June 8th - 2009

WIRED OFFICE: Keep your website simple

Anybody and everybody can have a website. Register a domain, follow a template, and in minutes you can have a website. Having a “good” website takes considerably more thought and effort.

Anybody and everybody can have a website. Register a domain, follow a template, and in minutes you can have a website. Having a “good” website takes considerably more thought and effort.

For starters, your website should be “usable”. What is the main purpose of your website? Who is your audience? How quickly can they find the information they need? Is it easy to find information on your site? Is the language simple enough for everyone to understand? Is the font size large enough to read? Is the layout clean and simple? A consistent layout throughout your site makes it easier for your users to navigate your site.

It may seem really cool to load up your site with music, animations and graphics, but unless these things contribute directly to your content, they merely act as distractions. They also affect the amount of time it takes for your website to load. If your users have to wait, they’ll go elsewhere. Internet users are an impatient lot.

General appearance
Be sure to test your site with different browsers (for example, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Google Chrome), as each may interpret your code slightly differently. Be sure that your site appears in a way that is satisfactory to you.

If you are going to use colour for your backgrounds, use a text colour that contrasts well. Black or dark blue text on white background, while perhaps bland in appearance, is still easiest to read. One fact to keep in mind when designing your site is that studies suggest about eight to 12 per cent of men and about one-half of one per cent of women experience some type of colour blindness, and have difficulty distinguishing some colours, most often reds and greens. Go ahead and use colour for things like links, but be sure to have them underlined as an additional way to distinguish them from the rest of your text.

Non-serif fonts such as Arial or Verdana are easiest to read on screen. For most of your content, use sentence case type, which means the first letter of the sentence is capitalized, with the rest being lower case, unless requiring capitalization for a specific reason such as proper nouns or acronyms. If you choose to use uppercase, use it sparingly and for emphasis. Text that is left-justified and ragged-right is easiest to read.

Use low resolution images. They’ll load faster and will not detract from the appearance on the Web. Provide text descriptions in the form of “alt tags” for images so that screen readers (software programs that read the text out loud to users - often visually impaired) can interpret the text. With these in place, you’ll be able to see the text description when you hold your cursor over the image, and screen readers will be able to read these out loud.

Content
When it comes to reading content on the Web, people tend to scan rather than read each and every word. Also, English may not be your readers’ first language. With this in mind, keep your words and sentences short and simple. Speak to your readers in a conversational tone – refer to them as “you” rather than “the person.” Present lengthier pieces of information in point form.

If you’re looking for content for your website, OREA provides free articles which you can use on your website or in newsletters. These articles can be found in the Members Only section of the OREA website. Scroll down to Sales Tools in the side menu, and then select Articles for Your Use. You can select the text and then copy and paste it into your preferred method of communication.

Encourage clients and potential clients to contact you. Provide your business contact information on your website, such as a business e-mail address, office address, and office phone number. For safety reasons, do not post your home address, phone number, etc. Keep in mind that anyone who has Internet access can see your contact information. Also keep this in mind if listing the details of a client’s home on the internet.

The Internet is dynamic – change is constant. Be sure to update your website content on a regular basis so your website visitors will have something new to read on return visits.

A website can be the equivalent of slapping your business card on the Internet (kind of like gluing it on your screen), or it can be a place where people will return time and again to find information because it is well presented and easy to follow. Make your site one to which people will want to return.

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For more information contact

Ontario Real Estate Association

Jean-Adrien Delicano

Senior Manager, Media Relations

JeanAdrienD@orea.com

416-445-9910 ext. 246

Ontario Real Estate Association
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