When we refer to an average user we do not mean a user with average intelligence. Rather, we mean a user with average experience of using the Internet. Yes, there are still people around who browse the web quite infrequently. The article targets such people, who may be average, but nevertheless form an important part of your website users.

Tip 1 - Site Visibility

While most sophisticated users have a resolution of 1024 or more, the typical user is still likely to view the site at a lower resolution. You need to design the site in such a way that the site looks good even at a lower resolution, while designing it for those at or above 1024. Better yet, make the website adaptive or responsive, so that it looks good at all resolutions.

Tip 2 - Ensure your site is listed in search engines

Ask someone who is over the age of 60 to access a website. Chances are they will open their favorite browser, go to a search engine like google or yahoo, put in the website name (e.g. gmail.com), take a look at the search results, check for gmail.com and then click on the link. This may come as a surprise to you as a web designer, but it is true. Indeed, even today, there are people who search for the entire URLs in a browser despite knowing the entire URL of the website, rather than going to the address bar of the browser and typing the URL.  

What is the lesson to be learned here? Unless you are someone like gmail, it would be best if you ensure that your company is indexed by the well known search engines. Otherwise, the standard user is just as likely to miss your website, despite knowing the proper URL.

Tip 3 - Keep it Simple, Stupid (KISS)

Like everything else in life, it is necessary to apply the KISS principle to your website. You should make sure that the website is basic in its use and navigation. More than fancy graphics and animations or JQuery, your average user is happy to know how to access and use the actual information present in the website. Too much information and clutter or not enough intuitive navigation, and you have lost the user.

Tip 4 - Ensure the right Meta tags

The regular user judges the site by the title and the description of the website as it appears in the search engines return page.  For example, which URL do you think the average user will click if he / she is searching for website design company in Charlotte?

Title 1: We provide the best, most cost effective, and eye catching web design services in the world!

Title 2: UG-Online is a web design and development company based in Charlotte, NC.

It is more likely that the average user will click on the website associated with Title 2.