The number one rule of any website design is this-make sure that it performs optimally under all conditions. The biggest mistake one can make when designing a website is to include too many fancy graphic works and flash files that needs endless minutes loading them for display.

There are five website design rules you can follow to help you build that optimal performance website that rocks.

1) Don’t use splash pages.

Splash pages are dazzling fancy pages you often see when you first arrive at a website. They are dazzling pages that have images with words such as ‘welcome’ or ‘click here to enter’. They are pages with no purpose, and serves to discourage uses from fully utilizing the actual purpose of the website due to their slow loading time. Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the ‘back’ button!

2) Never use excessive banner advertisements

Normally you will find these at the top of the web page where they will be advertising something (not always related to the site) but sometimes they will be elsewhere on the page as well. Adding banner ads are actually futile efforts to maximize the use of your website as space research shows that people tend to ignore such advertisements. The best way to utilize web space would be to use good contents and weave your affiliate links into them so that the users would not feel coerced into buying.

3) Simple navigation is important

Keep navigation simple so that the youngest user can use it. It is good to leave out any fancy flash menus or even multi-tiered drop down menus, they only serve to make navigating the site harder. When navigation becomes hard and frustrating, they will leave your site for good and you will probably never get them back. Have a sitemap added to the website design to help them find what they are looking for.

4) Make it clear where the user is at the moment

Give them a clear view of where they are now and how to get to where they want to be. This way, they can head to the right information they are looking for. This can easily be achieved by ensuring each page has a title and a textual ‘breadcrumb trail’ that clearly shows the links they have made to get where they are now. If you create any form of confusion, you will drive the visitors away.

5) Think carefully before you insert audio in your pages

To make your visitors stay longer, avoid the use of excessive music. One can get irritated by continuous sounds being played over and over again. Adding audios may seem cool but provide some form of user control such as muting ability or volume control so that your visitors can adjust accordingly. If you diligently apply these website design tips, you will be rewarded with retuning visitors again and again to your website.