Needless to say, links are one of the most vital parts of a web page. Your web design company will definitely require you to come up with links in the sites you make to please your clients better. When people think of site contents, what generally comes to mind is the text that is written on a page. However, know that the page content also includes images and everything else relevant that is included in the page's web design.
In Web Design Links Reinforce Scannability
It is a proven fact that online visitors who view a page are generally drawn to images. But aside from that, it is also proven that their attention is also immediately caught by links because they are underlined and set in a different colour from the rest of the text. Your web design company will strictly advice you to make your links stand out in order for them to catch the eye of your readers. Of course, your text content or web copy must able to reinforce scannability of your page. Fortunately, the addition of links that stand out well make the content even more scannable. Bear in mind during web design though that these links will only be effective if they are related to the site content and the linked text. Your web design company should know better.
Web design Tip #1: Links on Your Home Page
Unless you are web designing a site that is only made of 1 page, your home page should have links to all the other parts of your website. Bear in mind too that most online readers will scan through your home page much more than they are likely to read it, so you need to make sure that your links speak for themselves and are self-explanatory. However, avoid a home page that is made up only of links, and nothing. Doing this will defeat the purpose of scannability; the links will no longer stand out. Also, never make your link title fancy or make your readers guess where the link will lead to. Your web design company will also be pleased if you put in links to the other general pages of your site.
Web design Tip #2: General to Specific is the Way to Go
When online users search for information, they usually start from the general and eventually get more specific as they try to narrow down their search. Using the same logic, try to think of those links in your site as a funnel. You have to start with a general category at your top page and narrow it down further as your readers search for what they want.
Web design Tip #3: How to Write Links and Setting Them
Here are some tips to come up with better and more clickable links:
Check your log files and look for a trend of what people are mostly searching your site for. Use the most commonly used words as your links to other parts of your site.
You should also verify that your links actually go to where you have implied for them to go. Do not take the risk of ruining your client's image (and that of your web design company) by links that lie. When readers find that the information they are searching for is not there, they will leave and will not likely return.
Write your links as clearly as possible. If you are linking to an e-book, your text should read something like "this e-Book..." Moreover, the link should actually go to a page with an e-Book in it, and not an online store or a biography of an author.
When web designing, never make the mistake of playing games with your links. Do not put those links just for the sake of putting them. Your web design company will surely require you to put links that are as straightforward as possible. Remember that your web design company wants to be of service to readers and to the clients to whom you are making the page for. Therefore, make sure that you only put in useful links.
Create links that are incorporated into significant content. Your links should be more than just a list of links that will not make sense on the part of online users. Make sure that the links contain explanations on what it contains. If you are presenting a link that leads to more links, you need to make sure that you add in an explanation of what the readers should expect so that they will not be surprised to see a list of links. Your web design company will indeed appreciate such efforts.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How can I buy a domain?
By: gmester | 21-11-2007
How can I buy a domain?Suppose it is not owned by anyone (I checked it), who do I need to pay? is is for life? how do I know I'm paying to the righrt authority? what doas this payment include?
Content management web sites
By: oldcodger | 21-11-2007
I've asked for advice on Joomla! but several have said to me that there are much simpler content management systems that are easy to learn and implement. So I'm stuck! I'm no tecchie - just a web-site guy who is being told that HTML is now being superceded and that content management is the way to go.So which way please?! Yours, in some desperation
We
By: anatt | 21-11-2007
How to create a web site
CSS looks great in IE bad in Mozilla
By: webmanoffesto | 21-11-2007
Hello,I'm building a webpage http://preview.tinyurl.com/yvgbqgI need to list the (many) speakers at a conference and I will later add the titles of the talks as a sub level. This was frustrating to do because I need the list single spaced, without the annoying circle bulletsWith the CSS code===ul.sample { list-style-type: none; <!-- none = no circle, inherit = circle--> list-style-image: inherit; list-style-position: outside; <!-- inside, outside --> circle: outside; text-indent: 0em; white-space: normal; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 1;}ul.listlist { list-style-type: none; <!-- none = no circle, inherit = circle--> list-style-image: inherit; list-style-position: outside; <!-- inside, outside --> circle: outside; text-indent: 0em; white-space: normal; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;}===it looks great in IE but terrible in Firefox. How can I fix this problem? Is there an alternative within CSS? I prefer not to switch to nested tables, those are messy. But I am open to suggestions.
Best to write framework first or content, or as you go and then edit?
By: asaraink | 21-11-2007
when building a new website, do you write out your content first and then copy paste it into your Html or css, (haven't decided how to integrate), or do you lay out your framework first and then wrtie your content? There is probably an editer available that will highlight my code when I get it right, but I haven't done this in sooo long; can I get an editer for free? which one is the easiest to use?thanks
HTML frames knowledge on each other
By: DrJeckyl | 20-11-2007
Suppose I have a "frameset" HTML document which is split to two frames. Can one frame identify when the other is being reloaded with a new URL (e.g., due to clicking a link) using JavaScript or some other similar tool?Thanks
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