Five rules for successful web design

When it comes to your website, extra attention is needed to make sure it performs optimally. Here are five important rules of thumb to observe to make sure your website performs well.

1) Do not use splash pages

Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They are pointless, and give your visitors an excuse to hit the 'back' button. Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.

2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements

Even the naive of web site users have learned to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website space. Instead, provide more valueable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, and let your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.

3) Have a simple and clear navigation

Provide a concise, and simple navigation system that anyone can use without frustration. Test it on your mum. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors hate the navigation, they will leave your site.

4) Have a clear indication of where the user is

When visitors are engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at any given time. This will allow them to navigate to any section of the site easily. Don't confuse your visitors because confusion means "abandon ship"!

5) Avoid using audio on your site

If you really want to annoy your users, add some repeating midi tunes to your site. Watch as your visitor statistics diminish. Unless you are a music, or media provider , leave the background music alone.