Establishing an online presence is essential for every company. It allows businesses to reach consumers effectively with minimum resources and update them regarding the latest product releases.
One way of creating this online presence is by developing a user-friendly website. For a website that generates high revenue when selling products online, businesses prefer hiring ecommerce website designers.
However, many design their website in-house to save costs and best reflect their business model. If you create your website design, incorporate the components mentioned here for optimum results.
- Appearance and Layout
Your website’s overall appearance plays a crucial role in determining its success. On average, users take 50 milliseconds to form opinions on the site’s layout. If the appearance puts users off, they will likely not return to it again.
To keep users scrolling through your website, ensure a minimalist, clean, easily navigable layout.
Utilize white spaces to shift focus towards vital information. Make sure you organize every element neatly with the help of grid spacing. Ensure pictures and infographics you add supplement the words without conflicting with one another.
When considering your website’s appearance, choose colors that reflect your brand identity while appealing to your demographic. You’ll have to constantly repeat this color scheme when sharing your brand’s content.
Every page on your website must be consistent in design. It should follow the same format, color scheme, and typography. The photos should also correlate with one another. A drastic layout change will make the user feel lost, and they may think that they have accidentally entered a different site.
- Content
Optimizing your content is key to increasing website traffic and enhancing user experience. Always ensure your content is informative and precise. Avoid using complex vocabulary, so users can easily follow.
Encourage users to make purchases and click on articles by incorporating calls-to-action. You can also increase traffic by writing in-demand content your demographic will highly value.
Consider adding infographics to your content. Many users are impatient and want to receive the information as quickly as possible. They may avoid reading lengthy paragraphs and prefer graphics that deliver the exact information concisely and promptly.
Prioritize SEO or search engine optimization strategies to increase organic traffic to your site. Incorporate relevant keywords into your content.
Keywords are the phrases users type into the search engine to get information. You find relevant keywords through Google console, or by researching competitor websites.
Ensure you use your keywords sparingly, as overuse can make the search engine avoid publishing the content. You can also improve SEO through internal linking and decreasing your website’s loading time.
Over time, your website’s content will become outdated. To continue generating traffic to your website, you must update content regularly. You can use a content management system to upload new content and update previous ones without requiring complex coding.
- Navigation
One way to increase users’ time on your website is by optimizing navigation. Users should have easy access to essential tools like the search bars.
The site’s header should lead the user to commonly viewed pages, and the footer should also have links to lead to sought-after information. Consider adding a “back-to-top” button to improve user experience.
Your website’s design should contain breadcrumbs. These allow users to view the site map, so they can go back to any previous page they viewed. Consider adding related articles to each page to encourage users to spend more time on your site, and even make a purchase.
- Mobile Design
Website designing is done mainly on computers. Beginner website designers must consider that users will likely view the site from different devices, such as laptops and mobile phones, and the design should adapt to each screen size.
Shifting design to mobile phones is vital since most people view websites through their phones. However, this shift is challenging, as you must ensure the typography is large enough to read and allow space for other essential elements.
Similarly, adding navigation tools like breadcrumbs to a mobile design is tricky. Consider hiring a professional web designer to ensure your mobile design meets all the requirements.
They can maximize the limited space with essential elements without overcrowding the page.
Final thoughts on quality website design
A well-developed website is critical in generating more leads and helps retain those leads by providing them with a user-friendly interface.
It also encourages past users to revisit your site. Businesses creating their websites should take care of essential components like appearance, content, navigation, content management system, and responsiveness.
Every element you add to your website’s design contributes to its loading time. Make sure you optimize your website, so its loading speed is not compromised. A slow website will have a high bounce rate as users instantly switch to competitor sites. You can use website design software to view the time each component adds to loading to make an informed decision about which features to add and take away.
Developing websites is challenging since it requires many considerations. To ensure all of them are met, businesses should consult web design agencies for the best results.
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Hey Nick/Anthony,
I was guilty of doing everything wrong, Nick. Crowded nav tabs, struggled with mobile devices (as Ryan points out), and was also all over the place with content schedules.
For the last few months though, I’d stick to non-negotiable content scheduling and publishing. Worked out many kinks in the design (and I am still doing it), and more.
It’s never going to be “done” 😁
We get so invested in producing content, being on social, etc. that sometimes our own marketing falls by the wayside. It’s definitely never done. A website is a masterpiece that’s always in progress!
Mobile is a big one Nick. Make sites fast loading and clear looking on mobile devices. Nothing less works in this day and age of most humans owning and using phones.
So true. If I ever land on a site that’s not optimized for mobile, Ryan, I navigate away with haste!