It’s so easy to get lost when you are designing a new website. So many things to get clear in your head.
How do you design a website to help you build trust and guide visitors to take the action you want?
Below are some guidelines that will help you considering your next web project.
1. WEBSITE PURPOSE
Your website needs to accommodate the needs of the user. Having a simple clear intention on all pages will help the user interact with what you have to offer.
Ask yourself what is the purpose of your website?
– Imparting practical information (how-to guide)
– Are you selling a product/service to the user?
– Are you generating leads for your business?
– Instigating conversations with potential customers?
– Describing expertise?
2. KEEP IT SIMPLE (STUPID)
Keep it simple, stupid (KISS) is a design principle which states that designs and/or systems should be as simple as possible. Wherever possible, complexity should be avoided as simplicity guarantees the greatest levels of user acceptance and interaction.
So, with design try and ensure:
- Colour
Find a colour palette that fits your brand that will allow you to influence your customer’s behaviour towards your brand. Colour selection should be limited to less than 5 colours.
- Typography
Typography has such an important role to play on your website. It commands attention is a visual interpretation of your brand’s voice. 3 different typefaces max, and should be easy to read. Less fonts including weights means less to load.
- Imagery
I can’t tell you how often I talk to clients about the importance of good images. It’s your first impression and can make a huge impact on how visitors gain an impression of your business. They also have to be consistent in style and tone. - Layout
The layout needs to be simple too and with mobile use – this is especially important. Icons need to be finger friendly for example, content should be given plenty of room to breathe and not cramped. You need to prioritise the most important web content correctly and ensure visitors are seeing the most important info/services/functions immediately and have suitable routes to other important content.
3. NAVIGATION
Someone coming to your website, should not need a map to find their way around. If the website’s navigation is confusing visitors will give up and find what they need elsewhere. Navigation should be intuitive and make the user journey easy. Website navigation is key to retaining visitors.
4. CONTENT
Effective web design has both great design and great content. Using compelling language great content can attract and influence visitors by converting them into customers.
5. LOAD TIME
Half of all website visitors expect a site to load in 2 seconds, and if it doesn’t load, what happens…. they leave after just 3 seconds! Waiting for a website to load will lose visitors. Optimising image sizes will help load your site faster.
6. MOBILE FRIENDLY
How do 75%+ search for information online? Their mobile. Well, then your website needs to be designed with this in mind. Your website needs to be designed to be both mobile-friendly and responsive. You want to make sure that whatever the screen your visitor is using, they can read and understand your key messages.
7. SEO READY
Having a lot of internal links from one page to multiple others gives good navigation options but this is also important for good SEO ranking. Good design decisions and layout will improve SEO no end as will naming your images correctly, getting your language of written content correct and ensuring it is full of important search terms. Designers should also make sure existing SEO ranking is transferred to the new website if necessary. H1 headers are also vitally important and a blog is always recommended. But all of these things start with good SEO research from an expert.
Need a website that is really going to represent your business accurately? A website that will look fantastic and be user friendly and a joy to use? A website that will funnel online enquiries and/or facilitate online purchases?Get in touch – we’d love to help.
