For most, the website is the first impression of a business or business professional. As the world becomes more and more mobilized that will become more and more true. So the importance of strong web design cannot be understated.
Most people judge the quality of a company on its web presence just as they would the brick and mortar storefront.
Read on to put some top tips for website designing to use in creating a web presence that will rank with the best!
Highly Successful Tips for Website Designing
There is not one key element that will bring success to a page or collection of webpages and these are all equally important, for the most part. Each of these items builds off another and works synergistically to create a more effective unit.
1. Design for Efficiency
More than ever people are in a mindset of “we want it and we want it now”. That is why designing with minimum load time on your website is essential.
Also, because this is a large factor in the mind of the viewer and the consumer it becomes a strong factor in search engine ranking. A slow-loading page may not even reach the user because they will find someone else, ranked higher.
This can be obtained by simple changes like properly optimizing images before adding them to the design process and using readily available typefaces so that a special server request is not needed each time the page is accessed.
2. Keep the Visual Structure in Mind
Is your product and/or brand front and center? Hitting them over the head is not a bad thing in this case. You need to create a bold impression right from the get-go, before any reading has even been started.
There is a reason particular logos work and others don’t, it is visual recognition and effective design. They say little to nothing but the instant you see them the message is received and understood.
This isn’t just what you include but also what you don’t. Blank or “white” space can be an extremely powerful design tool. It is utilized to create structure and draw attention to specific areas without adding in new elements.
White space is incredibly easy on the eyes and makes for a strong professional look as well.
3. Mobile-Friendly, Also Known as Responsive, Design.
BroadbandSearch has reported web traffic on mobile devices was at 16.2 percent in 2013 and had grown to 52.2 by the year 2019, actually overtaking the amount of web traffic seen from desktop devices.
Responsive design is at first the automatic resizing of the layout and elements (ex. images) of the layout to fit the proper device that the webpage is being viewed upon. But there is more to it than that.
It also takes into consideration what will run most effectively on the particular device it is being viewed on.
For example, how will you change link interaction when going from a desktop size to a mobile phone size? A mouse click operates much differently than a finger tap. Things that are easy to do in one manner may not be as easy in another.
4. K.I.S.S
They often say “keep it simple stupid”. This rule of sorts stands for web design, standard layouts in favor of a bizarre design that could, as well, cause longer load times, and clean structure.
There are many ways to make yourself stand out from the bunch while still operating within the common rules.
Make sure to use short concise paragraphs but never forget to write in a personal manner. These people might be your customers but they shouldn’t feel pandered to.
Keep menus to as few items as possible and never close to or more than seven. With that, best practice says that a drop-down menu is a wrong selection. This is due to eye focus and attention retainment.
It is far less likely that the viewer will retain all the information seen in a drop-down as in a standard list and they may be more confused concerning the navigation of the page.
5. The “Fold”
This is the content that is immediately visible when opening the page, it has to hook the reader. This is essential because a huge majority of viewers drop off after that fold is passed and even more after the second screen of content.
57% of website viewers spend their time primarily above the fold and 17% after and then the other 26% are all other screens combined.
It is important to grab them from the get-go and make them know that this is somewhere they want to be. Just like a huge headline makes you want to read more, not just want but crave more.
This is the same thing, you have limited real estate and have to maximize the impact you make with it.
6. Less Is More
Humans as a whole, tend to overthink things. So when they are given many choices it only makes sense that they will take more time to make a decision or not make one at all.
It is a concept that should be kept in mind when designing as illustrated by a study shown here. With a smaller pool to pick from, customers made selection far more often.
This plays into the K.I.S.S idea, clutter is always bad, consciously and unconsciously. It looks bad and draws attention away and in this case, makes a call to action far less effective than it could be.
7. Personalize and Socialize
This has become a more and more important element as the internet community has evolved. Offering “social leverage” is an important utility to grow trust in the brand/site. Show that others speak highly of you, share your content, interactions, reviews.
The other side of this is designing to fit who you are. Any creative team can work to create an effective, efficient design but is it your design?
If the site design is not being curated to fit your persona, all that it is is another generic site in the mass of many. It will be lost in the mix. The character has to be central and you have to show what is different in how you design.
Not enough? Find even more web design tips as follows.
Importance of a Strong Web Presence
Another aspect of a strong web presence is SEO ranking, take these tips for website designing and use the SEO tools we have provided to learn more. There are tutorials and articles on the topic for further learning to read as well.
Using all of these resources you can establish a strong, professional web presence.