One way to make this good first impression is to have a well designed professional looking website. And regardless of whether or not you’ve hired someone to do do the job, it is important to verify that it does not look amateur.

Below we have listed a few things that your website should avoid.

1. Lots of Colors

There are a lot of beautiful colors out there. However, that does not mean that you should put them all on your website.

For a professional-looking website, colors should be kept to a minimum.

2. Centered Text

Centering might work well for certain headlines, images, or captions. However, you should avoid centering the bulk of your textual content. According to published research, users prefer to read from left to right. As a result, centering your text makes it more difficult for users to digest your content

3. Font Woes

There are many ways to convey amateurism by improperly using font. Here is what not to do:

* Use many different font faces

* Incorporate text of all sizes, as well as several variants or bold, italic, and underlined text

* Use multiple fonts colors

4. Excessive Use of Exclamation Points

There are better ways to convey excitement than by overusing punctuation. Remember, your website is not an infomercial.

5. Animation

Sometimes people include animated graphics to add excitement to a web page. Unfortunately, this conveys something very different. Sure, you might find your bouncing logo quite eye-catching, but you don’t want to distract users from your content or come across — once again — as an infomercial.

6. Too Much Content

While you might have a lot of things to say about your services or your company, it does not all need to be put on your website. Instead, try to find a concise way of summarizing your content and effectively describing what you can offer.

Additionally, if you have a lot of content which you feel should be included in your website, consider breaking it up into small pages, instead of cramming it all into one long slow-loading page.

In order for your website to be successful, it will have to inspire trust and confidence. As a result, you should keep these tips in mind when evaluating your website.

via Does Your Website Look Like An Amateur Built It? – Web Development Blog.

Visit Gregg at: http://www.3wdesign.com/