images 17. How Do I Design My Website?

As you consider different website design options, you must be clear about your website goals. When you know what you want to say and what you want visitors to do, you're ready to create your website. With your goals in mind, you can navigate the field of web design by focusing on what kind of content you intend to have.

Are you looking to only provide information on your website, or is there some interactivity and engagement that is supposed to happen? Your goals for your site will greatly direct the type of website you need to build. Establishing yourself as an industry expert will likely mean that you will need to make sure your website is content heavy. Whether it be through text or images, your site should be designed with content in mind.

If your goal is to provide an online avenue for communicating with your company, then your site will be much smaller because the website is used to entice interest only rather than be a fully informative site that keeps people coming back for more education about your business. Websites like these are called “brochure sites” and essentially act as an electronic version of a business flier or brochure (hence the name).

The content on your website will also drive the design. Once you've figured out the content, you'll be able to build your navigation on top of that. Then, you can determine how much will be images ...

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