The Internet fascinates me. In about a decade it has flattened worlds, increased efficiencies, and provided more information than all previous methods combined. But you already knew that.
Though less discussed, I think another interesting facet of the web has been the evolution of design. Thanks to tools like the wayback machine, we are able to view the evolution of web pages from early, rudimentary, often ugly designs, to current, updated, and less face it, often ugly designs.
What happened? Why hasn't design experienced the evolution seen in other sectors of the Internet? Several guilty parties can share the blame.
Designing for various browsers, users, and modem speeds all can kick the dust sheepishly when asked "Why does my page look like crap?" However, I believe the main culprit is laziness. Lack of thought, creativity, copying bad design, and rampant template use all embody lazy methods that perpetuate bad design; and given my analysis of most sites, it's very possible you're losing money because of it.
A recent study found it takes as little as 50 milliseconds to determine if you like a site. That's a little longer than a blink. While thousands of companies do make good money with bad design, they face and will continue to face increasing competition. One of the best tools to win that competition is good design.
This is one of the areas where I try to help. Regardless if you need simple changes, a complete overhaul, or a new site, applying the following methodology may help more of your users from hitting the back button.
As I see it, Web page design is not only an art, but also a science. Treating it as such yields some fairly easy questions that can be used to guide both of us to develop a visually appealing site.
If you were able to honestly answer the previous questions, contact me. I'd be happy to give a rough evaluation of your site, usually free of charge.
This page and guide refer mainly to visual design. Because this page is long enough, I'd encourage you to read the, often complimentary, sections on structure and marketing. Then head over to the design section of this site.