Design Your Website to Generate MoneyHarpreet singh Sealopal
October 01, 2008
If the essential purpose of a website is to generate money, then the prime step should be to turn site visitors into customers! When internet users land up on your website, what do they do with it? The answer is simple- Whatever you want them to!
To
make this a reality, you need to lead the by hand. Define a clear
Action Path for your visitors, which include precise visual clues to
lead them through your information to the prize shopping cart or
subscription plan.
Here is how to define an appropriate action plan for your website
Space
is a powerful element in website design and can be an influential
factor in how visitors use the website. The appropriate placement of
elements can play a vital role in defining user behavior on the site.
The
prime rule in defining Action Paths is not to make visitors scroll to
find actions. Keep all the call-to-action tabs like ‘Click Here’ or
‘Subscribe Here’ above the fold. The majority of the world
population reads from left-to-right and top-to-bottom. So, keep all the
vital elements within these areas. Also remember that elements of
design supersede text elements, that is to say that images are more
important and prominent than words. In a split second that users
take to scan through the text, they take in scattered bits of data such
as the headings, pictures, search box, links etc.
Balance is not
the same as regularity. While regularity ensures a clean layout and
consistency in the web page, balance is essential for users to
concentrate on certain elements. It’s better to create an asymmetrical
space when you are trying to draw attention to specific actions on the
web page. And the best way to do this is by creating a balance between
images and white space. And an obvious consequence of making visitors
at easy with their pathways is retaining them on the site and
generating further business.
White space is the space between
columns, the space around images and the space between text blocks.
Leaving certain sections of your website empty makes visitors’
concentrate on other areas of the page. Lending space to the design
gives a flow and allows for a comfortable user experience. A
comfortable user-experience promotes your credibility and prompts them
to invest their faith and money in your company. Thus, your visitors
will be your customers.
The colors that you use on your website
play a vital role in its online success. It not only sets the tone of
the web page but also calls attention to specific sections. And colors
influence the psychology of people too. Different colors trigger off
different emotions in people. So a wise choice of colors can help you
make the users what you intend them to do. For example, setting your
call to action in red, or a color that contrasts the general scheme of
the page stands apart and focuses visitors.
Create a noticeable
pattern through your website. This way you create a sense of
expectation in the users and they become more comfortable. Patterns
can be of several types like ‘title-content-title-content’ format,
lists or tabular data. Blue underlined links are perhaps the most
powerful pattern type in recent times. a major advantage of adhering to
web standards is that visitors know what they are meant to do
immediately.
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