When it comes to website performance and popularity, website design has a major influence. Considerably, when it is functioning properly and is visually appealing, the visitors will stay there for long. The Internet has around 1.8 billion sites which makes it essential to own a purposeful and beautifully designed site. According to the recent figures, website first impressions are 94% related to its design. In all, it has to be engaging enough to compel the visitors to visit the site. Many prefer to hire a web design company to make a high-quality site. Because they are not skilled enough to implement the tactics that confirm a higher online presence.
On the contrary, several website builders make the task of website designing easy. With the built-in features, you can turn your ideas into reality. But, of course, that also demands knowing the basic concepts related. Hence, to make the task easy for you, we have highlighted the tips for web designing of a professional site.
How to Design a Website: All you need to know
Define the objective
First, know what you require from your site and what your goals are. There are a plethora of sites out there, therefore, know what you can add or remove to make it different. Read below to find out the ideas;
- Creating an online store for product selling
- Business site for growing and managing the brand
- Making a portfolio site for displaying art
- A resume site for capturing professional employer attention
- Event site for company occasions, parties or weddings
- Simple blogs for sharing the valuable content
- Photography site for showing and selling prints
- Restaurant site for online orders, payments, deliveries, etc.
- Health and fitness site to share knowledge on wellness
After choosing the objective behind designing the site, begin the process, and find out the elements to be added.
Select the reliable website builder
Choose the platform to create the site that defines your purpose, budget and skillset perfectly. Indeed, WordPress is by far the best CMS. It includes powerful site building features and is the only choice for professional web designers.
To use it, you need to buy a web hosting service for making the website visible to the audience. The major benefits this content management system offers are; scalability, cost-effectiveness, user-friendliness, versatility, etc. It is recommended to have knowledge on basic CSS and HTML coding to make the site more approachable.
However, be sure to get yourself well-versed in hosting maintenance. Accordingly, the website will be more secure and hold the desired performance level.
Get the right domain name
Have a domain name (URL) that the visitors will use to browse the website. Yes, it must define the site’s aim. In general, many use a business name or personal name as the domain. Check out the below pointers to make the domain name unique:
- Keep it shorter! Longer ones are hard to remember and can be misspelled.
- Do not use numbers, special characters, and symbols.
- It must include your business or personal name to evade confusion.
- Include the business related words to give a hint of your work.
Taking assistance from the domain registration tool is recommended for help. Also, you can play with the word order and include “the” at the beginning.
Plan the content architecture
The aim of the site is to give the audience the information they are searching for. Now, it’s up to you how you are making it easy for them to find out the valuable content added. However, content planning beforehand is also important.
The data architecture needs to be created before initiating design; it will enhance the visitor’s journey. Ultimately, enhance the application interface and user experience for users to find the information simply. The content has to be such that it gives answers to every query or solution to the issues they are facing. Also, the content architecture must define the important details, like, the number of added pages or an ideal copy of navigation.
Make a layout of the site design
Before starting to create the site, consider its basic layout. Yes, it defines the content architecture you have earlier generated. In case there are issues in designing the layout, you can take assistance from applications such as Sketch, Adobe XD, Figma, etc. These are helpers and let you make the site layouts for a better idea. Basically, collect the identified elements and blend them efficiently into the architecture.
If you are selecting WordPress, then, it is confirmed that it has an efficient layout. Also remember, by creating or planning the content before, choosing the theme becomes a seamless task.
Include only the right and required pages
The web pages you are adding to the site and the content within make the site unique. Certainly, there are many standard sections that every visitor expects to check. So, if your site has multi-pages then, check out the below options for the same:
- Homepage: It is the first thing the visitor sees when landing on the site. It makes your brand impressions. Therefore, it needs to be appealing, well-structured and clean. It must define what your business is all about: what you do, who you are, etc. Ensure that it has vital details of your brand- logo, business name, and navigation menus for visitors to easily browse.
- About Us page: Define your business story, techniques and additional details for the brand.
- Contact page: Let the visitors reach you easily with a detailed contact page. Make sure to add your email id, phone number, postal address, all social media business accounts, etc.
- Service or product page: Add the service or product page according to your niche. This is the place where the audience will find out what you are offering, once convinced, they will buy.
- Blog page: Write content on topics related to your business, add case studies, success stories, interviews, and so on.
Give a professional look to your site
We know that creating a site improves your brand visibility. But, enhancing it further is also important at the same time. For that, including the features according to your niche or targeted audience makes a big difference.
- Appointment Scheduling Software: It is a perfect choice to keep a tab on the appointments. The solution enables the business to accept payments online and ensure regular workflow at the same time.
- eCommerce website: Of course, creating and handling an online store has never been easy. It required adding advanced features like safe and reliable payments, professional marketing tools and different sales strategies. One can start creating the site from the beginning or choose any of the eCommerce templates for the same.
- Salon website: If you are a Salon owner, then, you require a SaaS-based solution with Online booking, inventory management, easy payments, and customer and staff management features.
Responsive Website for Higher Ranking
Undeniably, Google prioritizes responsive sites the most and ranks them higher in SERPs. There are a few important key points to consider for making the website design responsive:
- Leverage the hamburger menu for tablet and smartphone viewing
- Optimize for easy scrolling
- Touch-friendly Call to Actions
Improve your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts
After completing the above steps, think about the tactics to strengthen the SEO. In basic, it is the practice of site content optimization that assists in using SEO services for ranking well in leading search engines. Check out the essential tips below and apply them for improving content for the best results:
- Carry our keyword research
- Add alt text
- Include on-page SEO
- Boost internal linking
Website Testing and Launching
Before the website launches, examine it for any design-related problems which can influence the website’s usability and user experience. Choose to carry out A/B testing; it will provide analytics on what is working and what is not on your professional site. It is advised to conduct the test on one design element at one time. Definitely, it will make it easier to show what is impacting the outcome.
Also, ask colleagues or family members or friends to give their reviews. Moreover, you can arrange a video meeting, ask them to share the screen, check the website and give feedback on functions and look. Once all the data is gathered, make the adjustments, and publish the site.
Keep a check on the website performance
For this, you can rely on the Google Analytics tool. It possesses several performance measures such as average session duration, Pageview, Bounce rates, Conversion rates, Audience demographic, Traffic sources etc.
You are only required to use the Google Analytics tool- it is totally free; there is no need to give a penny. For WordPress users, the tracking ID can be added manually by using plugins or functions.php files to link the site with the tool.
Concluding Remarks
Above are the basics of what you require for website design with no knowledge of coding. Now, work on implementing all the above points and make them into practice. Collectively, it will keep the site in shape! Good speed, the properly-designed site assures higher customer engagement and improves the bottom line. Remember to plan everything before keeping everything in place.
