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The WebSmartIdeas aims to promote and disseminate good creative ideas to improve
society.
Your storyboard can begin from the top of your Web page to the bottom. Let's start by doing the index page (home page). This will be your domain www.yourdomain.com or what ever extension you will use .net, .org, or .com. The best advice I could give is to register a domain name. It is worth the annual fee and it's yours.
Start by getting a piece of paper and drafting your idea on it. You may already have a web Site but use this guide to help you better understand the layout and intricacies of your web Site.
Your index page layout is critical and should be taken seriously. Most Web sites use a white background. The reason for this is that it is much easier to read the copy on your web site. When entering your copy into your page make sure that you leave white space.
White space is the break between paragraphs that allows for easy reading. Normally two hard carriage returns will be sufficient after each paragraph. You do this by hitting your enter key twice. The length of your paragraphs should be 5-6 lines. Crowding your copy makes it too hard for your visitor to read.
Next, choose the color of your company logo. Decide on the company logo and use the colors within your site. Develop a tag line for your business logo. Something short and catchy will help you brand your business.
Try to use no more than three different colors on your Web page. We use blue, black, and white. Consistency throughout your web site is a must. Too many colors, flashy gizmos, and graphics will tire the visitor's eyes. In addition, it also slows down your load time.
You may want to put your links to the other pages within your site at the top or the left of the index page. This is called your Web Site navigation.
Your navigation should be similar on every page so that visitors can maneuver around easily. You may have a page or two that requires a different navigation and that will be the decision that you'll have to make. In addition, it is common to have the same links at the bottom of your page so that visitors can click there instead of going back to the top of your page.
This makes for easy site navigation. At any given time you could use the browsers back button but not all people will use this feature.
A quick note, make a separate HTML folder for your navigation bar so that when you make changes to the navigation bar on your index page it will be the same for all the other pages. This saves time by allowing you to make a change once instead of changing all of your pages.
Make sure that a link to your homepage is included on all pages of your site. This will allow visitors to click back and forth without having to search all over your site to find something. Now you may have a few pages as you build your business that you'll want different and at that time you can change the navigation on those pages to your liking.
Keep the banners and graphics to a minimum. The more banners and graphics that you have the slower your Web Site load time will be. When someone comes to your site and it is loaded with graphics it will take too long for the page to open. This will cause the visitor to leave and maybe never return.
Another suggestion would be to offer a free newsletter for your visitors to subscribe to. This newsletter subscribe form should be in a place for the visitor to see. A good way to get visitors to subscribe is to offer something free. A how to report or a free e-book will work in this case.
The subscribe form should be on every page of your web site. You'll receive many more subscriptions to your newsletter/ezine than you would by having it on just your index page.
Make sure to have a contact email visible for visitors and your company contact info on every page. This is a good way to build trust and leads for your business. A privacy policy should be included as well this informs the visitor that any information being shared is not for third party viewing.
Now that you have figured out what you're going to do with your index page use this same idea for all your other
pages.
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