Hello, Scotty here.

Hopefully you had a chance to catch my first video bit on youtube regarding how to design my own website. If you didn’t catch it, it’s right here:

The short of it is: my opinion is that people go about learning web design the wrong way. I was one of those folks and if you have been there with me, you will already be shaking your head. If you haven’t been there with me, then maybe I’ll save you some time and set you on a better course from the start on your web design journey.

With that in mind here are some DOs and DONTs for you when you are creating a website: I am going to focus on business websites but this can apply to all sorts of websites. And I apologize to my web design coach because I basically plagiarized this list of of her

First, some DONTs. Because I think for technical stuff, it is sometimes easier to learn the DOs by knowing the DONTs of making a web page.

The “DONT’s” of website design

Poor load time
Poor browser compatibility (i.e. TOO FANCY!)
Slow loading graphics
Too many graphics
Too many animations
Busy distracting backgrounds
Poor use of frames
Too much advertising
Large welcome banners
Overuse of java
Overuse of any technology for that matter
Confusing layout and usability
Multiple colors of fonts
Multiple font families
Scrolling Text

… in other words, keep it simple! Not just for load time and user psychology but also for making it easy and pleasant to move around the website you have created!

The “DOs” of website design

And these are important… Again plagiarized heavily from my coach

Know the purpose of what you’re doing and of your website
Ask yourself: what’s the purpose of my site? what am I trying to achieve? That will help immensely in designing your site.

Set Your Goals
Ask yourself: How much traffic do I want to get? Maybe how much money do I want to make? How do I plan to advertise – and for advertising method X, how much traffic do I expect to convert to sales? Vs. Advertising method Y, how much traffic do I expect to convert to sales? Helpful questions for creating your web pages.

Self-Disciplined
Treat this as an actual business where you are the boss. If you are late to work, write yourself up

Self-Motivated
Set up your schedule and stick to it.

Have Fun With It!
That goes without saying – even if it’s painful, enjoy it !

You’ll notice a lot of the above don’t talk about technically how to create a web page. And you can probably see now factors behind really good effective website design.

And here’s the important DO which helped me a out a lot – this is more for you who are really serious:

Find a coach and be a good student

Whether it’s a web design course, e-book, or what have you – find a good mentor. You don’t want to necessarily find one whose philosphy you agree with … you need to find one whose results you want and then learn from them. Had I done that from the start I would have saved myself quite a bit of heartache.

Do these things (and don’t do these other things) and you will have effective ways on how to make a website.