For businesses today, an online presence is everything. If your company is not active on social media or does not have an up-to-date website, odds are consumers will not invest in your brand. Designing a website is so much more than just visual appearance. Responsive design and the inclusion of important information is something that all webpages should incorporate today. Having a website that is not complete or has features that do not function correctly, only frustrates users and again, pushes them away from your brand.
So, what are the best tactics for designing an optimal webpage? Throughout this article, we’ll be discussing the best practices in web design that will help set your business apart from the competition.
Branding is everything
One of the fundamental components of a website is to help further establish your brand to consumers. It is an opportunity for visitors to learn a little more about your company and identify your brand. Good web design will always carry consistent branding throughout the site. Little design elements such as maintaining a uniform colour scheme, using the same logo throughout, and relaying a consistent message, all play a significant role in establishing your brand through your webpage.
Using call-to-action
Implementing effective call-to-actions throughout your webpage is something you’ll notice with all top website designs. After all, one of the principal purposes of a website is to sell customers on your service, having persuasive call-to-actions only solidifies that. Asking visitors to sign up for a newsletter, book a consultation, or contact us are a few simple ways to do this. Another essential component of effective-call-to-actions is the placing of the messaging. Placing a contact us prompt at the end of a service page proves to be highly effective, as consumers now learned about your company and feel compelled to contact you.
Keeping it simple
Next on our list of web design best practices, is a component that many designers often overlook. Minimalism has become a web design standard as it has proven to be remarkably productive. So what are the principal elements of a minimal design? Removing all unnecessary components is a safe place to start. Asking users for their full contact information isn’t always a smart tactic. Instead, solely ask for an email as more consumers are inclined to do so when things are uncomplicated. The placement of significant images or information is also crucial. Instead of scattering multiple images across your page, choose to exclusively include the relevant examples that will help customers understand your brand more.
Cater to the mobile audience
Good web page design should always factor in mobile users. This demographic makes up a large portion of web page visitors, so building your website with successful mobile functionality is crucial. A few critical notes to keep in mind when designing for a mobile platform, plan for the small screen first as it’s more challenging to attempt to scale a full website down, and always test out the mobile version. There’s nothing more frustrating for users than a dysfunctional mobile webpage.
Give users what they want
One of the web design best practices that you may overlook is creating a user-friendly website. Designing your webpage around what your consumers are looking for is the perfect way to please customers. Creating customer conversations through comment sections or contact us pages, and also limiting text are good ways to start. Quality over quantity is a good rule of thumb with this tactic. If the first thing visitors see is an endless amount of text, they will likely turn to another webpage. Keep copy to a minimal by solely incorporating essential information, and pair it with appealing illustrations for viewing pleasure.
Incorporate animations
Animations are a vital part of our web design best practices list. Just like most web design techniques, we suggest keeping these animations to a minimal. Short, informative videos highlighting your primary services or achievements are an excellent way to show consumers what your brand is about and establish that you are a company they can trust. Incorporating animations also displays that your company is ‘with the times’ and understands the essential digital trends to build a powerful online presence.
Convert your online leads
What does it mean to convert your online leads? Remember all those call-to-actions you’ve placed throughout your website? Now it’s time to act on them. When users click ‘contact us,’ you should implement a system that allows you to respond promptly and adequately. Pairing a company email that will notify you each time a user goes through with a call-to-action is an excellent way to tackle this. You’ll notice this web design best practice will help you build lasting relationships with clients.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Next on our web design best practices list, search engine optimization. Commonly referred to as SEO, this tactic is what draws users to your website, making it a key component in how to design a website. What SEO does is essentially establish a high ranking for your web page on search results. Designers accomplish this through the efficient use of keywords. Evenly spreading out searchable keywords or phrases throughout the copy of your website, enables more visibility for your page. Contacting a professional firm to implement these tactics is strongly recommend.
Make navigating your site easy
This web design best practice may seem obvious, but it can get overlooked. Users often get frustrated when it is difficult for them to find a simple way to go back to the homepage, or even scroll back to the top of the page. Incorporating buttons such as ‘back to top’ will go a long way in creating simple navigation set up for users. This tactic is particularly useful when including things like menu design for your website.
Conclusion
So, there you have it! We hope you find these website design ideas on our breakdown helpful! Incorporate these web design practices into your website, and we guarantee you’ll notice a traffic increase. Happy designing!