You need to consider a lot of things for the success of your website. Aside from SEO and your website’s overall reputation, you also have to worry about how it looks and how it performs on the end of the visitors. For this, you will need to have a magic touch when it comes to web design, and it’s more complicated than just adding a few colors to your pages.
Like in the world of fashion, the best practices in web design are dynamic and it changes annually. 2019 is still here, so you have several months left to satisfy the eyes of your website’s visitors. If you want to stand out this year and onwards, then we’ve got the perfect guide to the trending web design practices for you.
Optimize For Mobile Devices
People spend several hours a day on their mobile devices, and you could use this as an opportunity to easily reach out to consumers. 80% of internet users own smartphones and tablets. For you, that is a sign to optimize for mobile devices. If you don’t optimize for mobile devices, then there’s a good chance that your website will take too long to load on them. In worst cases, it won’t load properly at all. Being optimized for mobile devices means your website is easily accessible wherever your consumer is.
Make CTAs Obvious But Not Too Obvious
You CTAs or call-to-actions are what leads to sales, signups, and more. As such, you should not bury it along with other buttons or toggles on the page. The customers should readily see what your CTAs are upon entering a page. That isn’t to say that it should be a glaring “CLICK HERE!!!” button as it might come off as a questionable link. Make small but noticeable differences to it — like a different text color should be enough.
While you are at it, try to personalize your CTAs. According to a study, personalized CTAs perform 202% better than others.
Streamline The Navigation Options
If you are a constant user of the internet, then you know how annoying it is to go through page after page simply because the navigation options are not properly made. Categories are confusing, drop-down menus are countless; people hate that. If you are running a blog, make sure your categories are properly managed and limited, so visitors don’t have to make more than a few clicks to get to where they want to.
Put In As Less Text As Possible
Consumers hate having to browse through long blocks of text if what they are looking at isn’t even a blog post. If it is a product description or just a homepage, try to put in as less text as possible. While it may seem like a less informative approach to your website, you can absolutely say more with less if you provide short and concise sentences.
Test Your Website’s Loading Speed Regularly
40% of people will leave a website if it does not load within 3 seconds or less. While that may seem too demanding, you must understand that your consumers are living in an age where they want everything instantly. That being said, make sure to regularly check your website’s loading speed. If it is taking too long, there are some things you can do to improve it.
Minimize HTTP requests.
Combine some files that are compatible.
Use browser caching tools.
Reduce the file sizes of photos.
Brush Up On What’s In With Aesthetics And Then Apply It
At its very core, web design is about what your website will look like to the eyes of your visitors. That means, if you want your website to look great, then you must understand what people see as great when it comes to aesthetics. For 2019, people want minimalistic design. Try to use more white spaces, simple fonts, and gradient colors. Also, check out your logo if it needs updating.
Practice Show, Don’t Tell
If you are operating a retail website, you will need to make use of the show, don’t tell principle. For example, if you are selling handmade bags and other accessories, you should opt to put in as many visuals as possible instead of describing your items with long sentences. Don’t tell your visitors what your products are, show it to them. What you should focus on is writing short but informative sentences regarding your product’s features.
The best way to keep this practice fulfilled is by seeing your website as a storybook instead of a novel.
Don’t Skip Out On SEO
Search engine optimization or SEO basically dictates how your site rank on the search results page. This is a vital aspect of your website’s success, as well as 93% of internet experiences start with a search engine. While they may seem like two different things, SEO and web design are two sides of the same coin.
SEO isn’t just about keywords and tags, it is also about other things. SEO is affected by site usability, page load time, content duplication, and bounce rate. These factors are affected by your web design. For instance, a site’s usability and page load time will be drastically reduced if your page is filled with high-quality images. Having an effective web design will help out with your SEO bid.
Check Out The Competition
Of course, you can never truly stand out if you don’t know what you are up against. Feel free to check out the competition from time to time. Doing so will give you an idea of what they are doing right and what you are doing wrong. Use this knowledge as the building blocks of your website.
People are more discerning when it comes to the websites they visit. If you want to stand out against the competition, you’ll need to be a smarter and more dynamic website owner. Your web design will dictate the performance of your website. If you are having trouble managing this aspect of owning a website, then you should probably search for third-party firms for help.
