A graphic header for your website is an important element to develop trust, portray a certain look and in certain cases increase sales. It can also be used for branding if you have a network of related sites or want to develop a brand by incorporating logos.

The problem, though, is that creating a free web site header has traditionally been a fairly laborious and complicated task, depending on your level of skill and familiarity with what I can only describe as powerful software for something that should be a relatively simple task.

The pre-requisite when designing your own header would be familiarity with a piece of software such as Photoshop. First you would select the image size. Popular sizes for headers are : 600x125, 650x135, 700x145, 750x150 and 800x165. Be aware when choosing larger sizes that your site may display differently on other monitors and browsers.

Once you have decided on the size of header you want, you initially have a blank header template. When designing your free web site header, you will need to decide on what images to use and how they are going to be displayed in the header itself. With something such as Photoshop you would build up the header using layers, first selecting a background colour or image and progressing from there. You would usually include title text in the header itself as well and possibly the URL of your website.

If all this seems a long winded process to create a free web site header, there is of course the option of paying for a design company or individual to make you one for your site. As a one-off cost for one or two sites this may be a good option, but if you have multiple sites this can become a rather costly affair.