Business Website Design, Items 1 to 50

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This section includes articles on general business website design. In our Web Commerce Today E-Commerce Research Room you'll find articles specific to designing web stores to optimize sales. Also consider Ken Evoy's Make Your Site Sell for a carefully researched sales optimization system.

"Business Website Design" includes 867 items
This page contains items 1 to 50

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1. 4 Websites that Failed, by Nanette Marcus, iMedia Connection, 8-20-2008 Marcus provides critiques of "failed" sites by 4 experts in 4 industry categories: automotive (Volvo), health (LA Fitness), entertainment (Spike.com) and finance (LendGo).
2. 23 Beautiful Examples of Web Site Archives, by Jina Bolton, Sitepoint, 8-4-2008 One of the most overlooked elements of a web site is the site’s archive listings, says Bolton. Discuss what "magic" has been employed to make an archive’s look work so well. Screenshots.
3. Optimize Your Copy for Skimming and Scanning, by Daniel McGuigan, Future Now, 7-9-2008 Copy in dense blocks doesn't get read, since most webpages are skimmed and scanned before they are read. To make this easy, use (1) bullets, (2) bolding the critical text, (3) hyperlinks, (4) sub-headings, (5) white space, and (6) avoid jargon.
4. Small retail web sites can still have that personal, community touch, by Nick Usborne, Excess Voice, 7-8-2008 Local stores allow you to (1) know the whole store, (2) get to know the people behind the counter, and (3) feel that someone is there for you if something goes wrong. To help create this feeling: (1) write in a style that is genuinely personal, (2) show photos of yourself and staff, (3) add a blog to let visitors know what is happening. "Being there" is your competitive advantage.
5. Google and Yahoo Roll out Flash Search, by Tim Siglin, Streaming Media, 7-1-2008 Siglin reports Adobe's release of code to search engine giants Google and Yahoo! That allow them to index content in Flash SWF files, including metadata about Flash Video embedded in the SWF file.
6. Rich Punctuation: How to Do It and Why You Should Bother, by Daniel Aleksandersen, Sitepoint, 7-12-2008 Beautiful typography does require some additional configuration on the server side and a bit more attention by the document author. Aleksandersen explains how rich punctuation, used properly, will make your web site’s text come alive!
7. Why the 10 Commandments of Web Design Are Complete Baloney, by Matthew Magain, Sitepoint, 7-1-2007 Magain examines each of the design commandments that were contributed by experts and explains why he believes each of them are flawed.
8. HTML or XHTML: Does It Really Matter?, by James Edwards, Sitepoint, 7-9-2008 Edwards discusses the attributes (and removal of others) of HTML 5, the benefits of using XHTML and potential for XHTML 2.
9. 9 Ways to Put Site Screenshots in Your Web App, by Josh Catone, Sitepoint, 7-10-2008 Manually creating screenshots for your outbound links is time consuming and completely infeasible if you want to create screenshots on the fly, says Catone. Describes 9 services that automatically create screenshots for your site or app via an API.
10. Driving Traffic to Online Storefronts Is Half the Battle, by Michelle Mowad, CRM Daily, 7-1-2008 Getting visitors to come to a site, stay on that site, and transact business are the keys to success online. The first step is creating a user-friendly and search-engine-friendly Web site, and driving traffic to your storefront or site is the second step.
11. Conquering Kid Culture Online, by Steve Glauberman, iMedia Connection, 6-12-2008 Designing sites for kids isn't child's play, says Glauberman. It takes a careful balance of usability, creative intuition and regulatory compliance.
12. 6 Ways to Enhance User Experience, by Paul Irish, iMedia Connection, 6-9-2008 Consumers are getting accustomed to more powerful and responsive websites, says Irish. Explores interaction techniques that can improve your online marketing efforts, but Usability testing is the only way to verify the design is successful.
13. Reduce Bounce Rates: Fight for the Second Click, by Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 6-30-2008 Different traffic sources imply different reasons for why visitors might immediately leave your site. Design to keep deep-link followers engaged through additional pageviews.
14. Extreme Usability: How to Make an Already-Great Design Even Better, by Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 6-23-2008 The 1% of websites that don't suck can be made even better by strengthening exceptional user performance, eliminating miscues, and targeting company-wide use and unmet needs.
15. Writing Style for Print vs. Web, by Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 6-9-2008 Linear vs. non-linear. Author-driven vs. reader-driven. Storytelling vs. ruthless pursuit of actionable content. Anecdotal examples vs. comprehensive data. Sentences vs. fragments.
16. Redesigning Your Site, by Jason Burby, ClickZ Experts, 5-20-2008 The best way to ensure a successful site redesign and launch is to build testing into the process. Plan to split test the new site against the old site during the launch, as well as testing individual elements of the new design.
17. 15 Ways to Nail Your Landing Page, by Jason Lee Miller, WebProNews, 5-21-2008 There's an art to landing pages but the end goal is the same for all of them: Getting the prospective visitor to take a desired action. Miller compiles 15 tips from several experts.
18. Design Contests Made Me A Better Designer, by Matthew Magain, Site Point, 5-9-2008 The topic of design contests is a polarizing one. Those who are against them are really against them, maintaining that they exploit designers and devalue the design industry. Magain explains why he enters design contests.
19. OK–Cancel or Cancel–OK?, by Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 5-27-2008 Should the OK button come before or after the Cancel button? Following platform conventions is more important than suboptimizing an individual dialog box.
20. Avoiding Navigation Pitfalls, by Susan Esparza, SEO Newsletter (Bruce Clay LLC), 5-15-2008 Recommends: defining your structure carefully, use absolute links, check for broken links, avoid overlinking, keep it consistent, and stop drop-down and forms abuse.
21. The Best Contact Form Ever?, by Andy Beal, Marketing Pilgrim, 5-13-2008 Review of BestContactForm.com that includes captcha as well as useful analytics. It is an easy-to-install WordPress plugin. A free version is good for 20 submittals a month. $19.95 gives you 100 submittals, $49.95 allows 500 submittals and SmartZone that collects useful data.
22. Link List Color on Intranets, by Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 5-13-2008 Lists of links are an intermediate case between content-embedded links and menu items. Showing listed links in blue or in the site's main link color is the recommended design — and the one most intranets follow.
23. How Little Do Users Read?, by Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 5-6-2008 On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely.
24. 10 Tips to Finding Great Web Design and Development Services, by Molly E. Holzschlag, CIO, 4-23-2008 Holzschlag explains how to gain a better understanding of what to look for in a Web design and development company, how to ask for it and how to ensure that what you pay for is really what you need.
25. The 19-Hour Website Analysis, in 20 Minutes or Less, by Stoney deGeyter, Internet Search Engine Database, 4-30-2008 One of the hurdles many people have in performing a usability review of their own site is that they don't know where to start, says deGeyter. Discusses 19 steps for a quickie usability review.
26. Right-Justified Navigation Menus Impede Scannability, by Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 4-28-2008 Users scan lists by moving their eyes rapidly down the left edge. Menu items that are right-aligned make scanning more difficult. For menus: left-justify, start each item with one or two information carrying words, and avoid starting with the same few words. All caps reduces legibility by about 10%.
27. Successful Site Architecture and Design, part 2, by Danielle Sahiner, SEO Newsletter (Bruce Clay LLC), 4-15-2008 Consider keywords and key phrases actually represent the content on your pages. Look at navigation, a return link to the homepage. Offer securing ordering pages, etc.
28. Four Bad Designs, by Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 4-14-2008 Bad content, bad links, bad navigation, bad category pages... which is worst for business? In these examples, bad content takes the prize for costing the company the most money.
29. 13 Reasons Why CSS Is Superior to Tables in Website Design, by Matt Jurmann, SiteReference, 4-8-2008 CSS is superior to tables: (1) faster page loading due to less code, (2) lowered hosting costs due to lower bandwidth required, (3) more efficient and (4) less expensive redesigns, (5) visual consistency maintained throughout the website, (6) better for SEO, (7) accessibility, (8) competitive edge (job security), (9) quick site-wide updates, (10) easier to maintain, (11) increased usability, (12) more complex layouts and designs, and (13) no spacer GIFs.
30. Brand vs. Usability, by Jack Aaronson, ClickZ Experts, 3-21-2008 Designing your website for strong brand awareness is generally at odds with ease of use. Branding demands a unique look and feel, while usability requires adherence to common best practices. How to negotiate a sweet spot that meets both goals.
31. Building Reader Loyalty, One Bracket at a Time, by Robert Niles, Online Journalism Review, 3-20-2008 Niles reviews sites, inspired by online professional sports, offering features that engage readers and inspire them to return to a news website, day after day.
32. Xavier Mathieu On The Design Of 99designs.com, by Matthew Magain, SitePoint, 4-11-2008 Magain interviews crowdsourcing site designer, who shares some of the early mockups that shaped the site's design, describes the process he followed, and shares his thoughts on "design contests".
33. Tomorrow's CSS Today: 8 Techniques They Don't Want You To Know, by Tim Wright, Site Point, 4-9-2008 Each browser works off a rendering engine that translates your code into what you see when you visit a web page. Wright tells how to know which ones to adapt your development strategies to, listing "the big four."
34. Middle-Aged Users' Declining Web Performance, by Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 3-31-2008 Between the ages of 25 and 60, people's ability to use websites declines by 0.8% per year — mostly because they spend more time per page, but also because of navigation difficulties.
35. New Google site search feature raises concerns among retailers, Internet Retailer, 3-25-2008 Google's Search Within a Site enables searchers to conduct site searches from a Google results page. Some retailers, however, fear that competitors' ads on site search results pages could mean lost traffic and sales.
36. Bridging the Designer–User Gap, by Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 3-17-2008 Depending on how representative designers are of the target audience, a project might need more or less user testing. Still, usability concerns never go away completely. Remember: Designers are not the target users.
37. Company Name First in Microcontent? Sometimes!, by Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 3-8-2008 Typically, you should deemphasize your company's name in links, but a new guideline recommends frontloading the name for search engine links under certain conditions: when both (1) the search results page is full junk links AND (2) you have a widely recognized and well-respected company name.
38. Top-10 Application-Design Mistakes, by Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 2-19-2008 Application usability is enhanced when users know how to operate the UI and it guides them through the workflow. Violating common guidelines prevents both.
39. Let Visitors Design Your Site for You, by Ronald Patiro, Future Now, 2-13-2008 Recommends using A/B and multivariate tests to see how customers collectively prefer your site to be designed. Testing hears the customer's voice.
40. Online Usability Questions That Need Answers, by Laura Ruel and Nora Paul, Online Journalism Review, 3-13-2008 If your home page has a rotating menu of featured stories at the top, do users look at it, understand how it works and use it to navigate the site? Ruel and Paul discuss issues, present images and video examples.
41. 3 Reasons to Ditch Your Microsites, by Sean X Cummings, iMedia Connection, 3-3-2008 Microsites are the bane of the online space, says Cummings, produced by those who do not comprehend the implications of launching them and do not understand the underbelly that they leave behind.
42. 15 Ways to Get Your Website in Gear, by Lisa Wehr, iMedia Connection, 2-11-2008 f your website isn't working as you envisioned when you first drove it off the lot, it may be time to examine its usability. Offers 15 tune-up areas.
43. User Skills Improving, But Only Slightly, by Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 2-4-2008 Users now do basic operations with confidence and perform with skill on sites they use often. But when users try new sites, well-known usability problems still cause failures.
44. Don't Leave Interested Parties Stranded on Bad Landing Pages, by Karen J. Bannan, B to B, 1-14-2008 Tips to help draw readers in and make the most of your landing pages: create a campaign-specific landing page, stick to a theme, include an opt-out request, test and test again.
45. A Simple Design Fix for Your Website, by Brandt Dainow, iMedia Connection, 1-25-2008 Poorly performing forms and poor management of the processes behind these forms are costing many people a great deal of business, says Dainow. Discusses abandonment and improving the form management process.
46. Finding the Right Clothes for Your Words, by Reid Goldsborough, Information Today, 2-1-2008 Choosing which font makes the most sense for any given work is much like choosing which clothes to wear to work, a formal party, an informal gathering of friends, or a workout at the gym. You should aim for image and utility.
47. 14 Usability Tips for Login and My Account Pages, by Stoney deGeyter, Internet Search Engine Database, 2-6-2008 To avoid potential visitor confusion and the possibility for errors, it is important that any login process requires little or no thought on the part of the site visitor.
48. Usability ROI Declining, But Still Strong, by Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 1-22-2008 The average business metrics improvement after a usability redesign is now 83%. This is substantially less than 6 years ago, but ROI remains high because usability is still cheap relative to gains.
49. 10 Best Intranets of 2008, by Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 1-7-2008 Consistent design and integrated IA are becoming standard on good intranets. This year's winners focused on productivity tools, employee self-service, access to knowledgeable people (as opposed to "knowledge management"), and better-presented company news.
50. Creating a Web of Worlds, by Erica Naone, Technology Review, 1-11-2008 Naone reports expert's view that virtual worlds are just a new medium, that like other media such as pictures, audio, and video, virtual worlds are eventually going to start being ubiquitous on all sorts of Web pages.