Your website is the first point of contact your business has with most of its customers. A well-designed professional-looking website will help you generate leads, grow your database, and increase sales, while a poorly designed site will do just the opposite. Planning and designing your web site is a lot like planning any large-scale project where you have to consider the big picture alongside keeping an eye on the smaller details.
Whether you're designing a new website or updating an existing one, it's important to consider these key elements curated by experts in a web design agency to ensure your website will satisfy all your needs.
Consider these 7 Elements when designing your website
#1. The Purpose of Your Website
It may seem obvious, but it's important to think about exactly what you want your website for. The purpose of your website should be clearly defined, whether that's to sell products or provide information about your brand. By knowing what you want your site to accomplish, you can make sure it is built with the appropriate features to help you achieve those goals. Every aspect of your website should communicate your brand identity, from the colours, fonts to the images and videos you display.
#2 Who Is Your Target Audience?
Once you know what goal your site should accomplish, you can then figure out the target audience and why they might come there in the first place. Are they looking for information on a specific topic like home decor or cooking classes? Evaluate the target audience based on the following criteria:
- What do they have in common?
- What geographic location do they belong from?
- Whether they are Male or Female?
- What age group do they belong to?
- Do they have a common interest or hobby?
Answers to these questions will help you accomplish your goal of Web Development and define the user experience, so everyone gets what they want while visiting your website.
#3 Clear Navigation
Users should easily find the information they are looking for on your site without spending too much time searching. The navigation should be intuitive and clear, so users don't get lost. If users can’t find what they are looking for, they will head to your competitors.
You can accomplish a clear navigation goal by having a detailed structure and layout for your site, including navigation options such as drop-down menus or other helpful tools that allow users to browse your site content easily.
#4. Mobile Friendliness
Your site should be mobile-friendly for a couple of reasons. First, more than half of all internet users now access sites from their smartphones or tablets; if they can't get what they need from your website easily on these smaller screens, they'll likely head elsewhere instead! Second, Google has made it clear that if your site isn't mobile-friendly, it won't rank well in their search results and those rankings matter. If you are looking for a reliable web design agency, Make My Website Sydney is one of the highest rated web designers.
#5 Speed of the Website
According to Google Analytics, 53% of users expect a site to load within 2 seconds or less. And if your site takes longer than that, you're losing potential customers!
It's no secret that speed is an important factor in how people interact with websites today. Your website needs to load quickly, or else people won't stick around to see what you have to offer them. You can use a free page speed insight tool by Google to analyse the speed of your website. Try getting answers to the following questions:
- How long does it take for visitors to load on mobile devices?
- Does the site load quickly on desktops and laptops?
- Do pages load quickly after clicking links in a navigation bar or sidebar?
#6 Remember “Content is King”
Your website is a reflection of your brand identity and work. The content should be on-point, easy to read and engaging. If it doesn't look like it was written for a 5th grader to understand, then it isn’t up to the mark!
The more information you can provide about your company, the better it is. If you are redesigning your website, ask yourself the following questions:
- Is there anything missing from what's already there?
- Are there any gaps in the content that need filling?
- How can you make sure all the information on your site is relevant, up-to-date and easy to find?
#7 Built for SEO
The purpose of a website is to get traffic from search engines like Google or Bing. Make sure the pages are optimised for these searches so that people can find them when they search online! Your websiteshould be built with SEO in mind, so it appears at the top of search results for relevant keywords.
Final Note
The most common problems with websites are due to an improper plan, a lack of maintenance, or insufficient time invested in designing the site. If you avoid these three pitfalls while planning and designing your website, you can design and launch a website that is both effective and efficient!
We hope that this article has helped you identify the key elements you'll want to focus on while designing your website.
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