- What is web content?
- What should I put in my website?
- What should I use to actually create my website?
- What do I need to do to my photos for my website?
Web content is all the text (information), tables of facts, descriptions,
prices, art, photos, and other material in your website. It may be distinguished
from your navigation, which includes the buttons, links and other methods
used to get to all the pages in your site. When you gather all this stuff
together to be used in your website, some people call all these your "web
assets". There are established web content developers if you can't do-it-yourself.
- What should I know about putting my text content in my web site?
There are 2 aspects of website content development: what
your website says, and how it says it. What your web site says is covered
in our keyword pages and tips pages. This helps how you say and show it.
- Don't ramble on! You are not storytelling: be concise. After you have
everything you want on your web page, go back and reduce the page by one-third
by removing extraneous words and statements. Then sharpen vague thoughts -
be specific.
- Keep left! Don't center body text paragraphs.
- Don't use sentences in all caps
- No underlining unless you intend it to be a link
- Stick to Arial and Times New Roman Fonts for body text - at least 80% of
your viewers will see your site as you intended.
- Only use text made into art for words or phrases that are not keywords if
you want to use them at all!
- Don't make your body text all bold
- Keep you titles medium: Large titles just take up valuable screen space
and appear unprofessional. Make them a special color instead if you want them
to stand out.
- Spell check!
- Have a friend or someone not in your business read your draft of the website
content. Tell them to point out anything they do not understand or that seems
awkward to read. Ask them how they would buy from you to see if it is clearly
stated. Consider re-writing.
The information for exactly what words you need in your website, is found
in our Dibbern Key Tips #1
and #2 along with learning
what keywords are and how
to use keywords.
- What should I know about putting pictures in my web site?
If you are using your own photos, make them 96dpi! Some digital cameras
take high resolution photos (300 or higher) which can cause overload to your
web page unless you reduce them. Monitors, and therefore the web, cannot display
anything better over 96 dpi so it is a waste.
You can use your own photos, get a photographer to take photos for you, or
buy photos on the web - which can be inexpensive and greatly improve your
site if you need people, places or things pictures to perk and professionalize
your site. Don't take photos from other web sites unless they clearly tell
you they are giving you free rights of use.
- What should I know about considering colors and art for my website?
- Don't use vivid bright, dark colored backgrounds or screaming patterns
behind your body text:
- It is better to have dark text on a white or very light tinted background
color or very light, subtle background texture.
- If you insist on a busy background, like your logo repeated (not recommended)
or a symbol repeated (not recommended) then you absolutely must use a solid
light box (table or div) over the background behind your text. We'd like to
talk you out of this entirely!
- Keep your logo small - between 1/8 and 1/4 the width of the screen
- Start with 5 colors or significant variations of a color! Background, Titles,
body text, links/navigation and one for emphasis.
- There are certain web safe colors - which means they will more or less look
the same on everyone's computer, but since everyone's computer displays brightness
and colors differently, (what looks peachy on my computer may look pink or
brownish on yours) just be sure there is a lot of contrast between your text
and the color it is on. Do not use vivid colors on vivid colors - like bright
red or orange on bright blue. Make one vivid and one pale if you like bright
colors.
- Don't use red and green combinations of the same intensity for text/background
even for a holiday banner. Be mindful color blind people do surf the web.
Colors are only part of total website
design.
What you need to actually create your website:
Looking at web design programs
At this point, you are probably asking yourself if there is a program that
will do all this for me? To do-it-yourself, you will need a web design program,
which we distinguish from web design tools. Our page About
Website Design addresses dos and don'ts along with web tools, while our
page on How to Make your Website
Ready for the World discusses web design programs. Web design programs
will give you the ability to make the actual pages, but our guidelines, tips
and definitions are necessary for you to know what to do once you get a web
design program. You likely will be able to create a format or template in
the program so all your pages look and work similarly, which provides consistency.
Use our tips and information in your web design program to make your website
look professional when it's done.
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