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If you’re not interested in your website’s visitors, here are 7 things you can do to make this clear to them.

1. Provide Them with No Way to Contact You

Some of your visitors may want to contact you to ask a question, make a suggestion, or just to send a comment your way. If your site offers no way for them to contact you, you’re telling them that their feedback isn’t significant. Most websites will provide a simple contact for or an email address to allow visitors to write to them, and most businesses will provide a phone number on their website. Giving your contact information will help visitors to feel that you are trustworthy and legitimate.

2. Give a Poor Description of Your Products and Services

Your website is your opportunity to provide visitors with the features and benefits of your products and services, and to let them know why they should choose you. If visitors have to search around the site to try to find complete information, or if the description of your products and services is inadequate, your website will not be effective.

3. Don’t Follow Up on Their Comments and Inquiries

When visitors leave comments on your website/blog or when they email you, a response is needed in most cases. If hey are expecting or hoping for follow up, they will feel that you don’t value their feedback if you do not respond in some way.

4. Use Pop Ups and/or Pop Unders

Pop ups and pop unders are two of the most annoying things on the internet. Fortunately, many browsers now offer options for blocking them, however, they can still be annoying to visitors. Yes, pop ups and pop unders can be effective for some people in the right circumstances, but today most internet users are going to ignore them and they will do more harm than good. If you are considering using them, be sure that you are weighing the pros and cons and be aware of the message that they can send to visitors.

5. Use Contextual Ads

Contextual ads (linked within the text of a page) are generally considered to be annoying by most visitors, including me. They typically will convert pretty poorly, which means you won’t make much money with them, and they will turn off a lot of visitors.

6. Display Excessive of Flashy Advertisements

Many websites and blogs earn money through advertisements, and it has become generally accepted by most internet users. However, if the advertisements are excessive they will change from being accepted to being annoying. By plastering ads in every conceivable location you will be sending a message to your visitors that you place more importance if making a little bit more money than you do in satisfying your visitors. If you want visitors to feel that they are your number one priority, keep ads to a reasonable limit.

In addition to the amount of advertisements that you use, the type of ads you use is also important. Many banner ads can be distracting to your visitors. Ideally, banner ads should be still, or at least involve only minimal movement. Flashy banners that quickly change colors or show a lot of moving text or objects can be extremely distracting, and visitors will wind up leaving.

7. Don’t Provide Them with an Accessible Website

Nothing shows visitors that you don’t care about them like not even allowing them to use your site. Have you ever visited a site that told you to upgrade or install something in order to be able to use the site? I think we all have. These websites present a serious negative message to visitors that don’t fit into a specific box.

What’s Your Opinion?

What would you add to this list? As a designer, what do you try to prevent sending the wrong message to visitors? As a visitor, what shows you that a website owner doesn’t value you?

Building an effective website that accomplishes your goals involves more than simply creating an attractive design. Here are 5 things that any website owner can do to improve the effectiveness of the website.

1. Re-Evaluate Your Goals

Hopefully you have some established goals that you are aiming to accomplish with your website. However, it is natural for your goals to change from time-to-time as your site evolves and you continue to learn and develop new ideas. It’s important to be sure that you have clearly established goals and that your work still has you on track to achieve those goals. If your goals have changed you may need to develop a new strategy for getting to where you want to be.

Every website needs a specific purpose. By staying focused on what you are attempting to achieve, you can see to it that your site is more effective at what it is supposed to accomplish. A website that is focused will be a better resource for visitors and as a result it will be more successful.

When was the last time you re-evaluated your goals? If it has been a while, take some time to think through what you really want to accomplish and decide what you need to do in order to successfully achieve your goals.

2 - Re-Evaluate Your Target Audience

At the time when you started your website you probably created the site to target a specific audience. Sometimes as websites grow the audience starts to shift a little bit, and you may not really be serving the same people that you once had intended.

This can especially be the case for blogs, and I know I have experienced this in recent months on my own blog. Have you noticed that the response you are getting is not from the same types of users that you had expected? It’s a good idea to periodically evaluate who is visiting your website and how you can better meet their needs.

The success of any website hinges on the ability to appeal to its target audience, so it is crucial to properly analyze your target audience and determine how you can improve to enhance their experience on your site.

3 - Learn More About Your Audience

Not only is it important to know who your audience is, but it is also helpful to know as much about them as possible. A free tool like Google Analytics can provide with data about you visitors’ connection speeds, screen resolutions, and geographic locations. Of course you can also see how they are finding your site, how many pages they are viewing, how long they are staying on the site, etc.

This is all valuable information. Most of us check the stats on a regular basis, but many website owners don’t take the time to see what internet connections and screen resolutions visitors are using. These two factors can have a considerable impact on how you design your site, and the data that you find may change over time. More internet users now have access to high speed connections and large monitors. When was the last time you checked this information?

4 - Clean Out What Is Not Needed

Over time many websites become cluttered as more and more elements and pages are added. If your site has accumulated some things that are not helping you to improve the site for visitors, consider getting rid of them. De-cluttering your website can help to more effectively emphasize the parts of the design and content that are most important.

Blogs are notorious for becoming cluttered. Have you added a new widget to your sidebar each month? If so, have you removed the old ones that aren’t doing anything for you or your visitors?

5 - Add A Blog

If your website doesn’t already have a blog, take the necessary steps to add one. A blog will help you to drastically improve the communication with your visitors and customers. Whether you are a small, one-person operation or a large corporation, others in your position are currently using a blog to improve their visibility online.

Not only is a blog a great way to communicate and interact with visitors, but it can be one of the best methods for increasing traffic. As you continue to publish new posts your website will become home to more valuable content that will draw visitors, links, subscribers, and repeat traffic.

A blog gives you the opportunity to continually improve the effectiveness of the website as you consistently provide value to readers.

Redesigning a website can be a huge project. In most cases, a complete redesign means starting from the ground up, which can be every bit as time consuming as designing a brand new website. The other option is to make smaller changes to update and upgrade the design rather than starting from scratch. Which is best for you?

Factors to Consider:

How old is the current design?

The age of the current design may be a factor that will sway you one way or another. Most sites tend to make fairly major changes every year or two to keep things fresh and interesting for visitors. If your site has remained largely the same for several years you may want to just go ahead with a complete redesign. On the other hand, if the current design was done fairly recently, you may want to make only minor updates. Not only will frequent redesigns cost more money, but they can also have negative effects if the visitors are not receiving a consistent message.

What quality is the design?

An obvious factor that should be considered is the quality of the current design and the potential quality of a redesign. A redesigned site should always be a step up in quality in some way. You’re not going to want to change from a high quality design to one that is not as good. Can a redesign improve the site, or are you better off with what you have now?

In what condition is the code?

If you are planning to avoid a complete redesign by making some minor changes, even this can be a nightmare if the existing code is a mess. In this case, you’ll be better off starting over and creating clean code that will be easier to maintain. Table-based design is a good example of this. Even minor changes can be extremely difficult or even impossible without reconstructing the whole layout. CSS-based designs are of course much more flexible.

What effect will it have on branding?

Ideally, your website will play a large role in the branding of you business and in developing a particular image of your business in the eyes of your visitors. Does your current design do an effective job of contributing to the branding of your business? Will a complete redesign allow you to improve the branding, or will it have negative impacts by making changes. The ultimate purpose of a website is not to look good, but rather to benefit the business and provide visitors will a valuable experience on the site. Sometimes even a better design will not be able to do these things more effectively.

What other factors, such as the business’s image, have changed since the last design?

Businesses are always evolving. Has the business experienced major changes in products and services, a logo change, a slogan change, color scheme changes, etc. that are now longer accurately reflected by the current design? When business change direction there is usually a need for major changes to the website that may not be feasible without a complete redesign.

What do visitors say about the design?

Do you get positive feedback from your visitors about the current design? Do you get a lot of comments about areas that could be improved? Don’t forget to take your visitors’ options into consideration when deciding what type of redesign is best.

In what ways could you possibly improve the current design without completely redoing everything?

Is it even possible to improve current design without a complete overhaul? Some options to consider are using different and more effective graphics, higher quality photos, a new logo design, a change in color scheme, changes in fonts and typography, updated icons, etc. Will these things help to improve your website, or would it still be lacking in other ways?

What is the budget?

Of course, you will also need to consider how much money you are able to spend on the website. A complete redesign will usually be more expensive, but it may also be more effective. Determine how much money is available for the project so that you don’t waste your time on options that really aren’t even possible, and so that you don’t avoid going with an option that is actually affordable.

What content/pages will need to be added?

If there is a significant amount of content that needs to be added to the site to keep it current, a complete redesign may be necessary. This won’t always be the case, so make sure you evaluate you particular situation. Will the content that needs to be added fit within the design and navigational structure of the current site?

A goal of most designers is to make their projects stand out in some way. With millions of websites online and more being added everyday, creating something unique is increasingly difficult. Each designer has a different approach. Here is a look at 6 things you can do to make your site standout.

1. Large Background Images

One of the easiest ways to create a unique design that is sure to stand out is to use a large background image. The images can enhance the layout of the page and make it more complete and visually appealing. With CSS, the background image is simple to add, and it can drastically change the look of an otherwise routine website.

Web Designer Wall is a well-known site that makes good use of a large background image. The site/blog uses a fairly standard two-column theme layout, but the background image gives the site a look that is anything but standard.

For more designs that feature large background images, see Fadtastic’s Big, Bold Backgrounds.

2. Unique Layouts

Most websites use one of a handful of common layouts. By thinking outside of the box and creating something a bit more unique, you can certainly standout from the crowd. The layout of the site is a big factor in usability and effectiveness, so be sure that whatever you come up with still works for you and for the user.

MelissaHie.com effectively uses a unique layout to differentiate from other sites. The site is really just one large page, and the navigation leads you from one section of the page to another. When you click on a link you will slide to the next section until you eventually arrive back at the start.

To see more examples of creative layouts, see 20 Websites With Unique Layouts.

3. Creative Navigation

The navigation of a website plays a large role in the appearance and the usability of the website. From an appearance perspective, navigation gives the designer a great opportunity to be creative and introduce other elements and rollovers into the design. The look and attractiveness of navigation should never overtake the need for usability, but even with a usable and accessible navigation scheme there is plenty of room for creativity.

BenHulse.com features a creative navigation menu that uses color to interact with the large image on the homepage. The picture includes 7 rows of color on the floor. The 7 navigational links are lined up above the rows of color on the floor, and upon hovering over a link an underline appears that matches the corresponding row of color on the floor. It’s a creative way to make the nav bar different, and it even enhances the effect of color on the design.

4. Minimalism

By using a minimalistic style you can stand out by not trying too hard to standout. I an effective minimalistic design does not simply lack substance, it achieves balance and attractiveness without the need for excessive design elements.

Finch uses a minimalistic approach to creative an attractive website that is different from most competitors because it is free of clutter and it doesn’t rely on a lot of images and pictures to achieve the look.

For more sites that use minimalism effectively, see 25 Beautiful, Minimalistic Website Design.

5. Improved Logo or Branding

The look of a website can be enhanced or held back by the quality and effectives of the logo and/or branding that is used. A very effective logo can greatly improve the look of a site and help it to stand out from the competition. Many websites don’t have quality logos, so this provides the opportunity to stand out.

To see some examples of great logos, see 15 Wonderfully Simple Logo Designs.

6. Horizontal Layout

If you really want to stand out, one sure way to accomplish this is by using a horizontal layout. Obviously, most visitors are used to scrolling vertically, so horizontal layouts are kind of a love-it-or-hate-it style. The Horizontal Way is a showcase gallery of horizontal designs, and appropriately it uses a horizontal layout itself. There is no vertical scrolling necessary, just left to write, similar to a book.

For more examples of horizontal layouts you can view the gallery at The Horizontal Way.