A common assumption among beginners and even more advanced webmasters is to try to fit and cram as much content into one page as possible. Yes gadgets and widgets or cool, but you have to limit them from clogging up your pages and drawing attention away from visitors. Don’t get us wrong though, you do need these things to spice up your site, just don’t get carried away.

Content First…

As discussed in part 1, the content of your site is extremely important. Remember that it is the reason your visitors come to your site. Make sure that the visitors focus is on the main content of the page. If the visitor cannot find what he/she is looking for, then you’ve just lost a visitor. Visitors (especially search engine traffic) can be scared away easily, so make sure you don’t have any pop-ups or annoying ads or any kind of suspicious/evil looking widgets/ads. Remember that your main content should take center stage. Always.

What About Layout?

Next to content, where you place it is most important. Your main content should stand out and should be together. Your widgets, menus, and other stuff you’d put in a side bar should BE in a side bar or above/below the content. Your header should take up no more than half of the screen, so the main content is visible easily without scrolling initially. Floating toolbars and social bookmarking boxes are cool, but just make sure they are off to the side and don’t slow down the page when loading. Also; try to not have content that is really long. For example; if you have a article that would normally be five, six, or more pages long, think about splitting into sections. A visitor will get fatigued after scrolling down and trying to find where his/her spot was. It’s always better to have three or four short pages, than one very long page.