Web Design and Development Principles that Never Change
I’ve been a web designer, developer, and project manager for about eight years now. In that time I’ve seen many trends come and go; whether it be plain HTML sites, sites in Mambo or Joomla, or blogs and static sites in WordPress, I’ve built and managed sites on many different platforms – mostly open source.
With everything I’ve seen, some things have persisted to be tried and true in working with clients to develop websites. The keys for me, items that I always focus on, are search engine optimization, converting visitors into whatever you want them to be, and conforming to web standards. Sure, there are many other very important things to focus on, but these three items have always been important to me; from the past eight years through the foreseeable future, every project will include work on these items.
While the game of search engine optimization (SEO) seemingly changes on a daily basis, this does not mean that it has ever not been a focus of ours. Even within SEO there are some things that we have always worked on. Title tags have always been important and likely will be important for the foreseeable future. Also, the text used in your URL has always been important and likely will always be important. While Meta keywords are a thing of the past, Meta description still play an important part as they often show up under your link in the search engine listings. New focuses of ours include the long-tail, social media and networking, and link bait.
Another item that we always seem to focus on his conversions. Whether you run an online store, a blogs, or in information site, you always have a singular goal for a random site visitor. Do you want them to become a customer? Do you want them to become a repeat visitor? Do you want them to click on ads? Do you want them to stick around and read more of your website content? These are serious questions that you need to ask yourself and your client as you go about designing the web site. The total user interface should be designed around what you want the visitor to end up doing on the web site.
Web standards is something that has always been important to me. Web standards are important because they ensure that your website will show up in a consistent format across many different types of browsers. From Internet Explorer to Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, and Flock – there are now many many different browsers to choose from. Ensuring that your site shows up in the same way on heat a browser is very important. Additionally, search engines really love code that is standard compliant. You tend to rank higher if you have a standard compliant and fast loading web site.
So while many fads and trends may come and go, there are obviously some things on the web that are indeed here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. Search engine optimization will always be important because search engines drive a ton of traffic. Conversions will always be important because you always want to turn a visitor into something else. And, standards compliance will always be important because the web is becoming more complex and standards help provide and place guidelines around this.
