5 Website Design Ideas That Will Help You Get More Traffic

Today I want to talk about a few design changes you can make to your blog or website that will ultimately result in more traffic.

1. Make it easy to search

It is important that visitors are able to search your website for specific keywords and phrases that they are looking for.

Most websites have a search box for this. Unfortunately many websites have hidden the search box in some corner of the page and this makes it difficult for a visitor to find.

Put your search box in an easy to locate place on each page. Make it easy for a visitor to locate the search box and they will use it more. This means more page views for you.

And the more pages they visit the more likely they are to bookmark your site and come back.

2. Choose a good background color and text color

This should go without saying but it is important to choose a good background color and text color that is easy on the eyes. If you really want to have a black background with white text then that it’s okay. Just be sure that your visitors aren’t distracted by your colors and layout.

And please stay away from backgrounds with the words or multicolored images. You don’t want your website looking like the average myspace profile!

If people can’t stand the fonts and colors and background of your blog then they won’t visit many pages, they certainly won’t come back, and they definitely won’t tell their friends about your website.

Ask yourself, “Would I want to spend hours getting information from this site with these colors and layout?”

Then ask the same question of three friends.

3. Limit your advertising

If you have a website then you’re probably looking to make money from it. But this is not something you want to broadcast to every visitor.

Your advertising should be subtle. It should fit with the colors and the look and feel of your website.

For example if you have a white background with dark gray text then you don’t want to put florescent yellow and limegreen advertisements on each page.

Instead make your advertisements blend in. Try to camouflage them.

And let’s avoid any animated advertisements.

The reason you want to do these things is that having too many advertisements annoys visitors and makes them want to leave and never return.

The best websites have advertising but put a limit on it. The advertising is there but it doesn’t get in the way of the content.

4. Links should look like links

Traditionally hyperlinks are a rich blue color and are underlined.

So do yourself a favor and have your links be some sort of blue color and have them underlined. This makes it easier for your visitors to identify links and click on them.

Wouldn’t it be a shame if you had a wonderful website with lots of content and links to additional resources on your site but your links were not blue and underlined and so your visitors did not click on them because they didn’t realize they were links?

5. Display recent posts

If you have a blog then it’s likely you are posting new content every so often.

If this is the case be sure you display a list of your most recent posts on your homepage. When I visit the homepage of my favorite blogs I am looking to see what their newest posts are.

Doing this makes it easier for your visitors to find out what’s new and makes them more likely to return.