Why some websites are ugly and how to make yours a little more beautiful

I see a lot of template and D.I.Y. websites that look ugly and outdated, yet are being used as a calling card for professional people.

I understand that cost is often a consideration and custom design is not for everyone. But I want to encourage those of you who are offering professional services to match your website appearance to the caliber of service you provide.

My mom always told me you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, and that is true, but the problem is, we ALL make snap judgments about quality based on appearance because we live in such a visual society. You are being Googled, whether you realize it or not, and judgments are being made about you by your website.

So if you are using a website template or D.I.Y. tool, here are some tips on how to easily make your website a little more beautiful. I am sure I have overlooked plenty, please add your thoughts in the comments.

• Watch out for cut and paste. I see a lot of  pasted Word document content. The problem is, Word has built in formatting that will override the CSS style settings of your website, so the content you paste directly from Word will not look like it belongs. If you are using Wordpress, try using the Word or Text clipboard paste tool when pasting text, or the text cleaner (eraser tool) to remove formatting from the imported text.

• Padding around images. When text buts up against your images with no breathing room it just looks bad. In Wordpress, when you edit the image, click on the “Advanced” tab and next to Image Properties add “10px” vertical and horizontal spacing. Ahhhh, that’s better.
• Use a transparent background for images. If you want to use your logo or another image in the header of your site, ask your designer for a version with a transparent background vs. white. Your image will blend in to the header better without that white blocky background.

• Consistent image size. Mismatched image sizes from page to page make your site look jumbled. Try to stick with a certain size standard, i.e. 250px square or 250px x 180px.

• Limit font colors. Just because your website editor gives you 20 different font color choices, that doesn’t mean you need to use them all. Stick with one main color for text with a complementary color for headings and links. If you are using a Wordpress theme, this will already be set for you through the style sheet, but again, pasting from Word will override this so just be aware.

• Keep fonts and styles consistent. Your website will look more unified if you limit your font choice to one or two and keep all headings as H1 for example, with H2 for subheadings. Also, watch capitalization, i.e. are the words in the headline all capitalized or just the first word? Either way is okay, just keep it consistent.

• Uniform ad size. I see a lot of pasted ad graphics in sidebars that are a jumble of shapes, sizes and colors. This is really distracting for the reader. If you are going to use advertising, try to keep the ad size and shape uniform. You might not be able to control the color, but the size should be tweak-able.

The website content you offer and the conversions that happen as a result is going to be a better measure of success than the beauty factor. But, if you can make your site easy on the eyes, easy to navigate, and easy to take action — you’ve done it all. I’m with you all the way

What suggestions do you have?