What makes you scream when you stumble upon a website? For me, it is cheesy music with no “off” button.

Signs of Webmaster Newbies

All of us have been “newbies” at one point in our webmastering lives.We spent hours at dhtml, javscript and graphics sites looking for copy-and-paste stuff that we thought would make our sites look impressive.

First timer’s websites are easily spotted with their smorgasboard of javascripts, animated gifs, sounds and other components. Unfortunately, this only makes a site look amateur.

Creating an Amateur Image

You might have a brick and mortar business that’s been around for the last decade, with tons of satisfied customers.On the net, however, your visitors do not know who you are.A professional online image will inspire trust.  When designing your website, here are some things to avoid so that your business does not look amateur or like a fly-by-night operation:

• Dark, heavy backgrounds with hard-to-read fonts – For a business website, it’s best to use a plain white background and black text so that your visitors can read it easily. Some first timers are tempted to have “fancy” backgrounds with different colored text. Not only is this hard to read, but if you have a product line, it is difficult to make pictures of your product line blend in with the background.
• Pages that are larger than the browser screen – There’s nothing more irritating that trying to read a web page that scrolls across the screen. Most web usters have their desktop resolutions set at 1024 x 768. Try to stay within those confines.
• Sound effects – Everyone has different tastes when it comes to music, but even if you discovered music that appeals to every single person alive, don’t make it automatically load on your site. With a music site, there are scripts that allow the user to click play and listen at his or her free will. This goes with audio advertisements or other background sound effects — provide a way to pause the sound or shut it off.
• “Cool” effects – About 8 or 9 years ago, it was real “cool” to have a flash presentation on the index page. Everyone was doing this. This does not establish your online reputation. Flash introductions involve a lot of effort to create and when it is all said and done, many look silly. These introductions can take a long time to load and generally, people will not view them. Another thing that beginners think is “cool” are page fading effects, animated images and scrolling text. When I first started designing pages, I added these things, thinking it made me look like I was adept with web design. However, the cold reality is that these effects are a waste of time and a turnoff. I’ve seen some sites, designed by supposed design specialists, where the links scroll by really fast and you have to “aim and shoot” just to be able to click a link. Do not bother with these effects. People visiting your site are looking for products or information, and are not there to look at animations that will give them a headache.
• No clear navigation scheme – Many people enter a website by the interior pages, not at the home page. You should give your visitors a way to easily click through your site. Menus that are on the left side of the page or on the top of the page are the most popular. Regardless of where you decide to place your menu, make sure that it is in the same place throughout your site. A missing or confusing navigation menu is a sign of amateur web design.
• No search feature – Particularly if you have a large product line that you are selling or if you have a content rich site, always include a search box to help your visitors. If you don’t know how to do this, try free services like FreeFind or Google search.  This makes your site “user friendly” and shows that you care about your visitor’s experience on your site.
• “Secret” prices - If you’re selling products, include the price. Don’t force your visitor to click through the shopping cart just to find out what the cost will be — many of them will not do it, anyway.
• Policies – An amateur site will not include privacy policies, terms of use and, when selling products or services, returns and shipping policies. It’s a good idea to provide contact information, particularly if you are selling products or services.
• Under construction pages – “Under construction” or “coming soon” pages are a surefire way to announce that you’re an amateur. If you are not done with a page yet, do not link to it. Add a link to your menu or sitemap at such time as the page is completed.
• No online shopping cart – If you are selling a product, provide a way for people to purchase your product online. If a web surfer is beyond the ‘research mode’ and ready to buy something online, he or she wants to be able to buy it immediately. Chances are, they do not want to send you a fax with their credit card information or mail in a check or money order. If you don’t have a merchant account, consider Paypal or, in the case of digital products, consider using a service such as Clickbank.  There are other quality shopping carts available for people who already have a merchant account, such as Mals-e.com, which also givesyou the ability to offer an affiliate program.

What’s Your Top Gripe?

Newbie or pro, you can voice your opinion about what makes a stinking website at the NotGuru’s survey about poor website design.  If you’re looking for software, giveaways and other things to help your fledgling online business, the NotGuru blog provides plenty of resources.If you have a couple of seconds to spare, take the site design survey and feel free to comment – the results are interesting.

When you are getting ready to have your website designed and you call in your first candidate; you would expect a middle aged, well dressed man, right? Most of the time that is not the case. A younger kid is often staring back at you, his hair a mess with a pair of jeans and a dress shirt.

Most likely you are not. Despite how nice the kid is, you know that this is an important aspect of the company. However, sometimes you will hit the jackpot with a younger designer as they need to develop a portfolio and are willing to do the work on your website for free. But if you are not this lucky, time to look up the professionals.

Web page design is time consuming. I need my experience with a designer to be time saving. You do too. When you prepare for your meeting, be prepared. Before you sign a contract, spend some time looking for designers with more education and more experience. Call references.

To find the best candidate it is a beneficial idea to interview four (at the minimum) just so you get a broader spectrum. However do not just instantly get your mind turned to negative when the man comes in with blue jeans and a polo; take them for their seriousness and their personality. Are they somebody you could work with to create a successful website? If so, you may have found your designer.

Before you go into hiring any designer, get to know what they will be working with. On the internet you can quickly learn most of the different languages that relate to web designing. While not necessary, this will ultimately save you time and money as you can pinpoint what you want done to the site.

Make your own portfolio. Bring anything you can to show colors, fonts, logos, and any other aesthetic component you can think of for your page. Have in mind a list of features – for example, do you need a search engine? Do you need online shopping? Do you need to take credit cards online?

Give your idea portfolio to the web page design master, but be sure it is not your only copy since you will need to give one to each successful interviewer and have a copy for yourself. Ask them to design a home page for you and submit it with a bid. This gives you a feel for what the designer can do, how fast, and for how much. When you make a selection, get it in writing!

The followup care is just as important as the site itself. Be sure before you sign anything that your designer will offer maintenance, either self provided or provided by the firm that the designer works for. This maintenance will not be free, but it is necessary. By preparing all of these things ahead of time, you will maximize your results and minimize your down time.

Arts and talents change as technology advances; especially in a field such as web design. Ever since the web 2.0 has really kicked in, finding a web designer who knows all of the latest web skills and knowledge of javascript is key to your success. Locating the perfect mixture of a creative and artistic designer with all of the scripting knowledge in most areas is by far the best choice.

Websites are difficult to manage for business owners as they are in many different languages. If you plan to make a website, think of the face of your company and then begin planning. Much like building your stores; web designing requires thorough planning.

First, you should consider whether or not you will need a database. If you need to do more with your site than a contact form and dynamic text, images, and video, you will probably need a programmer too. If you are making a website for the face of your business, you may just need a web designer to begin. Research similar websites that you like and take lots of notes on your likes and dislikes. Don’t forget links to the pages. Web designers frequently charge by the hour, so proper planning before you start will help your web designer work more quickly and will save you money.

Once you decide what you need on your website it is time to locate your perfect web designer. Searching through the internet is the best option as it already is advertising their work along with other portfolios and reputations. Make sure you have your budget range handy as they often ask how much you will need to spend and this will determine the look of your project.

The essential elements of a good web designer are personality, reputation, creativity, and past work. Reputation is great to rely on as not all web designers have a degree. For example, students in the field of web designing are often freelancing and are more up to date on the new programs compared to those who have been in the field for years. This allows them to customize the websites more to your liking.

Jargon is something you will not have to worry about as a quality web designer will need to have skills in the following; image editing, XHTML, javascript, and CSS3. However javascript is only necessary for moving animations. Any sort of movie clips or interactive elements often require someone with flash or actionscript skills.

Be wary of web designers who have an extensive portfolio of sites that all look the same, such as websites made fully in flash. These web designers are often using templates. You can purchase templates yourself, usually for a lot less than hiring a designer if you have the software or knowledge to edit these templates. However, templates are often avoided because they are frequently unoriginal.

If you plan on updating your site a lot and are unfamiliar with HTML, it is best to get a content management system. CMS’s are available in simple blog sites and professional areas like Drupal. When choosing a brander CMS – make sure that your designer is a good skinner and can put newer images onto your software.

Once you choose your designer you will need to make some mock ups. These are merely images that show the website in its finality. Examine these very closely as they are what your final product will look like. This is why planning is the most important part as they are what gets the project underway. With the mock ups agreed on the web designer merely puts them into XHTML and CSS and turns the pictures into your own site. Consider all the benefits of a quality web site and finding a web designer – the right web designer.