So you get why a website is important. It’s a must-have that any established business has in the modern age, akin with social media or email addresses. Maybe you know you need one but haven’t had the time to invest in creating one. Maybe you have a website but know there’s improvement to be made. Have you taken a step back to think about your goals, specific to your company and your audience? In the hustle and bustle of creating a website, make sure you slow down and consider these website design tips that can help support your goals.
Start With Your Website Goals
Before you create the website of your dreams, consider what action you want your audience to take. Then consider what your audience looks like. Start with their needs, and let that guide you to think about how they will interact with your website. Focus groups and user task testing are some great ways to further learn about your audience’s behavior and needs. When we created the website for Vantis, whose target audience are folks aged 65 and up, accessibility was key to our design. We provided elements to support website navigation, such as adding prominent arrows and larger type. A little time spent on taking the perspective of your audience can go a long way.
Think About the Customer’s Journey
When imagining your target audience, the natural next step is to consider how they are coming to your website. What is their understanding of the service or product that you provide? A customer that reaches your website through a Google search for your company by name is going to be different from a customer who lands on your website through a paid ad. Your website should be designed according to your clearly defined goals. What is the action that you want them to take?
Show Your Homepage Some Love
As you might already be aware, the general public’s attention span is strikingly short. The average time that your audience will spend on a given page of your website is less than a minute! Of the website design tips, making an impression, and doing it quickly, is perhaps your top priority. Providing an intriguing headline or an interactive element on the top half of your homepage is going to be your best bet for making a positive first impression. For traditional websites, this means placing call to action buttons on the landing page above the fold, before the audience has time to scroll down or leave your website.
Mind the F-Pattern
Unfortunately, you should come to terms with the fact that your audience won’t be reading all the words you’ve carefully crafted. Users tend to look for points through a web page that guide their reading, and research shows that this creates an “F” pattern where readers attend to only part of the information. What this means for you is that each section of your website should be able to make sense on its own, even when a reader hasn’t read as thoroughly as you might like. This means that you should make good use of visuals, minimizing copy when possible.
Consider Devices
In framing these website design tips, consider that more than half of your website traffic comes from mobile users. Meaning that while desktop and laptop views are important, your mobile website is equally, if not more critical to polish. Beyond the technical aspects, you must consider mobile sites from the beginning as you envision the overall layout. For example, your banner image might not work in a portrait format if you are wanting to adapt it to a mobile site.
Stick to the Narrative
When designing your website, don’t forget the bigger story you want to tell. The images and copy you want to feature will all need to support the work of your branding, creating a consistent message for your audience. For example, to strengthen Dr. Aditi’s key service offering, we featured visuals and copy that emphasized her skillset as a speaker rather than her experience in writing.
Designing an Intuitive Website
Taking the time to critically think about your goals in relation to the customer’s needs is the best way to start. Creating beautiful visuals and catchy copy is half the battle, but these website design tips will make sure they’re actually seen. Your website is a powerful tool that, if harnessed correctly, can serve to drive the results you want to see.
Anastasia Salazar Ltd. is an independent design studio for tailored branding and digital designs. Reach out to learn how we can help you fuel growth and maximize your brand’s impact.