If you decide to design your own website, first think about your goals for the site. What do you want it to accomplish? Do you need a simple, informational site or do you want to interact more closely with your customers by including a request-for-quote page or newsletter sign up? Make notes of the topics you’d like your site to cover, and decide which should have there own pages. These might become your menu items on the website’s navigation.

After you’ve thought about your goals and what you’d like to offer on your website, think about your prospective customer. Are your customers teenagers looking for edgy tee-shirts, or middle-aged professionals looking for financial planners? Your design should appeal to your target market.

Once you’ve thought about your goals, topics and prospects, you can start thinking about color schemes. You may already have colors that identify your business, such as those used in your logo. Ideally, you can incorporate these colors into your design.

Colors can be used to keep a sense of symmetry betweens items of similar importance, such as items on a menu bar. You can also use color to highlight key information or actions that you’d like your user to take. For example, if you’d like people to sign up for a newsletter, you might show that menu item with an orange background, whereas all other menu items have blue backgrounds.

The text and background colors should have sufficient contrast so that the text is readable for all your viewers. This may be less important if your prospects are young, but it’s still nice to think about people who may have less than perfect vision.

When laying out your pages, keep in mind that most people are used to looking for navigation either near the top of the page, or on the left hand side. Other layouts may also work, but if you aren’t experienced in design, keeping your design similar to common layouts is probably safest. Keep your layout clean and uncluttered, so the important information is easy to find.

If you decide to design your own website, spend some time thinking about your goals, topics and prospects. The colors and layout you choose will help your site appeal to your target market. A simple, well-thought out website can help you meet your business goals