Website Design Tips & Tricks
Content Is King
Many have heard that Content is King when it comes to website development. But when you think about it, you could have tons of content and a lousy design, visitors will land on your potential gold mine of essential information - see the layout and colors of the site and BAM - hit the back button faster than you can say "Thank you for visiting our website".
Why Does a Website Need Good Content?
In order to build a succcessful business website you need good relevant content that represents your professional image. Use terms related to your keywords, brief sentences, brief paragraphs, and update content regularly.
Use headings (H1, H2) tags to introduce each section of content on your page. Your viewers' eye will be directed to key content and search engines will recognize the most important words on the page.
Consistent Content
Headers, footers, and navigation areas should remain consistent. Internet Success uses Dreamweaver to create templates for particular page styles. The template is coded so there are areas that are editable and areas that are only edited on the template. Once the template code is changed, all pages that have that particular template applied will automatically update with changes. The page you are now viewing uses a template for all Website Design Tips & Tricks pages.
Content Resources
Mike Smith wrote an article in Design Bump - If Content is Really King Then What is Design? He makes a very good point. "In my opinion, if content is king, then design has to be the shiny robe and crown that the king wears."
So as a website designer I would have to say design is important, but you will need to add and update content to keep your visitors "sticking" to your site. Here are a few tools to start your design with dummy text, and to add free content from other professional authors and artists.