In a rush to join the Internet bandwagon, businesses, private players and individuals sometimes lose focus on the main purpose of a website-- it should fulfill the needs of the business.

Most people get carried away by the hype surrounding the latest in modern technology and end up with a site that is garishly opulent and overflowing with gimmicks such as Flash introductions, revolving globes, bevelled line separators, animated mail boxes, pop up or pop under boxes, autoplay music to name only a few. For them the ground rule seems to be the flashier the better.

To be fair to the web designing companies, they design exactly what the client wants. Another thing is that these companies specialize in design and not in marketing. So if they design a website which is full of splash pages, scrolling text, animation, they are actually expressing their creativity.

Creativity is important but it should compliment the marketing message of the website and not underplay it.

Given the above, there are some factors that one should avoid while designing a website.

Avoid unnecessary frills

The simple mantra of a good website is to keep it neat, clean, professional and pleasing to the eye. Unnecessary add ons such as autoplay music and flash animations reduce the load time of a page making browsing difficult. This in turn reduces the functionality of the website especially more so when you need an online presence to conduct business.

One or two special effects are important to enliven your website but do not go overboard in their use. Unnecessary frills take away the focus from the content. Keep the aim of the website in mind---your site should improve the prospects of sales.

You will come across website design firms that believe putting search engines and banners will do the job. These will not necessarily solve the purpose of the website.

Do not compromise with content

Remember content is king. The design of the website should be such that it serves to highlight the content and not underplay it. A person who visits a particular site does so with a specific purpose.

The design of the website should therefore be such that the person is able to find what he is looking for easily.

This also means that the navigation of the site should be simple. Use appropriate hyperlinks at the appropriate places so that a individual knows where to look for the content he is interested in. The content should be such that it highlights the marketing message which the person is looking for.

Avoid long pages

One thing visitors hate doing is scrolling down long pages. The best way to avoid this situation is using hyperlinks. Also it makes sense to use hyperlinks linked to external pages. This way the person can come back to your site after browsing through the external pages. Use a Search feature if your website has more than 15 pages; this will make browsing much easier.

Web designing firms to avoid

You will come across various web designing firms that specialize in animations and special effects but are new to the business of web designing. There may be some who initially specialized in print designs but have expanded into web designing.

It is best to avoid these firms if they do not have a professional copywriter or a marketing professional.

This is because, as pointed out earlier, they may be able to add the latest in technology, but will not be able to give clear, concise content with a powerful marketing message.

The entire purpose of getting a website designed would be lost. Another thing to keep in mind is don’t just choose a firm because it is cheap; if it is not able to deliver the goods, it would cost you dear in the long run. Always hire a firm that knows how to create a right balance between content and design or in other words, between form and function.

A wrong color combination can prove havoc to your site

Remember every design element affects the functionality of your website. Therefore, it is important to choose the right color combination and the fonts for the perfect effect.

The best way to find what you want is to search the Internet and do a thorough study of the color combination and fonts that have used in the sites that catch your attention. In case of fonts, avoid the ones that are decorative but are difficult to read.

In other words, use the fonts that are easy to the eye. Similarly ensure that you don’t use dark colors on a dark background. For example, black on a dark blue background or white on yellow.

All being said, design elements have a direct impact on your website. Ensure you make an informed decision on choosing the right colors, fonts, graphics, text, HTML code etc.

All these factors and more will not only affect your website functionality and marketability but will also influence search engine indexing as well.