Not considering any SEO implications, page speed is an extremely important web usability element. Consider the following example originally published on Master New Media .

• Screen 1 – The first test participant in the top gaze plot fixated a few times within the big empty color block before the content downloaded, then spent the remaining time looking at the rest of the page. This user never looked at the big promotional space after it had rendered.
• Screen 2- The second user (bottom gaze plot) happened to be looking away from the screen during the eight seconds when the promotional content downloaded. Thus, the first time he looked at the page he saw it as intended, complete with the entire promo.

The slideshow occupies 23% of the page and the user who had to endure the download delay spent only 1% of her total viewing time within this space.

In contrast, the user who in effect received instantaneous page rendering (because he didn’t look until it was done), spent 20% of his viewing time within the slideshow area.

So in essence if the page speed has been optimized, the marketing team would have seen some more traction with their well planned advertisement. But in this case, all that effort was spent in vain.

The most important thing to keep in mind when it comes to website speed is “let the audience be in control”. Remember, it’s the audience who interact with the website and it’s them that matters to you or your client. Every second of delay in website speed is a negative impact on the audience and lead them to realize that they are no longer in control. In such case, you or your clients are going to lose credibility which is not helpful at all.

So it might be a good idea to start looking at page speed. There are many free tools to check speed. We use a Firefox plugin called ‘Yslow’. Google is going one step ahead and offering a Page Speed tool for free http://code.google.com/speed/page-speed/

Check out this video from the Google dev team.

SEO for businesses today must consist of much more than using the latest design trends. Designers should also be designing sites that take the full range of people viewing the site into consideration. The largest and most successful companies know that they have to offer different versions of their web content so as to appeal to everyone who accesses their websites.

If a company fails to present its online information in ways that are suitable for all types of cultural audiences, it is sure to miss out on potential customers who cannot relate to how the information is being presented. Take a quick look at the McDonald’s U.S. website and then at the site for Indian customers and you will notice very stark differences in how the information is presented. The Indian site is heavy on color and is much more interactive. The U.S. site on the other hand is more minimalistic and straightforward in nature. This illustrates how web design for businesses should be approached – by understanding how people from different cultures prefer to have their information presented.

It is absolutely essential to the success of your business that you focus on the website user experience for so that your visitors, no matter where they are located, have a successful visit. Studies have shown us that if a visitor to your site has a successful visit, he/she is three times more likely to recommend your site than if they find the visit unpleasant. Successful websites are often customized or localized for foreign markets, taking the local language into account, social standards and aesthetic preferences. Localizing a website is a rather complicated chore but it is necessary. Making versions of a site for different cultures shows consumers that your organization is willing to accommodate their needs. When a user sees a version of a website in his or her language, even if they are proficient in English, results in that user having a very favorable experience.

Users from around the world have special needs related to entry fields on websites for names and addresses, dates and measurements and information about regional product standards. Considering all of the issues related to international usability, it is recommended that international usability testing with users is done. This testing can be done from wherever you are located as you could make telephone calls to users to ask them to think aloud as they navigate the site, assuming of course that you can locate these foreign users who speak your language well enough to complete a telephone interview.

The internet is called the world wide web for a reason and more and more web design professionals are realizing that the emphasis today must be placed on the first two words: World Wide. If you want to truly go global and succeed with your website, resist going with those web designers that offer those too-good-to-be-true web design deals and instead work with a team of experts who understand the importance of website globalization optimization and how to implement it.

If you are considering hiring a web design company to assist you in setting up your space on the internet, you should consider hiring a local web designer. There are so many design companies today to choose from and they are located all over the world. While it is fine to use a design company located far from you, it could become a problem if a face-to-face meeting is necessary in order to go over some fine details concerning your website design.

You can benefit in many ways by going local with your web designer. Maybe you would like your designer to walk through your company in order to get a good, overall picture of what you do. Perhaps some drawings on paper are necessary so that you can understand fully what the designer has in mind for your site. In both cases, having your designer located on the other side of the world are of no benefit. Just having some regular, short meetings at a local coffee shop together with your designer can help to clear things up that may otherwise take a lot of emails and phone calls to clarify.

If you need a website built for your local business, it is nearly impossible for an outsider to fully understand the nature of the people living in your area. If you hire a local web designer however, he or she will understand how your potential customers think and feel. Adding a bit of local flavor to your site’s design is always a great idea and certainly an outsider will never be able to do that as well as someone who lives near you.

Hiring a local web designer is also a great way to support the economy in your area. Communities everywhere are trying to reduce the number of jobs that are sourced out as   outsourcing can eventually lead to both social and economic collapse.  Instead of contributing to this detrimental effect, you will be helping other business people in your city or town.

Finally, if and when your website runs into problems, your web designer will simply give you a call and perhaps invite you to his/her office so that you can sit down together and hammer out a solution. On the other hand, if your designer is located far away from you  in another time zone for instance, they may stop working on your site all together until they can reach you – which will delay the launching of your site.

A good resource for hiring local talent is www.craigslist.org. Another good resource is to simply search in Google for a local designer.

Millions of us rely on a printed newspaper as a way to read the happenings in the world. A newspaper is in fact, a very good example of a static media. Once a story has been printed on a newspaper, it cannot be changed as its type has been set. You will simply have to wait until the next edition is printed in order to receive the latest news. Much in the same way, a static website cannot be changed until the webmaster or someone familiar with HTML or flash edits and/or updates the content.

A dynamic website, on the other hand, offers the owner the ability to upload information on their own, usually via a password protected interface. It is not a requirement that the owner knows HTML or website design. He can simply change the site as he pleases.

If you are attempting to rent out a cottage on a beach somewhere, and you just need to show a few photos of the outside and interior of that summer home, provide the rental rates and your contact information, a static site would be perfect. On the other hand, if you were in the real estate business in a very competitive market, you need to keep your information updated on a regular basis with your new listings. In this case a dynamic website is the perfect solution.

You may wish to go with a static website when:

• Your objective is simple. You will provide some text and some images in an eye-pleasing manner
• You do not plan to change the content often, if at all
• You are quite sure that you will not need to change or add any functionality to your site for some time well into the future
• You are not all that concerned with optimizing your site for the search engines
• You have no plans to enhance your online business

If you are serious about getting your site ranked well, you will have to update and refine your content on a regular basis. It is possible to change and update the content on a static website, but it is not convenient and does require that you know HTML.  A static website can be looked at as an online business card as it is a good way of providing additional information about your existing business.

Advantages of a static website:

• Very quick to develop
• Inexpensive to develop
• Inexpensive to host

Disadvantages of a static website:

• Web development skills are required in order to update the site
• Not as useful to the user
• Content can become outdated

You may wish to go with a dynamic website when:

• You plan on selling products online
• You plan to update your website on a regular basis
• Your site will be updated by more people than just yourself
• You may want to add some functionality to your site at some time in the future
• It is very important to you to optimize your website for the search engines
• You want to gain visitors to your site

Advantages of a dynamic website:

• A highly functional website
• Very easy to update
• Fresh content draws visitors back to the site and helps in search engine ranking
• More than one user can develop/work on the site

Disadvantages of a dynamic website

• Takes longer to develop
• More costly to develop
• Costs more to host

Summary

If you are a small business owner or if the services and/or products you offer are few and easy to explain, then a static website would suit you just fine. But, if you have a lot of products and/or services and you want to allow your site visitors to be able to search through your inventory, a dynamic website is best.  A static website is rather limited in its functionality while the dynamic site has a great deal of potential in terms of functionality, but it can be complex to use.

Below are ten tips that can guide you in undertaking a successful redesign of your site:

1. Set Strategic Goals.

Instead of blindly jumping in to make changes your site, it is important that you think things through clearly by defining the purpose of the redesign. Jot down what your aim is. Is it to make the site more user-friendly, to better showcase your products and services, or do you want to offer visitors more informational text and/or photos?

2. Do Some Research.

You would not change the look of your home’s interior without first consulting family members or looking through design magazines for ideas. The same should hold true when you set out to change your website. Do some research to find out how your site is doing traffic-wise and how it is perceived by visitors. Consider putting up some online surveys or usability tests  before making any changes. Once you get a good picture of how your site is currently being used, you can then formulate a plan to make the proper changes to improve the user experience.

3. Take Control of the Redesign Project.

Redesigning your website may require some outside help. Therefore you will need to set a budget and see to it that it is adhered to. You should also set up a time line which clearly outlines when certain aspects of your site should be modified. You need to be on top of the entire project, so be prepared to organize people, the details and the work flow.

4. Take a Good Hard Look at Your Content.

Now that you are undertaking a website redesign, it is time to look at your content. After getting some feedback from your site visitors, you know what it is that your users expect out of your site. Write some fresh content so that your visitors are given up-to-date and useful information. New, unique content also acts as ‘link bait’ which helps build external links to your pages. Optimized content is what the search engines thrive on, so weed out any weak content and replace it with something fresh and interesting.

5. Consider Your Site’s Usability

Site usability is a buzzword that is used a lot, but do you know what it means? In short, usability refers to how easily a visitor can get around your website, in other words – how usable it is. If someone has to hunt around for information such as your contact details and your ‘home’ link, then your site has a usability issue in its design which must be addressed.

6. Check Your Site’s Speed

When it comes to web design, one of the most important aspects is the speed of your site. Your visitors will leave very quickly if they have to wait over 10 seconds for a page to load. There are various free online tools that check the speed of your site. Google recently announced something that many in the SEO community already suspected: that the search engine will now consider site speed when ranking results. If your website takes too long to load, you may find yourself slipping in the search engine result pages (SERPS). Increasing the speed of your site may involve changing hosts or it could mean that you should look at a new publishing platform. It could even mean that you have to undertake a complete overhaul of the type and format of your site’s content.

7. Check your Site’s Meaning/Message

One of the most aggravating things when surfing the web is to land on a page and not being able to figure out what the website is about. Usually, these sites are rather ‘artsy’ in nature meaning that the design may look very appealing but you have to dig in order to find out the point of the website. Be sure that your visitors know immediately what your site is about when they arrive because if you don’t, they will leave in a flash.

8. Have A Back-up of Your Old Site

Before making any drastic changes to your website, be sure that you keep a backup file of the present site. In case your new website design fails to draw more traffic, then the old site can be reloaded.

9. Create Clear Contact Us and Informational Pages

To assist with local search results, be sure that you provide detailed address and contact information. If your products can be found in local stores, be sure that you convey this on your site. This will make it easy for your targeted audience and customers to interact and do business with you.

10. Test your Redesign.

In order to be certain that the new design works, have a few people test your layout. You can post a ‘sneak preview’ on your home page a few weeks before launching the new design so that you can received feedback in order to ‘tweak’ your site so that it is designed as best as it can be.

These tips should give you a bit of guidance when you are considering a website redesign. If you think your users are used to your website content and layout, but it could do with some improvements to the overall usability, then introduce small changes gradually.