There are many things that one must consider when creating a clear and readable web design. Some folks have gone so far in their research that they have had subjects wear a device that measures where their eyes look while browsing web pages.

The article below was focused on eyetracking of online articles for news sites, but many of the information gleaned can be applied to good old readability for all web pages.

When one of world’s best-known usability experts, Jakob Nielsen, conducts eyetracking research to test what his usability work has shown, the results generate some beneficial tips for online editors. This is what happened in late 2005, when Nielsen and Tara Pernice Coyne, the Nielsen/Norman Group’s director of research, conducted an eyetracking test with 255 people in New York City.

With a little more than half of the participants (63 percent) ages 30 to 49, the test generated results applicable to the target audience for most news sites. Additionally, 20 percent were 18-29 and 16 percent were 50-64. Fifty-eight percent were female, 42 percent were male. Every test subject was given 50 tasks to complete. Sessions with each test subject lasted about one to two hours.

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So you got one of these newfangled website things for your business. The site looks great, has a ton of info about your business but there is a problem. You have only been getting a couple of visits a day.

A common misnomer concerning websites is that all you have to do is put one out there on the Internet and new customers will come flowing in. Unfortunately it isn’t that easy.

Your website is just another tool in your marketing cadre, and it is a powerful one at that. In other formats you are limited in the amount of information that you can squeeze into the space you have. Yellowpages ads are only so big. That is especially true with business cards. But a website gives you the ability to put a whole lot of info into a very small about of space (it is virtual space after all). A link to your site on your business card suddenly gives potential customers the ability to find as much information about your business as you care to share. Same with your Yellopages ad, so make sure you get the website link on it when you renew next year.