Niche website design, back in the starting days of online empires. Was all about small 20 – 50 blog post blogs on a certain topic. Spencer Haws from Niche Pursuits, was a early pundit of this type of online income.
Overtime the small niche websites designs have fallen away to larger authority websites with 1000’s of posts in some instances. Still focus on a niche, but a full authority on that niche.
In this article I wanted to share 5 simple tips for niche website design. Its still as relevant now as it was when I was doing small 20 blog post blogs.
5 tips for niche website design
When you start to develop your Niche Website Empire. You need to give extra attention minute detail to make sure you site performs the best it can serve its purpose. Here’s FIVE of the most important tips, I have found so far to make sure my niche websites perform as best they can.
Do not use splash pages
Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like “welcome” or “click here to enter”. They are nothing more then excessive window dressing. These days visitors don’t have a lot of free time. So do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the “back” button! Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.
They also slow down your hosting resources.
Do not use excessive banner advertisements
With every one chasing a dollar, you are sometimes tempted to load your site up with Banner Advertising. Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you might be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide more valuable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content.
That creates a way that lets your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.
Have a simple and clear navigation
You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered drop down menus. If your visitors don’t know how to navigate, they will leave your site.
Have a clear indication of where the user is
When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site. You will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don’t confuse your visitors because confusion means “abandon ship”!
Avoid using audio on your site
If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your content. You will want to make sure they’re not annoyed by some audio looping on and on on your website. If you insist on adding audio, make sure they have some control over it . Volume or muting controls would work fine.
The only caveat to this tip. Is if you are a musician building a site to show case your music.
That’s it, five really simple tips for niche website design. If I had to sum it up, into one rule or principle. KISS – Keep it Simple Stupid.
