Introduction
When it comes to designing a website, there are numerous factors to consider in order to create a successful and engaging online presence. Your website serves as a digital gateway to your brand, and it’s crucial to make a positive first impression on your visitors. Whether you’re creating a personal blog, an e-commerce platform, or a corporate website, paying attention to certain key elements will greatly enhance the user experience and help you achieve your desired goals. Here are the top 10 things to consider when designing a website:
1- Choosing Domain and Hosting
Great domain names, such as Google and Yahoo, for example, convey so much information in such a short amount of space. A domain name needs to be easy to remember, accurately convey your brand’s voice, and nearly impossible to misspell. It is essential to choose a name for your business because incorporating SEO, clear spelling, and your brand’s identity into the domain name increases your chances of appearing in search engine results. Simply put, more customers flock to businesses that can be found online.
It is essential to take into account the nature of your website and business when comparing hosting packages. Will there be a lot of pictures, videos, and presentations on the website? Do you have in-house technical support or do you require prompt, dependable assistance from your hosting provider? Also, think about how many people will visit your website. Is there scalable software available from the hosting company? What additional backup, security, and feature options are available? Before making a final decision, don’t forget to look into reviews about the company’s performance on third-party websites and social media.
2- Clean Design
During the process of developing a website, one of the most important things to keep in mind is to create a design that is simple and appealing. A good design is attractive, simple to read, and has easy-to-follow navigation. Most importantly, rather than focusing on distracting graphics and a lot of text, viewers can focus on the value of your brand and content with a clean design. Customers frequently link a company or product’s quality to the design of its website. Therefore, a simple design is required to provide a positive user experience that inspires repeat business.
3- Effective Color Scheme
Customers are underestimating the significance of color schemes. Emotions like calm, happiness, or frustration can be sparked by a variety of colors. Consider your company’s niche, target audience, branding, and the principles of color theory when choosing colors for your website. Which hues will appeal to your intended audience? If your color scheme is similar to your branding and logo, does it make you feel overwhelmed, or good to look at? Do you want to convey the tone of your brand using a cheerful, zany orange or a calm, professional blue? Regardless of your decision, taking the time to investigate the best color options will leave a positive impression on your visitors.
4- Functionality
There are a couple of things to contemplate with regard to usefulness. Specifically, does the website function as intended? Are there issues with loading or broken links? Are the security measures on the website sufficient for your company’s requirements? In addition to these problems with operation, it’s important to look at your website’s features from the user’s point of view. Are the customer feedback, survey, and contact form sections of your website functioning properly? A customer may leave your website due to any one or all of these functional issues.
5- Clean SEO-Friendly Code
As technology advances, the number of internet browsers keeps rising. Keeping up with all of them, from Chrome and Internet Explorer to Firefox and Safari, can be frustrating. It is essential to ensure that a website can be accessed from a variety of browsers when creating one. More specifically, all of the major browsers, even older versions, should load your website correctly. A large portion of your customer base may be left out if you don’t take this step, which can be costly for a growing business.
6- Integration With Social Media
Joining with virtual entertainment is presently not an oddity – it’s a necessity. Businesses without social media integration are unable to take advantage of what has been compared to modern-day word-of-mouth advertising as technology makes information sharing more convenient. Customers can promote your brand, leave reviews, and stay up to date on your company’s latest news through social media. With the addition of social sharing buttons to your website, you can easily distribute written and visual content, such as product images and branded videos, on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
7- Effective Security
Newer and more sophisticated security threats pose a threat to the integrity of your website as technology advances. Both front-end and back-end security breaches, such as malware, viruses, malicious applications, and the threat of hackers, must be avoided by websites. To safeguard customer information, websites designed for online transactions, such as eCommerce sites, require additional security measures. Organizations take steps to reduce program-based risks. They should add SSL authentications to their sites. During development, it’s important to look over the security features that are built into your website’s design and framework. Additionally, businesses must partner with a service that provides this service or conduct regular security checks themselves.
8- Offsite Reviews
Local searches have received a higher priority as a result of changes to Google’s search algorithm. Businesses can benefit greatly from using review services like Yelp and Google to get qualified leads. Now, reviews about a company often appear on the first page of search engine results when customers search for a local business or product. Getting reviews from third-party websites improves your brand’s credibility and makes it easy for viewers to learn about your brand’s customer satisfaction. Claim your business profile on third-party review sites like Google and Yelp to ensure that customers can leave reviews about your business. You can then create a call to action on your website that directs customers to the third-party review service and asks them to write a review.
Connecting your website to your Google+ business page reviews is a great option provided by Google. As long as you have an address for your business that qualifies and a Google+ account, you can search for your business page and if one doesn’t exist already you can create one. You will see your Google+ business page linked to your website whenever it appears in the SERPs once Google verifies that you are the owner.
9- Captcha Test
There will always be spam. In the absence of captcha tests, This is what some companies perceive in their comment sections, contact forms, and website forums. Humans and robots these tests set them apart, which you will recognize as the random letters and numbers entered into a web-based form before submission. By including these brief tests in your contact forms, your business will save time and money by ensuring that your website’s resources are only accessible to humans.
10- Mobile site vs. Responsive Site
According to statistics, the number of people using mobile devices to conduct online searches has significantly increased over the past two years. Approximately 95% of users of handheld electronic devices rely on their devices to look for local goods and services. Businesses must ensure that their websites are accessible from any device to reach this growing number of mobile users effectively. A separate, mobile-friendly website designed to perform well on any device makes sense for a large business that already has a presence on the web. On the other hand, a company preparing to launch a website would benefit more from selecting a responsive design that is viewable on any device.
Links
When designing a website, it’s often helpful to explore and draw inspiration from other websites that have successfully implemented certain design elements or achieved specific goals. Here are a few websites that you can visit to gather ideas and insights:
- Awwwards : Awwwards is a platform that showcases and recognizes the best web design trends and practices. It features an extensive collection of award-winning websites, providing inspiration and examples of exceptional design.
- Dribbble (https://dribbble.com/): Dribbble is a community of designers, where you can discover and explore a wide range of design works, including website designs. It’s a great place to find creative and innovative design ideas.
- Behance (https://www.behance.net/): Behance is another online platform where designers showcase their portfolios. You can browse through various categories, including web design, to find inspiring projects and discover talented designers.
- Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/): Pinterest is a visual discovery platform that allows you to explore a vast collection of images and ideas. You can search for specific web design categories or themes, create mood boards, and save inspiration for future reference.
- SiteInspire (https://www.siteinspire.com/): SiteInspire is a curated gallery of well-designed websites across different industries and categories. It offers a search feature that allows you to filter websites based on criteria such as layout, color scheme, and interaction design.
- Smashing Magazine (https://www.smashingmagazine.com/): Smashing Magazine is a popular online publication that covers various topics related to web design and development. It features articles, tutorials, and showcases of websites with a focus on usability, aesthetics, and technical implementation.
Remember, while it’s helpful to gather inspiration from other websites, it’s essential to maintain originality and tailor your design to your specific goals and audience. Aim to create a unique and personalized experience that aligns with your brand identity and objectives.
Conclusion
In conclusion, designing a website requires careful consideration of user needs, visual appeal, responsiveness, navigation, content organization, performance, accessibility, and interactive elements. A user-centric approach, combined with attention to detail and creativity, is essential for creating a successful and engaging website.
