Every business today needs a website – there is no doubt about that. However, not just any website will do. Web designers are having a lot on their plates nowadays as the expectations of people and the demands of search engine bots keep growing. Your website needs to be both attractive and functional in order to provide the best user experience, but there are a lot of moving parts to designing a solid website. Here are a few tips that will help you stay on the right path.
Less is more
Today, technology allows us to do many cool things with web design. However, that does not mean that you should. A simple design is preferable to a busy one that simply tries to communicate too much information at once. The reason is simple: faced with too many options, people are less likely to actually take action. The famed jam study most people have heard about already concluded this. Too much information makes it difficult for the visitor to tell what they should focus on, and they can easily get overwhelmed. Go for a minimalistic design and keep the visuals sleek.
Make it readable
Readability is a huge factor in the success of a website. Therefore, web design might not be the best place to experiment with interesting, unusual fonts, no matter how much personality you think they have. Text that is too small, too light, or is simply in an unreadable font is a sure way to deter visitors, and this does not only apply to body text but titles and menus, too. Besides the font and the colors, you should also mind how the text is broken up. Huge chunks of text rarely look enticing.
Pick the right colors
The color palette of the design is yet another important element of a stylish and functional website. It is more than just a trivial aesthetic question; colors have the power to influence mood and they also have connotations you can leverage. To keep things simple, you shouldn’t use more than 5 colors in your design. In fact, even monochrome designs can be very effective if you manage to pick a unique shade to build upon. However, the combination of complementary colors is usually preferred in order to keep the page interesting to look at. Make sure your call-to-action buttons are clearly visible by reserving the more saturated colors for them.
Mind the pictures
Most websites will need some kind of pictures for a complete look. Photos boost engagement and will keep visitors lingering around for longer. That is, if they are properly optimized. Every picture you use needs to be compressed so as it doesn’t interfere with your loading speed. In addition, keep in mind that photos are more than just a placeholder. Picking the right ones is crucial. Many designers choose the easy way and grab a few stock photos. You should note that using stock images is one of the biggest design mistakes you could make. They lack personality and fail to contribute to the credibility of the site.
Make navigation intuitive
Simplicity should also be reflected in the organization of the site and the navigation. You don’t want to confuse your visitors with complicated navigation but everything should come intuitively. Poor navigation can easily be the reason for a visitor to simply give up and leave your website. So, steer clear of ambiguous words in your navigation and don’t overstuff your menus. Keep items an appropriate space apart to avoid confusion. The hierarchy should be logical and visitors should find what they are looking for in a streamlined manner.
Add quality content
You are probably already aware of just how important publishing relevant content will be once your website is up and ready. However, you shouldn’t wait until the design is done to start working on the content; rather, it’s a good idea to have content already prepared before you start. That way, you will be able to accommodate the design to the amount of text that is expected to be published on the different pages. It’s also a great way to get a preview of the overall look and make some final tweaks before things go live.
Speed is a priority
Website speed is a priority, both for user experience and for SEO reasons. A slow-loading website is bound to lose a great chunk of its traffic, ruining your efforts at ranking, so don’t let your website get bloated. Besides image compression, it’s also useful to be aware of design elements that don’t contribute much to engagement but can slow down your site, such as carousels. If you struggle with optimizing your website for better loading speed, you can turn to experts in web design from Sydney and other leading cities who have plenty of experience.
Mobile-friendliness is a must
Mobiles are taking over desktops at a rapid speed and today, about half of all web traffic can be accounted to these devices, according to Google. So, when designing your website, mobile-friendliness should not be an afterthought. Rather, it should be the standard. Responsive design is the only viable way to go today when separate mobile sites are simply impractical. Making sure that all your text is easily readable on the small screen and that call to action buttons are large enough are just some of the crucial steps of responsive web design.
There’s a lot that you need to pay attention to when you want to create a simple but functional website. Remember at all times that less is more and focus on quality and performance. It will keep both your visitors and Google happy.
