Search Box Web Design

Even websites without PhD designers need to marry a simple outward appearance with a more complicated set of calculations around intended audiences. The average visitor looks at one or two pages on a site and then hits the back button. Often they'll be following a search link and looking at a page buried deep in your site. They'll be there seeking out specific information and you only have about twenty seconds to pitch your site and keep them there. You need to give them a very concise description of yourself or product and you need to entice them with related material.

Any site that consists of more than three pages presents visitors with more information than they can handle. Good design works to funnel visitors to the specific content they are looking for. It's relatively easy to get a first-time visitor but successful websites keep them on your site and give them reasons to return. The key to this is defining your audience and presenting your material with them in mind.

Once you've identified your constituency and built your design, the next step is release. You don't want to pander to a potential audience, but instead converse with them. It's fine to mix different elements of your life together and to write creatively off-topic once in awhile. There are a thousand generic websites crammed full of useless bu zzphrases and unused featured. What you want is one that will have a voice, that builds a niche that no one else might ever have identified. When it comes time to produce content, forget all the slick marketing calculations you've done and let your quirkiness shine.