Designing your website means you have to be creative, plan out exactly what you want visitors to see, and then turn these ideas into a design or relay them to a design firm so they can do the job for you. However, the problem with this is you might be coming up with a lot of ideas that are not going to work for you when it comes to the design on your web page. Do some research first about what a good design includes and what a bad design includes. Then, you might be better able to design a great website. Consider the following suggestions before you start coming up with design ideas so you will be sure to leave this out.

Tip #1 - Don’t Distract

For some reason, many webmasters think it is a great idea to put a background picture of whatever their subject matter is and then put the text on top of it. All this does is create a very confusing mess because people cannot see the picture for the text and cannot read the text for the picture. Don’t let this problem arise on your website. If you want to include graphics do so separately from the text, simple as that. When it is separate, people are able to read what you have to say and see the photos you post.

Tip #2 - Know Your Colors

Colors have positive and negative effects on people’s psychological interpretations of what you are presenting. Because of this, you should

Email is a vital part of doing business online, but are you setting yourself up for SPAM complaints? If you are accused of spamming, whether it’s true or not, there are serious consequences that could potentially shut down your online business.

Are Your Emails CAN-SPAM Compliant?

The CAN-SPAM law has caused quite a bit of confusion about what is and is not acceptable when sending out business or commercial related emails.

Here is the link to the official Federal Trade Commission’s webpage “The CAN-SPAM Act: Requirements for Commercial Emailers” that explains the CAN-SPAM law and how to comply.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.htm

Pay particular attention to the second paragraph:

“The law, which became effective January 1, 2004, covers email whose primary purpose is advertising or promoting a commercial product or service, including content on a Web site.

A “transactional or relationship message” - email that facilitates an agreed-upon transaction or updates a customer in an existing business relationship - may not contain false or misleading routing information, but otherwise is exempt from most provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act.”

UCE is Unsolicited Commercial Email - Bulk emailing to people that have not requested your information and you do not have a business relationship with. Things like purchasing bulk email lists or sending advertisements to those who have not specifically requested them.

A “Transactional or Relationship Message” is completely different. This type of email covers any type of message a person specifically asks for. It also covers emails sent to people that have purchased something from you, because now there is an established business

When you build your website you need to have a plan first. The reason for this is if you do not have a plan you will likely make mistakes, forget to include information, and overall have an unorganized and not a well thought out page. While you might read the page and completely understand everything, remember that your website visitor did not design the page and needs a little more direction. Read the following 10 website blunders that are common and will make your visitors head to another site quickly.

Blunder #1 Contact Information

You need to provide your contact information, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and physical address if important. The reason for this is if a potential customer wants to contact you for whatever reason they can!

Blunder #2 Poor Organization

Make sure your website is well organized and that all links are obvious. You should even use subheadings to make it even more clear where information is. You don’t want to have to make people search.

Blunder #3 Checkout

Make the checkout process straightforward and easy. Too many times people get to the checkout and it is difficult, asks for a lot of unnecessary information, and generally takes longer than the customer wants to spend buying the product. As a result, the potential customer leaves your site to buy elsewhere. Don’t let this happen to you, make your checkout fast and easy!

Blunder #4 Typos

If your website has typographical errors, it will be noticed by your visitors. Many people consider this a sign of a