Maryland Website Designers

Maybe it’s because I’m a web designer, but the very first thing I look for when I visit a new website is, “What is this website all about" and "what does it offer ME?” In all my years as a designer, I have seen and scrutinized a LOT of sites and I think there must be have a sub-conscious hierarchy of characteristics that I look for in websites. But I am, after all, a consumer just like everyone else, and am constantly searching for value and information online.

Gone are the days when just having ANY type of website was novel and new. I think that today’s web users are much more technically savvy, they aren’t easily impressed with gratuitous bells and whistles, and they have far less patience with websites that aren’t user friendly and don’t quickly get to the point (with “why they’re worthy of a few seconds of your precious time!”)

There are many advantages and benefits to a professionally-designed website and the following is my top 10 list of the characteristics that help elevate these sites above the others:

Reinforces your brand image  
I believe that a website should be designed around the brand identity and actually emphasize and draw attention to it (without just making it HUGE).
User-friendly and easy to navigate  
Navigation should be friendly and intuitive and should include pages that most web users have come to expect, including the Contact, About Us.
Content is King  
Provide useful, fresh information and update it frequently. Rich content, combined with an impressive presence will elevate your site above the myriad sites that offer nothing but regurgitated lists of stale information.
Accessible  
if visitors can’t access your website, then it’s not very useful. Some of the easiest ways to maximize your site’s accessibility is to make sure there are alt tags for every image, allow text to be resized by readers (and make a minimal amount of text graphic images) and by all means, avoid frames.
Simple yet stunning design  
Besides impressing your readers with fresh content, there’s also the subjective WOW factor that is rarely accomplished with an amateur-created site (if you know of any, please enlighten me)
Must display itself quickly  
There are tons of sites out there competing for your viewers’ attention, and what is your reaction when your trying to view a site that’s taking a long time to download?
Well-organized and easy to read  
Your site’s visitors will have varying reading styles and you need to cater to both the scanners (that’s me) and the “ravenous readers”.  
Cross-platform compatible 
Your site must look great and perform well on a wide spectrum of screen sizes, resolutions and browsers, and a good web designer or developer will always test a new site thoroughly prior to launch.