I have been designing websites now for 5 years. I still get many compliments on my primary website.

I find this interesting because that site is not a WordPress website. I created it using Xsite Pro, a website building program that I really love but do not use nearly as  much. 80% of my business is now building WordPress websites. On my Askmepc-Webdesign site,  people tell me they like how easy it is to find what they are looking for. I am sure they find the traditional layout familiar. (Read my article on how people read a website here). I also always have build very “clean” and clear websites.
I hate clutter online.  We have enough coming at us already to be overwhelmed by a website.

There is trend now for oversized big glossy looking websites. Some of the things I like about the trend is most of the time they are easy to navigate.
The big buttons are helpful and there are usually clear and oversized directions given, (such as “click here to purchase”)  which I think is helpful for many people.

Some of the things I do not like:

• They can feel impersonal

• They are too “internet marketing” and “salesy” and yes that is not a real word but I think you know what I mean.

• They all tend to have those pop ups asking me to sign up or buy something.

• They start to all look the same after awhile. Internet marketers are like sheep.

But let’s look at far we have come, a walk down memory lane cira 1998.

Click here to see old school website design… very old.
This is the website of author George R. R. Martin, A Song of Fire and Ice.
Now this guy is a best selling author, he could afford a really amazing website, especially since he writes fantasy fiction and is hugely popular.
Fantasy fiction websites tend to be quite interesting.
Maybe he does not want his website to turn out like this however. Click for sample of oversized glossy website.
Be warned it takes awhile to open and actually work.
HBO made a mini series out of his book and this site is glossy, big and oversized and does not work very well.
If you are using Safari, it warns  you your browser is not compatible. Then in other browsers it takes a long time to open.
Nice job HBO. You bought into the big and glossy look but lost functionality. When I was trying to take a screenshot of HBO’s website
I accidentally got out of the site and hit the back button to get back, and it did the whole process of reloading again. Very annoying.

Your average reader will bounce off your website in 3-5 seconds if things are not working right.
Bounce rate is very important, this is the term for when readers stop in and leave.
If you are check your website statistics and see your readers are coming in and leaving quickly, you need to analyze that.
Is the page slow loading?
Is something wrong with that page?
Are they going there to find something and you do not have it on the page?
Sometimes you may of named a page and then changed the content or renamed it later and people are seeking information you no longer have available on that page.
These are concerns you need to have, especially now since Google has started counting website loading speed as part of their page ranking process.
Quote from Google:

“Google is now taking into account how fast a page loads in calculating its PageRank. In their own words: ‘[W]e’re including a new signal in our search ranking algorithms: site speed. Site speed reflects how quickly a website responds to web requests. … our users place a lot of value in speed — that’s why we’ve decided to take site speed into account in our search rankings. … While site speed is a new signal, it doesn’t carry as much weight as the relevance of a page. Currently, fewer than 1% of search queries are affected by the site speed signal in our implementation and the signal for site speed only applies for visitors searching in English on Google.com at this point.

Wondering what your website page ranking is?

What kind of site design trends do you like?
Fill out my poll and leave a comment to give me more detail.
I really want to know what normal user think.
Please leave a comment!

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