- User-Friendly Interface
- Product Categories
- Company Information
- API Integration
- Secure, Fast and Reliable Hosting
- Mobile-Friendly Design
For many of us, using websites has become an integral part of our shopping, entertainment and working experience. This highlights how essential it is for all businesses to have the best website design.
Whether you are a restaurant or a new eCommerce business owner, creating an aesthetically pleasing and easy-to-use website is ever so important to be successful.
Let’s see how to create the best web designs.
Introduction
The best website designs often share a few key details. Website design is an intricate subject as designers and developers have to consider both, a pleasing visual appearance (aesthetics) and a robust functional design (ergonomics). With so many elements needed to be considered, the process of designing the best website design can be tricky. This blog will help simplify the task and show the key elements of website design.
Firstly, it is important to look at elements such as user flows and website structure then work down to the individual web pages. It is also essential to cover other critical aspects of design, such as mobile web design and testing. Website briefs should also be created if the business is designing its website as it will allow for improvements and provide a step-by-step plan to follow.
1. User Friendly Interface
The best website designs usually include an aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly homepage. Software as a Service or SaaS companies should generally include a sign-up link at the front of the website to maximise customer sign-ups. Other websites should also look to utilise the homepage of a website to maximise customer engagement as it is the link visitors view the most often.
2. Product Categories
If the website is for an e-commerce business or a new restaurant business, it is important to describe product categories and variations, list the payment and checkout methods available, shipping and return terms and costs, tracking, discount codes, any loyalty points etc. This will improve the user experience of the website and is vital in growing the brand of the business.
3. Company Information
Some new website designs often ignore company information, the best website designs should include these sections. Therefore, visitors should know information about the business regardless of whether it is an eCommerce, NGO, or information website. Information about the company history, brand, services, and contact details will all help visitors understand what the website is about. A summary of the services or products that are provided and descriptions of the very origins, values, and company mission.
4. API Integration
API Integration is also very important in the design of a website. The website will need to integrate with any external API sources to provide an optimal user experience. An example of a commonly used external API source is using Google Maps in the location section of the website. The location of the business and address will be shown using Google Maps within a company’s website using API integration. Google search console is another external API that businesses can use within their websites to make search indexing easier. Mobile applications and websites can both use API integration.
5. Secure, Fast and Reliable Hosting
Any modern hosting setup should be secure, offer frequent backups, and most importantly provide a website that is fast and reliable. Although sometimes a timescale might not be of significance to businesses, the project can take some time while it is perfected. On the other hand, for some businesses, there might be a critical deadline to meet. It is important to measure the success of the website and track Key Performance Indicators. These figures will show how many visitors visit the page, click on links and time spent on each page and other statistics.
6. Mobile-Friendly Design
Websites in 2021 must be mobile-friendly. Many users are starting to use websites on their phones, tablets, and computers therefore it is crucial to design for all of these devices. If websites do not have appropriately design versions, the user experience will deteriorate, and fewer users will visit the website. Having a web design made for mobiles and computers will allow for a consistent experience for all users, useable on the go and at home. Businesses that only develop for one type of device will have a much higher bounce rate and struggle to keep users on the website.
Key elements of a good web design
- Keep design and navigation simple
- Keep a consistent colour theme with branding
- Use high-quality content and pictures
- Websites must be mobile-friendly
- Maintain consistency with designs
How to create the best website designs?
Naturally, a business will want to choose an agency to host the website, alternatively, businesses may also have other web hosting arrangements. For example, GoDaddy is a web hosting service where a domain name can be purchased, and templates can be used to design a website. There are many providers for similar services and prices vary between them.
Web development agencies are experts at developing the best website designs. Developers will help clients who require these services to help make the design and turn ideas into a functional site. This is a great option for businesses with complex needs who do not have the skill and time required to design their website from scratch.
Before officially launching a website, web designers should try to get as many users as possible to use and test the website aiming to gather feedback. If as a result, multiple users mention a similar problem, then it is important to try and fix the website before launching.
Things to remember
At the end of the day, it is important to recognise that a website is almost never a perfected project as it is something that can and should improve regularly. If a business is at the beginning of its journey and has decided to use a template site, it may outgrow the template very quickly, and decide to choose professional designers who can take the website to the next level.
Additionally, businesses may realise that their customer base is changing, and it is time to rebrand and improve the website. Feedback should also be used to improve and adapt the website and making sure it runs smoothly and works on mobile phones as well.
When time is invested and thought is put into the web design idea, not only will there be a much clearer picture of what the finished design should be, but businesses will also be able to send that draft to a web development agency, receive a clear price, estimated timescales, and feedback from them to move forward with the web design project. For new eCommerce businesses creating a web design, it is also crucial to write an effective business plan for a variety of reasons. Creating the best website designs takes time and effort therefore it is important to choose web designers wisely.
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