Design: CSS Websites

The odds of your visitors liking your site when you don't even like it are slim. You may not need a complete website redesign. Think about changing the coloring on the site. In order to bring your site back to life, that may be all that is needed.

Don't fool yourself into believing that SEO alone will get you through. It's a waste of everyone's energy and money if someone visits the site and doesn't like it.

If your website is built around a Web Site Builder, then you may be able to just apply a new template. Go through each and every page after installing a new template, and especially check that each page has the same size width, and that your pictures aren't too wide.

eCommerce software such as OSCommerce or Zen Cart have themes and templates which are easy to locate. You should also be able to find many nice themes if your site is based on CMS (Content Management System). There are also many themes that can be installed quite simply if your blog uses WordPress. WARNING: Be sure to make a back-up of your site before making any changes to the theme of your shopping cart, blog or CMS-based site because new templates can often overwrite previously customized layouts or pages.

Enroll in a stock photo site. Use royalty free images on your website to keep a vibrant and updated look. istockphoto.com is a good place to begin. Photos, illustrations, and even videos can be found here. Beware of videos though. Slow load times are a bane to your clients and even Google.

Another thing to watch out for - Make sure that the pictures you use are of the highest quality. Make sure that if you modify or resize them, they do not appear grainy. For it to be done right, you may need to invest in Photoshop. People really don't like pictures that look cheap. Make sure you do not have too many pictures to avoid slow load times.

Make sure your content is regularly updated. Stagnant sites lose search engines' interest. They might think that you have quit the business.

If you add a forum or blog, people can discuss your service or products. Continue to monitor the comments in the blog and forum section to ensure you quickly answer questions or remove objectionable posts.