When learning about SEO, the number-one priority is always to have a clean, efficient, attractive website or blog to traffic. If that isn’t the case, you won’t achieve your website goals. That’s because it all comes back to web design. People are interesting in attractive websites that are highly functional. Learn how to provide what they are looking for with the help of these tips.

Be sure to select the correct graphics when designing your website. Remember, bitmap images are huge and usually don’t work well, PNGs work fine. For simple images, GIF is fine, though. JPEG images are good for pictures.

To make your website as easy to use as possible, consider using a fixed-position menu. This allows you to lock the panel for navigation in place while users scroll. This isn’t only very convenient for your visitors, but is also great for marketers.

On the Internet today, speed is where it’s at. So you must make sure everything on your site loads fast. If your visitors are waiting forever while something is loading on your site, there is a good chance they will quickly leave and never return.

Keep your homepage simple. People shopping around will immediately decide whether they will use your site or not, simply by how your front page looks. Be descriptive, but try to do so in just a few words.

When designing a large site, always incorporate a search feature. Perhaps in the upper corner, a search box will ensure that your visitors can search for anything within your site. FreeFind and Google both offer search plugins that can easily be added to your website.

You should test your site on multiple browsers. Because different browsers render websites differently, the visitor may not have the experience you intended. There are now many websites that you can visit to find out which web browsers are most commonly used by internet users. Test the website on all browsers, even the popular mobile ones.

Visitors do not enjoy seeing a website counter on your page. Visitors really don’t care how many other people have visited your site. Get rid of the counter and monitor your traffic by other means.

You need to your own office space if you are going to be a webmaster. Take out distractions, and make your workspace efficient and ready for you to get to work. Keep all of your tools and materials within easy reach and keep the space optimized for your workflow needs.

When beginning your site, don’t put too much content on each page. Too much content can be confusing.

Graphics make a site more visually appealing. Keep your site from looking bland by wrapping words around images. Your visitors will stay longer and return more often if your content has visual appeal.

Work with a professional. You can gain a great deal of knowledge from a web design master who knows how the field works. Aligning yourself with an expert will greatly accelerate your own learning process.

Confirm with your web host that video-hosting is acceptable if that is a feature you want on your site. Many hosts don’t allow video at all, while others will restrict the amount of bandwidth you can use before you pay a fee. This is because the FLV files can take up a lot of server space, so it is prudent that you ask first before you waste your time.

If you have crucial information for your website, put it at the top and towards the left of the page. Visitors read starting at the left, so doing this ensures that they will see the best information first.

Incorporate a site map into your website design. There are two things that a sitemap does. For starters, visitors are able to better navigate your site with one. It lets them find what they want easier. In addition, site maps are useful for SEO purposes. Search engines are better to able to find and then crawl your site.

To make a unique website, think outside of the box about where to get your inspiration for the site’s design. Television programs, artistic exhibits, even commercials are good sources of inspiration. You want to always be on the lookout for new inspiration because you may just stumble across something that will help your site become very popular with your visitors.

Make sure your logo links to your homepage. It is common these days for sites to have a logo or image that visitors can click on to return to the home page. Users may be frustrated if they cannot easily find a way back to the home page. Allowing them to click on the logo makes your website easier to navigate.

Make your own favicon. Make you site recognizable in your customer’s favorites list with this small graphic. When a visitor browses his bookmarks, a distinctive favicon will stand out. Try making a favicon that goes with your theme and logo.

Those of you who are starting your own website should strongly consider using shared, or grid hosting, instead of using dedicated hosting or VPS hosting. This is because you cannot see how much traffic you get, and you don’t need to pay more than you must.

Including white space in your layout is a good web design practice. White space works great because it puts the focus of the readers attention on the content, which hopefully is quality. Do not overload your page with unimportant information in an effort to use up space.

People online are not overly picky, it is just that they do not want to visit sites that are hard to navigate, slow loading, and unattractive. You can avoid looking like an amateur by using the design tips that you learned here.