If you are a creating a new website for your new business, you are likely to be nervous. Web design can be overwhelming when tackling it for the first time. Nevertheless, here is an important piece of advice for you: the search engines could care less about a website's design. The only people who care about the design and you and your readers. Guess what? In most cases, they want something simple; something that loads easily and quickly. This means that you need to stop overanalyzing your upcoming business website because readers do not want anything tricky; they do not need any flashy images, and so forth.

One of the best ways to ensure your business website is simple and perfect is not to focus on what you should do, but rather focus on what you should not do. You can keep reading on to familiarize yourself with a few web design mistakes you do not want to make.

Mistake #1: Using Flash Instead of Text It seems as if many web designers have started a love affair with flash; they love it! Yes, it is catchy, but it does not really work well with most business websites. For starters, the search engines do not like Flash and this can negatively influence your search engine ranking. Since you are running a business website, the ability for your website to appear in searches through Yahoo or Google is vital to your success. Moreover, flash can increase the size of a page and it takes longer to load.

I will be the first to tell you that there are some neat websites that use flash, but most are nothing other than annoying. Flash is best for entertainment websites or those looking to make a hip and modern impression. Your business needs to make a professional impression; therefore, it is best to use text. In addition, you cannot ignore the fact that most internet users look at flash as something annoying.

Mistake #2: Using Small Text Text size is tricky because you do not want to go too big, but you do not want to go too small either. Your best option is to go with bigger if you are not sure. When text is too small, your site visitors cannot read it and they will leave your website and go to one of your competitors. Never assume an internet user will adjust the text size on their screen if it is too hard to read; they will not do this.

Mistake #3: Using Too Many Graphics Yes, images are good especially if your company sells products (you want to show pictures of those products), but do not go overboard. For starters, it is not a good idea to use an image as your background; a solid color is best because the text is easier to read. Do not put too many graphics on your site because it may take too long for those still using dialup to load. As for the placement of those graphics, they should flow with the content of your website. You don't want to just toss a bunch of graphics up on your website.

The above-mentioned three mistakes are mistakes you want to avoid making when designing your new business website. Basically, you want to keep it simple and make your website user friendly.

About the author

Peter Brittain is from professional web designers Slinky Web Design and is the author of Earth Movin' Media, a web design blog.