Website Build and Design Tips
Websites and other forms of social media are very important in today's society. They are means of communication for the up and coming generations, so utilizing them to their fullest potential will be very beneficial to your team. These are ten helpful tips on helping build and design your website. Feel free to suggest more tips under the contact us page.
Tip #1: Make your Identity clear
- Make sure that whoever visits your website immediately knows who you are and where you are from.
- Consistently use your team name as well as your team number. This will help tremendously in establishing your identity and will impact your Search Engine results.
- Make it easy for site visitors to contact your team leaders and representatives. An easy way to do this is to establish a simple contact us page. From this page you can provide multiple contacts so they can contact team representatives as needed. Also be sure to provide your school address for any sponsors to address a check to.
Tip #2: Make a Plan
Before you create your website or think about publicizing it, you need to answer the ideal questions:
These will help you create an idea of what your website needs to offer as well as the overall design of your site. If you have an idea of a theme/template in mind before you search for one, your search will be much easier.
- Who do you want your website to appeal to?
- What is the purpose?
These will help you create an idea of what your website needs to offer as well as the overall design of your site. If you have an idea of a theme/template in mind before you search for one, your search will be much easier.
Tip #3: Your Homepage Needs to be Useful
The homepage is one of the most important pages of your website. It is the first thing people see and will be judged more harshly than every other page. And because it is the first page that people see it should be the most useful. It should contain links to some of the biggest and more important pages of your site. Here are some questions you can ask yourself about your homepage to measure its proficiency:
- Does my homepage redirect users to some of the most important pages?
- Is the first impression of the website a good one?
- How engaging is it? Does it encourage exploration?
Tip #4: Create a Balance between Digital Media and Content
When viewing a website you don't want to be overwhelmed with the amount of pictures and content it contains. Create a balance between the two by limiting the amount of text you use by creating bullet pointed lists instead of whole paragraphs. Same with media, you don't want photos and videos in place of written words and context.
To help even out a heavy text area, add a few pictures. Vice versa, with too many photos.
To help even out a heavy text area, add a few pictures. Vice versa, with too many photos.
Tip #5: Be Professional
When creating the content of your website, you want to portray your product as professionally as possible. Pretend like you are writing a resume; aim to promote your case and impress the visitor with your abilities. As website editor, your goal is to portray your team with credibility. And just like in a resume, you need to speak in a factual manner. Try to influence the readers of your stance using logic and reason. You can do this by:
Also when trying to write professionally, avoid using slang as much as possible. Slang use is very unprofessional and can easily be misunderstood.
- Collecting testimonial quotes from members of the team as well as mentors and parents
- Take statements from outside sources
- Find data online proving your statement
Also when trying to write professionally, avoid using slang as much as possible. Slang use is very unprofessional and can easily be misunderstood.
Tip #6: Pick a Color Palette
When making a website, you really need to be aware of the color palette that you are using. Color portrays not only the team colors but the vibe of the team as well. Many colors evoke feelings in the user and if mishandled, can discourage users from returning to the site. Here are some tips on picking the right color palette:
- Don't use vibrant colors: Bright and Bold colors if improperly used can give the website a very harsh over tone. Bold colors don't work well as backgrounds because often times they overpower the content.
- Pick a set of colors that work well with your team/school colors: When you create your scheme select a variety of colors that look like they belong together. You don't want to use cool colors if your logo and school colors are warm colors, for example.
- Create a plan for your links: Be sure you have an idea on what you want your content on the website to look like. Have a specific color for titles, subtitles, body text, links, etc. If you have a different color for each content item, spotting titles and links will be easier. Fonts also help set aside titles and links from body content.
Tip #7: Make Navigation Easy
Websites are a great tool to organize information and make it easy to access. So if you offer information on your website for users to read, the information should be easily accessible. Through various studies, researchers have found a pattern in eye movement when viewing websites. The F Pattern, is illustrated below, shows the places the eyes first travel to on a website. So using top and left navigation will easily provide a way for users to find the information they need. Top navigation should be reserved for those pages that always need to be accessible whereas left navigation provides more specific information.
Tip #8: Think About your Audience
For FIRST Robotics teams websites are great ways of communication between many different people. So before creating your website, you need to choose which audience you are going to appeal to. Following this approach will help you mold each page of your website into something useful for a user.
Tip #9: Use Social Media
In today's society people are always online social networking. With such a large variety of ways to communicate, you can easily utilize these resources to help you spread your messages. With social networking sites like Facebook and twitter, team captains can contact members both on and off season. These sites can also help provide platforms for sponsorship. The more people you reach with your message, the more likely you will find sponsors willing to get behind your organization.
Click on any of the following icons to visit the social networking sites.
Tip #10: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
When trying to spread your team message and mission, Search Engine Optimization is very helpful. With search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing new users can be introduced to your website. By increasing traffic to your site it helps not only make your website more helpful for you, but also for its users. With SEO, you are more easily able to spread the word of your website thus helping your team overall.
For more information about SEO, feel free to click visit The Beginners Guide to SEO. It is a great resource to those interested in applying SEO to their website
For more information about SEO, feel free to click visit The Beginners Guide to SEO. It is a great resource to those interested in applying SEO to their website
If you have any more tips or ideas for web design, feel free to send us a message through our contact us page!
Content written and organized by Team 1982 Web Team
Content written and organized by Team 1982 Web Team