Let’s be honest here. The crowd of websites who employ hopeless web designs are simply digging their own graves. Sites with no flare are constantly surfacing, and quickly drowning in the online world, and taking advantage of this situation is far easier than you’d expect.

You would have noticed that I recently had a brand spankin’ new, unique and rather beautiful Word Press theme made up for the blog, which is pretty much why I’ve been slow to post lately. Yeah, the old theme was nice, it was simple and provided easy access to everything, but truth be told it was merely there to fill up space while we got this one in motion. I’m not much of a fan of free templates and have had to force myself to temporarily adopt them in the past. It’s my opinion that every website should have its own unique identity, which is what drove me to contact Richard at DesignedMagic.

The amount of passion and talent Richard has for his work is unbelievable and his dedication to customer service is simply unmatched. A good majority of the designers I’ve dealt with seem to change their attitude when you hand over your money, which is without question, the complete opposite to what DesignedMagic is all about. Aside from staying up into the wee hours of the morning making minor modifications to the theme (modifications that most other designers I’ve dealt with would be annoyed and slow at making), Richard went above and beyond the call of duty a lot of the time all of the time, often adding things in he thought would compliment the feel of the theme (hows a free logo sound?). I strongly suggest you contact DesignedMagic if you’re after a new look, because I’m extremely confident you’ll understand what I’m talking about after you deal with these guys.

Back on topic, a fresh look is within itself an opportunity to attract more visitors. You’re gifted with the chance to rectify the mistakes in your current template, while implementing various features aimed at either monetizing your site, or further increasing the percentage of recurring visits. It has the potential to promote user activity and add significant value to your website, and that is exactly why I took the plunge.

Let me ask you .. If you were applying for a potentially high paying job, would you go dressed in a potato sack or a suit? Let’s hope you sided with the suit here (PLEASE - someone wear a potato sack and take a picture) because you’re seeking to impress your interviewer. You see - the fact of the matter is that this same strategy needs to be adopted and applied to your website because your visitors are interviewing you - so to speak. They’re here to determine whether your website is worthwhile to continue visiting, and before they’re even in there, they’re blinded by a red background with yellow writing. Or maybe they’re lost in the dungeons of your pages because they cannot locate a navigation bar. Maybe they’re immediately turned off because your design isn’t as compelling as your competitors?

It’s no secret that you need to wow your audience in order to succeed, and while it’s true that you could probably get away with having some killer content and a cookie cutter theme, I guarantee you it will eventually catch up with you, especially when your competition realizes that they can capitalize on your mistake.

So what exactly defines an excellent design? In my opinion, the following;

These are the essential ingredients in producing a design your audience will positively respond to. Do keep in mind, that depending on your selected niche, you may need to do things a little differently, however these points should be considered the framework and foundation of your web design.

Take myself for example.. I know a good majority of blogs use free templates because the back end itself is often free, so adopting a different approach to the scene is important in effectively branding myself. This theme captures the attention of the reader (it caught yours didn’t it!), and consequently creates a lasting impression. It allows easy access to every available part of my blog, through the appropriate positioning of items backed with a simplistic colour scheme. These are, in my opinion, the most important factors in defining what a good design is.