Top 5 Tips to improve your Website Design

It’s 2020 and the power is in your hands to design and build your own website! Fortunately in 2020, it’s not all about coding and there are numerous platforms that you can use, each offering a range of different features so you can pick one that works for you and your business.

Here are some top tips to think about when it comes to improving your website design and user experience.

1. Images/Graphics

You will have your branding all set, so take the time (and spend the money if you need to) on making sure your photos, graphics and complimentary call to action buttons look fabulous. It is worth making a design plan, thinking about colours as accent features and how you might highlight important information such as links.

Having a strong suite of personalised photographs will give your brand personality and credibility. It is ok to start out with stock photos, but remember the consumer wants to see authenticity, and it’s a great way for you to show your brands point of difference. 

2. Use White Space

The eye can be overwhelmed easily, so use white space on your site to give the eye a break. Think well-spaced, concise & elegant – sometimes less is more. Think about your key messages and keep them front and centre. Use wording sparingly on any graphics. 

3. How many clicks?

Think simple. Concise. Ease. How will you deliver information to your potential customer in a manner where they will not get frustrated navigating around the site? What are the actions you would like them to take? Is it to sign up to your newsletter, or head straight to your shop? Whatever the action, make sure it is just a few clicks to get there.

Site search is particularly helpful with large catalogues or information, so you can include this in your navigation bar to help people find what they are looking for.

Another key thing to remember is that customers will not always land on your homepage when they search your brand. So, it’s important to ensure that your key messaging is housed within your internal pages (e.g. About, Contact), so you can easily direct someone where you would like them to go once they arrive on your site. 

4. Think mobile first! (Above the fold)

Make sure your most important message is visible within the mobile and desktop screen as soon as any page on your website. In 2020 it is not unusual for over 70% of traffic to come to a site via a mobile device.

Font size, readability and image size are all important on mobile. Ensure your design is responsive for any device. When you are designing, be sure look at your website on a range of different device types to see how the final display looks. 

5. Never stop learning!

Your website should not be static. You can learn a lot about customer behaviour on a site using tools such as Google Analytics. How long are visitors lingering on certain pages, what is the usual behaviour flow when someone visits my site? By analysing and comparing, you can continue to update your website with little tweaks to make it easier to get those conversions!