10 Tips To Help You Web Design Like A Pro - Think Like An Amazon 'Artist'

by Giovanni Resta
(Italy)

As you begin the journey of creating a website for your business, then learn to web design and give your user an "Amazon-like" experience.

Probably there is not such a thing as a “perfect website”, but surely some sites stand up in comparison.

One of my favourite site's is Amazon. I admire how much thought they have put in their site to make it easier for me and the million of other users who depend on their site.

If you are looking to build your own business website, and get an increase in website traffic and website sales, then learn from them.

Tip 1. Get Straight To The Point

I usually like sites that go directly to the heart of matter.

That is, I do not like to have to skip long flash presentation, or to arrive on an splash screen on which there is only an “ENTER” button to click.

A flash intro can be nice the first time, then it became a bore.

Tip 2. Evolve Your Business Website To Stay Aligned With Technology

I like sites that can adapt as much as possible to the hardware/software of the user.

The catch “Best viewed with IE 7 at 1280x1024” is really a turn-off.

I use cell phones, tablets, windows, linux, Mac and a variety of browsers and I want to be free to use them all to obtain more or less the same experience from a site.

Tip 3. Don't Make Me Click A Lot

I like site owners who build a business website that can bring me to what I want in as few as click as possible.

In particular, if the site sells a lot of items, this means that it must use a very good search algorithm.

The one used by Amazon is very good. I can enter words of the title, author and sometimes even words from inside the book.


I’ve seen sites in which the user has to enter words in exact order or with logical connectives like AND, OR. The search engine must try to do its best to return “something”, even if it is not an exact match.

Tip 4. Give Me A Way To Easily Search

Give me a quick way to search your site.

A search tab must be present in the first page, so that I can use quickly the site if I’m a returning user.

Tip 5. Make Your Site Visually Appealing

The visual appearance is important and unfortunately must serve two contrasting goals.

One is to convey as much information as possible, the other to be elegant, smooth, functional.

Tip 6. Strive For Balance

A good balance is hard to find.

• Some of things to avoid:
  
• overcrowded pages,
  
• flashing text,
  
• too small fonts,
  
• several different fonts on the same page.

I’ve seen pages with dark blue text over black background! Horrible!

Ornaments, if any, must be simple.

Tip 7. Make Your Website Navigation Easy To Use

The more your grow your business website, the more choices you will provide your audience. Make sure that your navigation menu stays simple and easy to navigate throughout the growth process.

Menus must be carefully studies to bring fast people where the went more often.

Say, I want to discover the shipping rates with in two clicks not with 10.

Tip 8. Tell Me Your Story (And Fast)

Clearly, Amazon has a great advantage over most other sites: almost every surfer knows what Amazon is.

Indeed Amazon has no need to write “We sell books (and other stuff)” on its first page, that’s implicit.

Other sites have to tell fast the user that arrived there with a google search that they are indeed what the user was searching.

If possible, I think that is better done with images than with words.

I mean, a site with a splash screen detailing “its mission” or “philosophy” with a lot of vacuous words is really a turn-off.

If you sell, say, design chairs, it is better that your page has a central spot with some good images of very nice design chairs.

Tip 9. Be MORE Than Just Visual - Have Substance

Independently on how good is your show-off (the “visual impact”) one must have substance to support you site.

If you sell certain items, you must have a lot of them in catalog.

This cannot be incremental, i.e., you must publish a site when you are ready to go. If your site lists, say, 5 types of armchairs and a big banner with “we have just started, come back soon for more stuff”, well, that is a definitive turn-off.

Tip 10. If You Are Selling Me Something, Then Do It Because It's Tied To Your Passion (And Not Just My Pocketbook)

If the website is about selling, then it must convey the idea that the seller is not only a merchant, but it is also a competent, passionate expert on the sector.

That is, that he shares more than an economical interest with the buyer.

This helps you create a bond with me, and it is one of the things on which small sites can win over “supermarket” sites.