Web Design Guide to Building Better Links

The importance of links in a web page should beslightly more specific information than the previous one,
obvious to any designer, whether experienced or not.and so on, allowing viewers to slowly refine their
Your clients will undoubtedly request that links besearch.
placed in the sites you create for them and your webWeb design Tip #3: How to Write Links and Setting
design company will ensure that you do so. DesignersThem
must not forget that the overall content of a site is notSome good guidelines to follow when creating links are
limited to the text, but includes images, links and all theshown below.
other relevant components of a properly designed• The log files of your website will contain
web page.information regarding the most common search terms
In Web Design Links Reinforce Scannabilityused by visitors to your site. Try to identify these
Online visitors to a site are almost always drawn firstterms and include them in your web pages as links to
to images. Links are the next thing that they notice,the other parts of your site.
because they are always underlined and coloured• You should ensure that links lead to the
differently from the rest of the text. Your web designpages that they are supposed, and not elsewhere.
company is likely to instruct you to make sure that linksLinks that do not lead readers to the pages that they
included in each web page catch the attention ofexpect to visit do not form a very good impression of
viewers. Links, in addition to good textual content, willyour client or your web design company and this will
allow readers to scan through your web page quickly.not be good for your reputation as a designer.
Links will only do this effectively if they areReaders who feel that they have been tricked will
well-worded and have some relevance to the contentlikely leave the site and not come back again.
of the rest of the web site. Your web design• Make the text of your links clear and
company will probably make an effort to emphasizeconcise. And if they state that they link to something
the need for this.such as an e-book, phrase them such that there is no
Web design Tip #1: Links on Your Home Pagemistaking where the link should lead. "This e-book..." is a
A good web site should always contain links to all thegood example of a link that should lead to an e-book,
other parts of the site on its home page, unless theand not some other web page.
entire site consists of only a single page. Most visitors• Links should always serve a clear purpose.
to the site are likely to simply scan through the contentIf you have included a link in a web page and are
of the home page, so it is important to ensure that theunable to clearly define the purpose of the link, then it
text of each link clearly describes the part of the siteshould be removed. Always keep in mind that the
that it links to. Your links must also stand out, so avoidpurpose of your web design company is to provide
having a home page comprised solely of links and noservices to both your clients and readers so make
other text. Link titles should also be plain andsure you only include links that are important.
straightforward, giving readers a very clear descriptionBoth your Web Design company and your clients will
of where the link will lead. Your web design companydefinitely appreciate it if you take the effort to make
will undoubtedly be happy if you also include links tosure that links are as effective and well-integrated into
other general pages found on your website.the website content as possible. The text that
Web design Tip #2: General to Specific is the Way tosurrounds a link should contain relevant and useful
Goinformation, and the link itself should be related to the
Online users who are trying to find specific informationsurrounding text, and be very clear in its purpose. If a
will generally follow the same sort of search pattern -link is going to direct readers to another page
they will start their search with general terms that willcomposed entirely of other links, then the first link
get more and more specific as they discover newshould clearly state that it leads to a another page full
information. Links should operate on the same logic,of links.
leading the viewer from each page to a page that has