, you won't see them for dust. And you will discover you can not learn how to update your website in minutes.

If you are going to update your website at least once a day, it may be worth learning how to do it yourself. E-MAIL CODE MONKEY to discuss whether it is going to be a viable use of your time and money to learn how to update your own website.

If it is decided that it will be beneficial to your business for you to learn how to update your own website, you should look at updating your website as car maintenance. You can probably check your oil and water, change the tyres if required, and maybe even check the brake fluid. However, if your radiator blows on the top of the Rimutakas (yes, I speak from experience!), then you call a mechanic.

Updating your website is the same. Let's say you have learnt how to keep your Newsletter page up to date, and to change the Photos in your Photo Gallery, which you do at least a few times a week. Then you decide you want to include an Annual Report on a separate page on the website. At this stage you would call your "mechanic", Code Monkey, and get the work done for you. It would take far less time, and cost far less, to get this one-off addition to the website done for you, rather than learning how to do it yourself.

Wikipedia describes a content management system (CMS) as a computer software system used to assist its users in the process of content management. A CMS facilitates the organisation, control, and publication of a large body of documents and other content, such as images and multimedia resources. A CMS often facilitates the collaborative creation of documents. A web content management system is a content management system with additional features to ease the tasks required to publish web content toWeb sites.Web Content management systems are often used for storing, controlling, versioning, and publishing industry-specific documentation such as news articles, operators' manuals, technical manuals, sales guides, and marketing brochures.

A fellow Tauranga website design company who installs one of the simplest CMS systems on all their websites reports that only one of their clients has mastered it. The rest put it in the "too hard" basket.

Cost of Code Monkey updates.

Unlike most website designer who have a minimum charge to make a change to your website, usually around $20-50, Code Monkey only charges you for the time taken. Having Code Monkey keep your site up to date with minor changes is not a great expense, and offers far less hassles than trying to learn how to do it yourself.

E-MAIL CODE MONKEY to discuss whether you should learn how to update your own website.

Domain Names.

The first step in getting a website is choosing a domain name - e.g. www.codemonkey.co.nz (did you know you don't have to type the "www" to visit a website?)

• Write down the domain name you would like and then read it out loud. What looks good on paper might not sound so great on a radio advertisement.
• If the name you want is already taken, avoid using hyphens. For example, if your business is "Tauranga Tours" and www.taurangatours.co.nz is taken, don't register www.tauranga-tours.co.nz. Generally, people will forget to type the hyphen and you'll lose that customer to whoever owns the domain name www.taurangatours.co.nz. You should also be wary of going for unusual extensions, such as www.taurangatours.biz.nz. People tend to remember domain names as .com - failing that, they'll try what is relevant to their country, such as .co.nz.
• Be wary of words that need spelling or explaining, such as www.products4u.co.nz. Is that products4u, products4you, productsforyou, or productsforu?
• Use only letters, numbers, or a hyphen ("-") (although, as stated above, hyphens should be avoided).
• Do not put a dot in the domain name itself, such as www.bayautos.tauranga.co.nz. This would inadvertently register the domain www.bayautos.co.nz as a sub-domain of www.tauranga.co.nz, which you most likely would not own, leaving you with a bit of a problem.
• The main name cannot exceed 63 characters in total (which, incidentally, is way too long anyway).
• .info and .biz must have at least 3 characters not including .info or .biz
• Domain names are not case sensitive.
• Domain names cannot include spaces.

E-MAIL CODE MONKEY to find out why you should register your own domain name.

Who should you register your domain name with?

E-MAIL CODE MONKEY to discuss who you should register your domain name with.

Website hosting.

A website hosting package is the space that your website occupies on the internet, which has to be hired off a website host. As with domain name registrars there are thousands of businesses that offer website hosting.

E-MAIL CODE MONKEY to discuss your website hosting requirments.

Search Engine Optimisation.

In the 21st century, with close to 10 billion websites in cyberspace, and new ones being uploaded every day, Search Engine Optimisation (S.E.O.) is a specialised field. While Code Monkey includes basic S.E.O. on all sites, if you intend to rely solely on Search Engines as a method of attracting visitors to your website, you should seek out an S.E.O. specialist.

Be aware than Search Engine Optimisation is not cheap, and often costs more than the website design, particularly for the brochure style websites Code Monkey builds. Good S.E.O. will cost you thousands of dollars per year; big business pays hundreds of thousands, and even millions, of dollars per year on S.E.O.

E-MAIL CODE MONKEY to discuss Search Engine Optimisation.