Website Design Best Practices
When it comes to creating an effective website that supports your business goals there is a lot more to it than just beautiful design.
Thanks to companies like Squarespace (who we love BTW), designing a killer website without custom code or decades of web design experience has become a lot easier than ever before.
But even with beautiful templates at your fingertips, you’re still faced with one big, very important question: what even makes a good website design?
Don’t worry - we have some ideas we want to share with you to set you and your website up for success!
4 tips for better website design
Ready to take the guesswork out of building a seriously legit website that sells you value, connects with your client and drives sales? Here are 4 must have website design tips to help you stand out among the rest and really grow your business.
1. Clear Brand Message
When someone visits your website, you have less than 3 seconds to get their attention. That means you need to be able to quickly communicate your value in 1 sentence. Not a paragraph, not _____ … a 5-7 work clear brand message that sells your value and connects with your ideal client. Obviously this topic could be it’s own blog, but let us dig a little deeper.
In those few precious seconds when a client clicks on your website, they are deciding whether stay or leave. From the photography, to the design to your copy (aka brand message), you need to let them know who you are, what you do, and how that solves a big problem in their lives.
Easier said than done, right?
This is where having a clear, well thought out brand message comes in. When honing in on your brands message, here are a few key questions you should answer:
What kind of product or service are you offering and why are you offering it?
Who is your target audience and what problem do you solve for them?
What sets you apart from other competitors with similar products?
Why should your ideal clients care about what you do - above and beyond your product/service?
The truth is this: If your audience doesn’t understand your brand message, they’ll create one for you. For better or for worse.
2. Cohesive User Experience (UX)
When crafting your website, you want to think about how you want to navigate visitors around your website in a way that directs them to exactly what you want them to see and and what they should understand about your service or product. This is called your user experience, or UX. User experience at its core is crafting your website navigation in a way that is easy to use and understand for your visitors.
When crafting a cohesive user experience:
Every page should have a single goal
Ex: If someone lands on your contact page, they should be given resources and email to get in touch with you, not links to services or blog posts.The intent of each page should be clear and easy to distinguish from other pages
Ex: While the style styles and color scheme will be consistent across the site (more on this later) each page should be able to stand out on its own; your services pages will be formatted different from your about us page.Information not directly related to the topic of each page should go to the bottom
Ex: Once you scroll to the bottom of the home page, you can add in a blog or case studies section as additional information.
3. Calls to Action (CTA)
People land on your website, they see your awesome logo and (now) clear brand message ... but now you need to ask yourself: what do I want them to do now?
This is known as a call to action, or CTA. A CTA is a specific action you want someone to take to achieve a desired result.
Because your website is a place to convert lookers into buyers and subscribers, you want to make sure your calls to action are clear and stand out. One simple way to make them stand out is to use a bold color for your buttons. This ensures when people are skimming your pages their eyes are immediately drawn to your CTA.
A few CTA’s could be:
Direct to sales or services pages
Sign up for a mailing list
Book a free consult or contact you
Read your blogs or case studies
Download free resources
Learn “about us” or your brand mission
When it comes to CTA’s, the golden rule is 1 call to action per page. An example of this could be having a newsletter opt in on all of your blogs, while having an option to book a free consult on all of your case study pages.
Asking someone to sign up for your newsletter and book a consult and visit your socials all on the same page ask way too many asks and a guaranteed way to get them clicking off of your site.
4. Formatting
So many of my clients write amazing website copy thinking that users are going to sit down and read the entire page, but the hard truth is that most of the time this just isn’t the case.
Think about it … how do you read websites? If you’re like most people, you probably end up briefly scrolling the page reading the headings and bullets to get a general idea and feel of the site. Just like your brand message, you want the flow and formatting of your website to be clean, inviting and consistent.
A few simple ways to help clean up your formatting are:
Simple navigation … that means 3-5 links not 150
No paragraphs over 3-4 lines
Easy to ready fonts and clean color palette
Clear, concise copy
Use of bold, italic, headers & bullet points to highlight the most important pieces
but most importantly: keep it simple!
Too much explaining + too many words = confused visitor
The Takeaway?
It’s your website’s job to help you stand out among the rest and show off not just what you do, but what you stand for.
Your website will make a lasting impression on your audience and craft how they view your brand. Whether you’re just starting to build your website, or your website has been up and running for months, it’s never too late to hone in on your web design and get your ideal customers in the door and start crushing those sales goals.
