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Website Design 101 To Avoid A 404

By: Dominic Donaldson

When it comes to internet marketing, website design is one of the most important factors. The main aim is to encourage a visitor to a site to stay, by producing relevant and easy to navigate pages. This is followed by providing quality content that produces a sale or enquiry. The methods for implementing successful website design change rapidly as computer technology and software progresses, but essentially competent design can be modified and maintained to keep up with those changes.

The problem that arises for many companies is that the sites they have built do not account for future expansion, such as offering secure online sales. Another problem is that a badly designed or maintained site may produce error pages such as a 404, which could result in the loss of a potential customer.

A 404 page essentially means that a page cannot be found, and in marketing terms this equates to losing money. In the competitive world that exists within search engine listings, it is well known that if a person encounters an error page, they will immediately back track and try another company. This is known as bounce rate, and the higher it is, the more customers are being lost.

Correct website design will ensure that a custom 404 page is included in the site, so that should an error occur, a visitor will be more likely to follow a relevant link to a homepage or product page and thus be more likely to purchase a service or item. The design of a custom 404 should be the same as the website, displaying the same fonts, colours, layouts and logo as the rest of the pages. It will also include a navigation menu which has links to the pages on the website.

By using this method, a visitor to the site that has encountered an error page will be more likely to click through to the relevant page rather than bounce out and try another company in the search engine listings. Keeping the website design up to date by using the latest methods will also give visitors to the site the impression they are visiting a well established and trusted site, an important factor in sales.

It is easy to tell if a site has not been updated as the aesthetics of design change rapidly. It can be compared to watching the CGI quality of a film made five years ago compared to a recent blockbuster. As more people use the internet to shop for goods, it is essential that website design offers an interactive experience that is user friendly to avoid losing customers to the competition.

Article Source: http://www.internet-marketing.freearticledirectories.com

Dom Donaldson is a sporting expert. Find out more about Website Design and how a well designed site could improve sales online at Fisheye Web Design.

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