Author: Tiara Rea

Everybody wants a beautiful website, but sometimes it’s hard to know what’s missing or what can be added to take your page from just OK to really amazing. If you search in Google for tutorials or tips, you’re sure to find thousands of suggestions from millions of websites and webmasters, so it’s sometimes hard to sort through it all.

Since it’s the holiday season and all, I figured I’d be kind enough to compile 3 really simple tips for webmasters to use to enhance the beauty and usability of your website. Remember, this isn’t just about making it “pretty”, because to me the ‘beauty’ of a site can also mean clean code or an added technological edge. So here’s my 3 quick tips. I hope you enjoy and use them wisely!

1. Use AJAX

I often use Ajax to clean my kitchen sinks!…but that’s not the kind of Ajax I had in mind. In fact, I mean AJAX, Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, which if you say five times fast you’ve conquered a real tongue-twister but if you add it to your website, you’ve got dynamic, amazing results. The best part about using AJAX is that it takes the load off the server and off your bandwidth limitations every month. By loading the content in the background and not having to refresh every time you click somewhere or try to load an application, AJAX saves you time and saves your server from doom.

Some of the biggest advantages to AJAX can be seen on any AJAX-based website, and if you can’t think of any off the top of your head, let me share a small list of sites using AJAX technology:

* Google – for their Auto-Complete functions, gmail, Google Groups, and almost everything else.
* Yahoo – pretty similar to Google but I really love their AJAX-powered search feature even more than Google’s (*hides from Google cohorts!*)
* BaseCamp – one of Lunarpages’ favorites, an AJAX-based project management system
* Kayak – for their calendar function, which I think is especially cool
* Meebo – for AJAX-powered IMing, which is awesome by the way
* Lunarpages – yep! We are AJAX-powered for our domain search and Order Pages

And if you’re wondering about some tutorials for getting started with AJAX, check out W3Schools, AJAX-Tutorials, or for a comprehensive list of tutorials online check out Max Kiesler’s site.

2. Give Your Site a Makeover

I know, I know, it sounds very cutesy, but in all honesty, giving your site a much-needed makeover can help boost its rank in Google, gain your customer or audience’s trust, and can also help your site gain respect in your community. Think about the way you feel when you come across a poorly-designed site versus the way you feel when you see something that’s out of this world, something someone clearly spent time redesigning.

A couple things to think about when giving your site a makeover:

* VisualSite Designer & PageMason: Take advantage of our free stuff!! Especially for a visual redesign you can use CoffeeCup’s drag-and-drop designer or our template-driven PageMason. Either way, you’re sure to get a great design and it’s completely free with your LP account.
* Good Color Scheme: Seriously, a great color scheme on your site can really make a difference. So maybe it’s time to give your red-and-yellow plaid background a rest and put up a neutral brown or a funky brown-and-blue. Here’s a good online color generator you can use to give matching colors up a shot!
* Less is More: Don’t try to cram ten thousand words onto your index page or smother your pages with pictures. Likewise, don’t just put “I am awesome” under your About Me page or have a blank background. Find a happy medium when it comes to images, text, and colors, and if you get stuck, take a look at some of the sites you like to visit and take notes, or just read this handy little guide to contemporary web design.

3. Add Interactivity

If you’re running a business, it’s especially important to connect with your visitors. If you’re not running a business, it just makes your site that much cooler. Keep in mind too that interactivity doesn’t just mean a blog, chat, or forum feature, though those are great additions to any site; it can also mean choosing the proper technology to make learning about your products fun and creative. I’d recommend you consider adding one of the following features to your site, depending on the subject or theme of your site:

* Blog: Yep, Lunarpages loves blogs! They’re a great way to connect with your audience, offer your own tips and tricks, and also get crawled by Google.
* AJAX: Already said that above, but that kind of technology can help you add fun to your site. One of our developers, Kaanon, came up with this cute AJAX application, or you can Add a bouncing effect to text, images, and more, or implement drag and drop into your web design or collaboration software! While these things are incredibly fun to play with, customers will also appreciate the ease at which everything is controllable, movable, and interactive. You could also add a zoom effect to enhance any map, directions, photo collages, artwork, and more.

So those are 3 quick tips and they’re meant to be starting points for your own ideas and creative input. So begin with this small guide and feel free to give us your own tips for what you do to spice up your own sites! We’re always looking out for free webmaster tips.