The first step in any online business is to do keyword research to find out if there is any interest in your idea. Once you have identified the need, it is time to consider what your site should look like.
What Is the Purpose?
When considering the look of your site, you first need to determine what features are needed to improve your service or product. There are endless books, forums and people with strong opinions on the subject. Some prefer the site should be about linking, while others prefer to create a community with key message boards. The third set rightly indicates that the space should be slick or cool, and the fourth group will be very controversial. So who is right and who is wrong? The answer is ... all.
When you develop a site, the goal is actually very simple. Your site should be helpful. That, the big secret. The problem, of course, is "useful" means different things on different sites.
A site that provides services to businesses, such as consultation, should focus on content and linking. A site that promotes something related to entertainment should have something cool and have message boards to discuss rumors, etc. A site that sells products should focus on quick links and uploads, i.e., simple, clean design. The point is that each site is unique and there is no universal response. No matter what it helps, just make sure it is useful to your users.
Site Examples
Let's use Google as our example. What is Google doing? Provides users with the ability to search and find relevant information. So, should Google homepage look “cool”? Should it have more content on how to search? Should there be forums to create a sense of community? No, the home page can be very useful if it allows you to search without having to dig through a lot of clutter. Indeed, the Google homepage is.
What about a product site? Let's use Nomad Journals - http://www.nomadjournals.com - as our example. The site sells journals for outdoor activities such as hiking, touring, rock climbing, etc. The site is simple, clean and loads quickly. Unlike Google, the site immediately needs to pass on external views to visitors. This is achieved by three external photographs, a “celebrity” photo and journal photos. The text has a thick keyword, but it is compact and straight. The page conveys the product type and business “video”.
On the other side of the spectrum, consider an entertainment site like American Idol - http://www.idolonfox.com. The site is fast, offers polls and has public message boards where fans can post messages on a contest. This is an excellent site for this site, but it could be bad for Google or Nomad's journals.
Do not be afraid
From the examples above, you can see that there is no right universal design for the site. Before you pay to build a site, spend a few days thinking about what it should look like and WHY. Visit sites that you frequently use. Why do you keep coming back? What annoys you about other sites? How do these features translate to your site?
Once you have the answers, you will be on your way.
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