This article will share eight vital elements of web designing and the dos and don’ts to help you create effective and optimised websites. You’ll understand how websites work better and what it takes to develop appealing and converting sites.
Why Web Design Must Be Effective
First of all, we need to give you an idea of what makes a website effective and why it has to be that way. The simple answer is that it has to convert visitors into buyers effectively. The visitor needs to be persuaded that your product or service is right for them. That’s what designers focus on the most.
But some designers create websites that focus on the website’s aesthetics—the shape and layout of the website. This kind of website is pure eye-candy and can be easily enjoyed, but it doesn’t have the potential of converting a visitor into a buyer.
How Effective Web Design Becomes a Business Asset
Let’s try to get to the bottom of why a website has to be effective. We’ll start from the very beginning and see how your site can help you in your business.
1. You Can Attract a Lot of Visitors
Correctly designed websites draw attention. If your site attracts the attention of many visitors, you’ll have a chance to convert them into your clients. There are many ways to do this, but if you don’t have the right site to attract them, your business may suffer and eventually fade.
2. You Can Attract the Right Visitors
The web designer’s goal is to create a site that attracts the right visitors. If you sell sports equipment, you want only athletes to visit your site. If you sell fancy jewellery, you want only people interested in that kind of stuff to see. Trying to attract the wrong visitors to your site is useless. You’ll never get a sale if they don’t want your product.
3. You Can Build Traffic to Your Site
If people can’t find you, it’s like you don’t exist. You need to be found on search engines. How can you do that? There are many ways to write quality content and publish articles and guest posts on other blogs and websites.
4. You Can Create a Reputation for Your Business
If you want to be a household name, you need to build your brand’s reputation. And the best way to build a reputation is by creating a website that people can see and start to recognise you. As we mentioned earlier, your site has to be a great asset to your business, and you need to show it, including testimonials, client stories, case studies and examples of your work and service.
5. You Can Tell the World About Your Services and Products
A website can be your best marketing tool. It can reach many people, but it has to be optimised. Creating a website and expecting your visitors to come to you is a foolish thing to do.
6. You Can Be Found on Social Networks
Search engines are not the only way people find you. Social networks are also used to find information about everything around us. A website can include social media buttons to help your visitors share your content on their favourite networks.
7. You Can Build Relationships with Clients and Build Trust
Many people are reluctant to trust a brand they aren’t familiar with. If you have created a website and continue to build your business, you can quickly build a reputation and trust among your clients.
Top Elements of Web Design
Let’s look at some elements of web design that help create websites.
Visual Design
Visual design is the first thing that you see when viewing a website. Page layout, colour scheme, header image, background image, font type, font sizes, and many more design elements come into play here.
The more appealing your website is, the more likely people visiting your site will stay longer. And that’s what you want them to do—stay on your site.
Visual design is also a massive part of effective web design. You can create your own website if you are looking for inspiration, just like the example shown above. The website has a visual design that is very simple but effective. The dark background with the light font and a dark logo gives the site a calm and inviting feel.
Content
You need to communicate with your visitors through the content on your website. Include your business and the services and products you offer as much as possible. If you want to increase the number of visitors to your website and turn them into clients, you need to create your website in a way that makes the clients intrigued. A website is the best way to do that.
The content must be high-quality, unique, and informative because your visitors will quickly see if it’s not. The content has to be of high quality but also informative. It should answer questions that people have about your business.
Navigation
Navigation is one of the essential elements of web design. It’s the element that helps visitors quickly move around your site.
The navigation has to be easy to use, straightforward and intuitive. You may use a drop-down menu that can be accessed from anywhere on the website by going to Menu in the top left corner of the screen.
Speed
More and more people are looking for a website to load fast. A slow site loses visitors. So, it’s essential to create a website that loads fast.
To create a fast-loading website, you need to keep the file size as low as possible. It’s always good to optimise the images and build responsive websites compatible with multiple devices and platforms. Another important tip is to avoid giant advertisements that slow the load time of your website.
Mobile Responsiveness
These days, more and more people use their smartphones to access the internet. If your website isn’t responsive, it will appear not to function correctly. Your visitors will quickly lose interest in your site. If a mobile website seems problematic, your visitor will leave and look for a website that works well on a mobile device.
If your website is responsive, it will adjust to the screen it’s being viewed on. A responsive website works well on any device that’s used for internet access. It will resize the text and images depending on the size of the screen. This kind of website works well in an ever-changing technological world.
Branding
Differentiating your brand from other brands calls for a different approach. A brand website is a perfect example of that. But any website that has a strong brand behind it can differentiate itself from other websites.
The primary purpose of a brand website is to keep the brand image consistent and build a feeling of trust in your visitors. A brand website has to have the same look and feel as the logo.
Search Engine Optimisation
If you want to be found on search engines, you need to create a website that uses SEO effectively. You need to create a website that’s visible to search engines.
Make sure you don’t use too many keywords because it will look like you’re trying to rank your site artificially. Make sure that the keywords you use are related to what your site is about, and you won’t have a problem.
User Experience
Most of the time, websites are used to find the right product or service. If your website can do that, your users will stay longer. They will spend more time on your website, and you can use them as a traffic source. Use a simple layout with a few elements that allow visitors to find their way around the website quickly.
The website shows you what you’re looking for simply and clearly. It’s a website that is easy to use and provides visitors with the information they need without the hassle.
Dos for Effective Web Design
✔ Do Make Good Use of White Space
White space is the area between the elements of your website that are used to create a visual scape for your website. White space helps your visitors quickly see the content on the website, which is what you want to do.
✔ Do Add a Clear Navigation
Clear navigation helps people find their way around on your website. It needs to be simple, clear, and well-organised. It will be easier for visitors to navigate the website if it’s well-organised.
✔ Do Add a Clear Call to Action
The purpose of a call to action is to get the visitors to take a specific action. It has to be clear what you want your visitors to do. The call to action has to be the last element to appear on the website.
✔ Do Use a Simple Design
Many people want a simple website for their business because it’s more inviting than a more complex design. A simple design can be very appealing. It’s not only appealing, but it can set your brand apart from the rest. A simple design on a website allows your visitors to find their way around the website easily. A simple website has clear and simple navigation to help your visitors quickly move around the website.
✔ Do Optimise Your Images
One of the biggest mistakes website owners make is creating large images that don’t load quickly. Your visitors will soon move to a different website if they are forced to wait for images to appear on the screen.
✔ Do Use Internal Links to Help Search Engine Ranking
Adding internal links to your site is a great way to get search engines to rank your site higher in the search engine results. The best way to do this is to add internal links related to your site’s content.
Don’ts for Effective Web Design
✘ Don’t Forget to Use Images
We’ve talked about images on the website, but we haven’t discussed using images properly. One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is using too many pictures on the site. People don’t like a lot of images on a website.
There can be too many images when the images aren’t well optimised or very large. Visitors don’t want to wait for your pictures to load.
✘ Don’t Forget to Add Social Media Sharing
Social media is used every day to share content with your followers. If you want your website to be seen by many people and turn them into clients, you have to include social media sharing buttons.
✘ Don’t Use Colour as Your Main Focus
Colours can impact your website, but they should not be the focus of attention. Adding too many colours can make your website look like a Halloween party and not a professional website.
✘ Don’t Overload Your Website with Graphics
Using too many graphics and images will make it hard for you to create a clear and focused website. And that’s not what you want to do. If you want your website to attract many visitors and turn them into clients, you have to create a clear and focused website.
✘ Don’t Use Poor Quality Images
If you have an online business, you need a professional-looking website. That’s why you should avoid using bad quality images. If you use low-quality images, it can make your website look cheap and poorly made.
✘ Don’t Forget to Add a Call to Action
A call to action is to get the visitor to take a specific action. It has to be clear what you want your visitors to do. The call to action has to be the last element to appear on the website.
Conclusion
These are some of the most common mistakes web designers make when creating a website. You can avoid some of them and improve your website by following these simple tips.
Understanding these mistakes is a great way to learn how to design a better website. If you’re unsure about anything, ask an experienced web designer. They will be able to help you avoid a lot of mistakes.
Stellified is a web design and digital marketing agency based in Staffordshire, designing websites that are visually engaging to the eye. We will help you turn your website ideas into a reality, from initial concept to design to delightful user experiences in the palms of the hands of your customers and clients. We’re flexible, whether it’s an online brochure to inform potential customers of your services or a full-on eCommerce web development project to sell your products online. If you need web design and development services, we’ve got you covered! Get in touch with us today and let’s have a chat.
