We have listed ten rules and tips which we think will help you to create a successful website.    Obviously, every project is different, but these general rules (despite their numeric position, all equally important) are the basis for achieving a professional result.   The links we give are examples of the vast quantity of useful material you will find on the net.

1° – The site is for users, not for you

Although it is true that the site is yours, and to a certain extent, must be to your liking, always remember that if you want it to work, it must meet with the approval of your users.

A business site, or a site that is not completely personal, should have the prime objective of achieving a result which, in most cases, is that of making known or selling something.   To achieve this, your users must like the site and find it useful.   It is important to  bear this in mind.  Therefore, if “useful” depends on the content, then “pleasing” depends on its appearance.  So choose a layout that suits your website and not one that suits you alone.  Likewise, colours are dictated by set rules.    Endeavour to follow the trends of web design by visiting the latest sites  and getting ideas and tips from them.   Do all possible to make things clear and facilitate navigation and reading and to ensure consistency between site pages and between the site and any other company campaign (flyers, brochures, logos and colours).     Highlight each product’s  salient points and most important information, otherwise all products will appear identical.   Pay attention to language;  take nothing for granted when addressing such a widespread audience.  Try to be as accurate as possible when addressing qualified users.

2° – Design your site on paper, with the contents in mind.

First, decide on the contents or have an idea of what you have available to fill your site.

To create an effective site, the first step is the design and this means sitting down at your computer, with the contents and ideas that will go towards creating your site.  To do this, you will need a sheet of paper and enough time to answer a few questions:  The first are: “What do I want to achieve from the site?”, “What can I offer users?”.  All your efforts should aim to satisfy the replies you give to these first questions.  The contents of the site and its navigation depend on them.

Divide the material you have found or are thinking of using into groups, each of which will be a section of your site and therefore an item of the first level menu.

Create three, four or at the most five groups to help you set up  a correct site structure.  Similar material should not be combined, but divided in depth. The most suitable structure for managing site contents is known as a reverse pyramid.  The more general contents go into the few first level pages which are immediately displayed to all users.  More specific contents are second level and serve for further investigation of individual sections  for those users who are interested.

Then ask yourself “How will I manage the site?”  If you think you will be able to update it frequently, then  create sections like News both inside and on the home page, otherwise avoid them.  If you know that your site is destined to improve and expand, then right from the start begin to make it scalable so that later you will not find yourself in the position of not knowing where to put things.  If it is fundamental to have feedback from users then highlight the Contacts page, your e-mail  or make use of commentable pages.

3° – Invest in contents

A site that is merely attractive is visited once only, a site that is full of interesting information has frequent visitors.

The contents are the main part of a site which, as stated earlier, should be created so that they can be managed, found easily and highlighted.  Spend time on preparing original or interesting contents and you will not regret it!  You will see your site and its visitors grow.  Search engines are keen on contents, especially when they are fresh and frequently updated.  Thanks to your contents you can even succeed in obtaining links to your site and these, on the web, are precious goods.

When you write what you know about, you write and link everything that concerns the topic of your site:  use images and videos too, if necessary.  If you quote someone, mention the source with a link.  Carefully select useful links and add them to your site.

4° – The menu is important

Without a well-organized menu, it will be difficult to discover the contents of your site.   And you cannot solve the problem by putting everything in the home page.

Be careful not to make the following common errors:
1) Names. If the name of the pages is not sufficiently indicative of their contents, the risk is that the user will feel at a loss and find it difficult to navigate.    He should not have to guess what the page contains, but know even before he opens it.  However, avoid long or compound names.
2) It is not easy to create a catalogue, but if you have to do it, for example, for a product catalogue,   try to imitate some of the most famous sites or follow generally adopted conventions   (by product, brand, in alphabetical order, by characteristics, etc. etc.).  imitate

5° – Use only a small number of colours and typefaces

Do not exaggerate with the use of colours.  Choose just a few (three or four at the most) and even fewer typefaces.

An internet site must be easy to read and attractive, therefore colours and fonts should be chosen with care.

Colours: the common rules of colour psychology apply.  For a professional site, use cool colours: blues, greys and some greens.  For a more personal or particularly vivacious site use reds, yellows and  bright colours.  Text is best in black on a white background or however with a strong contrast. For an institutional site avoid using a black background.  Do not mix warm and cool colours and do not exaggerate:  three colours are enough.
Typefaces:  the easiest to read on the screen are the so-called serif or linear fonts, as opposed to serif fonts created for the printing industry. Arial, Verdana and Tahoma are examples of the former family.  Times and Giorgia belong to the latter.

6° – No special effects

Avoid videos, animation and music that are not in keeping with your site.

A professional site should not surprise users but rather should give them what they are looking for. Although for some time  the tendency was to surprise users, often without reason, on the contrary the tendency now is to respect them. Long and heavy animations or music which begin unrequested on entering the site are not considered professional.
Useful videos, audios or animations will give your site added value, otherwise it is better to leave well alone.

7° – Short texts suitable for the web

It is difficult to read on-line and we know that users remain only a few seconds on one page.

It is a mistake to think of transferring to the web texts created for  paper or other media.  On the web we read in a different way, we read quickly and very little. Therefore short and well-devised texts are important. Good titling attracts users. Summaries or short introductions are useful. Further information and external links will be much more useful if grouped together at the end of the text. Use graphic styles with care. Use bold type for more important terms, try to create a text whose sense is immediately clear at first sight . No underlinings, please, these are reserved for links. Leave empty spaces, do not crowd text together. Do not insert too many things (texts, links, images) on the same page. All these expedients transform your texts into good web texts.

8° – Attention to images

A good photograph is worth a thousand words, even on the internet. But, here again, don’t exaggerate, follow the few rules necessary to optimize a web image.

Remember that images “weigh” in terms of kilobytes, and therefore influence download time, especially of long pages. If you want to use an image, optimize it first, in other words reduce it to a size that is suitable for the page where it is to be uploaded and compress it to .gif or .jpg format.

Icons are a different matter for they are graphic elements created for the web which, besides weighing very little, are often useful for navigation and comprehension of the site.

Lastly, a word on copyright: although technically possible ,we cannot legally take possession of any image we find on the net. Unless there are indications to the contrary, every  published work, is covered by copyright.  If you want to use an image, ask for permission. Many photos that you may find useful are collected together in so-called Stock Photo sites;  these image collections are sold or assigned according to strict copyright regulations, but are often  freely available for non-commercial uses. Take a look, for example at: Stock.XCHNG, MorgueFile, Istockphoto.

9° – Be active!

Even if your site is finished and on-line, your work still has not ended. Now you must make it known.

Basically, there are two ways of making your visitors arrive at your site: go and find them or make them find you.

Go and find users. In other words, advertise your site on- and off-line where you are almost certain to find interested users. On-line means sector sites, newsgroups, blogs; off-line, fairs, events, magazines.Take part in on-line conversations, leave comments, reply to forums, in short do your best to be active.

Make users find you.  You can do this by paying attention to many details and investing a great deal of  time on your site.   Start by choosing a URL address that is easy to remember.  Insert text  and renew it often, this is greatly appreciated by search engines.  Make your site known to engines (below we explain how to do this).  Create a series of outgoing links from your site to other similar sites, in the hope that they will reciprocate.  Control the statistics of referrers to your site.

10° – Exploit web potential

Internet is a means of communication and should be treated as such.  If you know it you can exploit it.

The value of a site depends on its contents.  If you give users reason to believe that yours is a useful source of information, they will include it among their favourite sites and will not fail to pass by to see any novelties, they will link up to you and recommend your site to friends.  Try to obtain feedback, opinions and comments.  Endeavour to make users participate by providing them with ideas for discussion.  Internet offers you these possibilities, provides space to insert all your contents and enables you to update frequently.

For example:

- if you sell products,  add credible reviews and write-ups of them  (not  company news releases, but your own impressions)
- if you have expert knowledge of something, share it with others.
- if you are a professional, make some of your works or articles known;  add a CV or a profile
- if you are selling, make frequent new offers
- if you are an artist, display your works
- if you are local night-spot or a restaurant, display your menus and specialities and perhaps offer a discount coupon for visitors to your site.
- if you are an association, make your initiatives known, publish photos and reports.
- if you are a hotel or bed & breakfast – report your guests’ comments, add numerous photos, a map of the locality and a list of things to see, but above all a clear and transparent price-list.
- if you are a sports club or athlete, publish your results and calendar of events.