The present world is the world of web. People all over the world are connected through web. Today we find the maximum population on internet through one or the other medium. Everyone is online these days.

Internet has become the source of first hand information for the people. People have become so dependent on the internet that internet has become one of the most important factor in their decision making. More or less they have become habituated or addicted of internet. It can be positive but sometimes can be negative also.

We have lot of websites dealing with various things available on the web. Many websites of the same type for example we have many shopping websites, like, Flipkart, Amazon, Shop Clues, etc. many government websites for the betterment of the citizen and to bridge the gap between government and its citizen, many educational websites etc. The main purpose of these websites is to help and serve the society in a better way.

In this online competition we see a lot of website on web. Popularity of a particular website depends on its page rank. Popularity of a website is directly proportional to its page rank given to it by various search engines, such as Google. Therefore owners make best use of their SEOs (Search Engine Optimization), to have a higher page rank.

In such cases the very first question which comes to one’s mind is how the website should look like? What should be its basic features? What is the standard framework of a website? And many more like these. There is no such basic protocol which is mandatory to follow while making a website except one and that is that it should be user friendly. In short a website should be made in such a manner that the user finds it easy to use.

People are habituated of seeing some particular thing which has become a practice or cult, for example some of common features in all most all websites are: companies logo on top left side of the page; home page on the top left corner; contacts on the top right corner; main navigation across the top; home page slide show; search feature in the header; sign up box in the footer; social media icons in the footer; etc. these are the some common features or the basic rules which is almost similar to all websites.

However it is not mandatory that it has to be this way only. There can be exceptions. It’s just that these practices have been inculcated automatically on a global level.

Following are some practices or rules which you can follow to frame your website in a better way:

Roots of a website:

It is always necessary to know, what is the main reason behind any action? Why it is being done? What is its goal? What identity it holds? Who are going to benefit by this? Many more question come to users mind when they start surfing on the internet. Your website should be answerable to the users for these questions without taking much time. If you fail to do so then it is very obvious that the user is not going to continue with your website.

Answers to these questions serve as the basic information or the background information of your website. Therefore the users should get these answers within few seconds so that they can realize they have got into the right place else it won’t take a second for them in leaving the website.

Here are some basic points which you should keep in mind while designing your website:

URL: Uniform Resource Locator.

As the name suggests it helps in finding a resource on web. You can follow the 3S principle to select an URL for your website. These 3S are: Short; Simple; and Sweet.

Be selective in choosing a URL for your website. It should be ‘Short’ but at the same time it should be descriptive enough to describe the whole summary of the website. It should finely define the content of the website. As it serves as the heading or the title of the website or the content it should be brief but at the same time should be descriptive also.

The user shouldn’t find it too vague and unclear. It should be crystal clear so that the user understands it without any difficulty. Therefore it should be ‘Simple’. Try avoiding some difficult vocabulary to make the user confused. It should be simple enough to be understood by every common use

Last but not the least it should be ‘Sweet’ enough to attract more people. Sometimes the title itself is so interesting that the people find it difficult to stop themselves from reading the article or going through a website. It should seek their attention and concentration.

Target Audience

You should always keep in mind that who are going to be your customers, your audience. It is highly important to identify who are going to be your clients whom are you going to serve. Identifying your audience helps in designing your website more effectively.

It should be clear that whom you are going to serve only then you can deliver your services better. For example, some people are interested in cricket, some in shopping, some in grooming, some in pets, some in poetry, some in songs, some in movies, some in politics, and yet some in articles, essays, stories, etc. in such case you need to find out to which section of the society are you going to serve. Suppose you are going to make an educational website then you are students the youngsters are going to be your audience. It’s them who are going to visit your website so it should be beneficial for them and it should be updated according to their requirements and no the others.

Purpose

The purpose of making a website should be clear cut in your mind while designing a website. It should not be too vague to make it complex for the users. It should be clearly realized by the users that whether it is of their interest or not. For example you should be clear of the theme of your website that whether you making it for entertainment purpose, for social welfare purpose, for educational purpose, or for social service purpose.

The clarity of your purpose will help you design it better and attract you audience more towards your website and would also help you deliver your service in much more effective way.

Page Layout

There always remains confusion on how your websites page layout should be, what are the things you should use in your website, how it should appear to the public, what should be the content, how should be the display, what should be the background, how to make it attractive, etc. these questions are simpler but yet difficult to manage if not handled with care. Following are some of the tips which can help you decide your page layout:

Appealing to the audience

Page layout is something which plays a very important role in any website. It gives the first impression to the people so it should be appealing to the audiences. People should feel more live with the website. It shouldn’t be like something which is very outdated. It should be compatible with the present cult. Audience should feel attracted towards the website with its first look itself. It should attract their attention I such a manner that even if they are not much interested, they would take a few minutes to take a glimpse of it.

Logo

It should consist, the logo of the company. Logo of any company is the pictorial representation of what you website is all about. A logo explains the summary of the content of the website and summary of the company’s name, motto, work, etc. your logo symbolizes the overview of your company therefore you should be very careful and specific in designing your logo as it gives a bird eye view of your company. It should have navigation area also.

Title

A proper title should be given to the website which describes your company, organization or institution name. Title should effectively describe the crux of the website that what it is all about. A first time visitor to the website should be satisfied from the title itself that he is found the right thing and that he can go through the website. Title serves as the essence of the website therefore it should be selected in such a manner that with just reading the title itself the user could understand the whole concept of the website and for what purpose it’s going to serve.

Contact

The next very important thing that you should mention in your website is your contact details. It can include you company’s address, e-mail address, contact number etc. this makes your website more user friendly and enables the users to reach you with a very simple step. It also makes your website more, customer centric which encourages people to use and promote your website instead of choosing other websites available on web as your competitors. It also let people realize that your interest is more in serving your user in the best possible way you can.

Last update

You should keep your website up to date. You can actually keep a separate part in your website dedicated to the updates which you keep doing in your website. This let the users aware of the progress or growth which your company is going through time to time. It gives them an opportunity to analyze your website through the landmarks of your websites which you have been updating from the day its been made. It also gives an effective view to your websites as a summary of your success. You can actually show you your growth through your last updates and by keeping it updated from time to time to make it more relevant with changing time.

Browser capability

Design your website in such a manner that adjusts the page layout without the scrolling. Also make sure that it shouldn’t be a difficulty in opening it mobile view. The layout should adjust itself accordingly with every search engine. It should appear the same without any changes when opened through different browsers, be it, explorer, UC browser, Firefox, Safari or anything for that matter. Irrespective of the browser it should easily be accessible to the users through all browsers irrespective of the device they are using, be it, Mac, PC, Tab or Mobile.

Color and Graphics

There should be kept in mind that the context are clearly visible and are readable with the background color not overshadowing the context written it. The combination of the background color and the content color should be in a way which user should find easily recognizable and readable. Color should me minimum use to three to four types plus some neutral colors.

Graphics are to be used only when necessary just to add as an alternative. However it should be kept in mind that it should slower the functioning of the website as in increasing the download time in a browser. Use of graphics should serve its purposes in all means and ways.

Image resolution

Pictures to be used should be of high resolution so that the user gets a clear view of the images you have used in your website. It gives an idea to the user as in what the website is all about, or what is going in the company, or what company is all about. Visual things attract more attention of the users. It gives an overview of the company’s area of work, its achievements, its functions, etc.

Content

It should cover all the brief information. A detail of what your company is all about, what is the key role it plays, what are the services you provide, who can be benefited through your website, what’s your working strategy, how is your website helpful, why one should prefer your website over the other, what are the procedure you follow, etc. rest all the information which are required and necessarily should be there on the website.