Designing your own successful web page can seem difficult and nearly impossible if you do not do a little research first. The reason you need to know the basics of web page design is because the design of your website will actually influence whether or not people continue to visit your site and ultimately, whether they will buy from you or not. Obviously, a lot is riding on your website design so it is worthwhile to take this seriously and put some effort into doing it right the first time.

Design #1 Color

Any important aspect of your design process should include the use of color. Color affects people psychologically and different colors have positive and negative attributes or feelings they can evoke and men and women respond to different colors more positively than others. So, figure out your target audience, what you are selling, and what colors will best help you persuade your target audience to stay on your web page and to buy from you.

Design #2 Organization

A design flaw many beginners run into is organization. Your website must be well organized, and not just to you, but to the average person who has never visited your site before. It should be obvious where the information is and how visitors can get to it without wading through a lot of other links and information they are not interested in. Check out some larger, more successful sites to see how they deal with organization and just follow their lead.

Design #3 Too Much Text

Be careful about writing too much text and loading it to your website. Different types of writing is more appropriate for the Internet and in general bullet points, bold words, short paragraphs, and the like help break up a lot of text and make it easier to read. If you have a huge block of text on your web page, it is unlikely people will actually put forth the effort to sit down and read it. Make it easy for people to get the information.

Design #4 Too Many Graphics

Too many graphics is another design mistake by beginners. Graphics can be very useful, however if you use too many graphics you cut out the text you can use which is how search engines find your website and rank you in search results. Don't handicap yourself with the search engines by using too many graphics.

Design #5 Focus

Beginners often times do not have a clear focus of their website before they start designing it and it appears unorganized, unfocused, and the point of the web page is a bit vague. Come up with a plan and outline the major points and focus of your website design before you start.