A website acts as the address of your brand that exists in the digital sphere. The public/audience searches for your digital identity apart from your social media handles and visits your official website.

The people will contact you via the company website and other business details listed regardless of the business nature. Moreover, even aspiring candidates contact for opportunities through your company website. To sum it up, Your website is a door for opportunities and growth. Therefore, it is necessary to have an impressive web design that is reliable on all fronts. 

You need a tech professional to help you in building your website. Apart from the technical (backend & development) front, you need to focus on the accessibility and the adaptive nature of your website. Meaning that your website, being the identity of your brand online, should provide services and tools that make the website experience smoother (for the customers).   

Through an effective web design, you can improve the overall website quality and user experience. An effective web design helps with the ranking of your website. The users are more likely to find your website interactive when compared to websites with a poor web design.

What Makes a Good Web Design?

A web design consists of noticing minute details of your website and improving them to build your website in a user-friendly format. A user-friendly website will consist of a good layout, clear text & fonts, Color contrast & combination, and readability. Also, visual placement, loading time, website response time, and adaptability are imperative for a good web design. [Source- Interaction Design Foundation]

What are the Principles for Good Web Designing? 

To achieve the best result, the foundation/principles of web designing get followed to keep your website true to its core and utilize the website to its full potential.

Defining Target 

A website design for a business should have a clear target of what it is. Any business has a core message that it shares with its target audience. Identify your core message and relay the same. State the nature of your business, overview, services offered, and the means to contact. After that, design the website to meet the requirements. Also, make sure that you pay attention to such crucial information as it is bound to attract viewers/clients:

• About the business (your field of service) 
• Brand Reputation (Awareness & Engagement)
• Lead Generation (conversion of the viewer into a customer)
• Sales and After Sales services (Smooth sales & Feedback)

Simple is Attractive

Who is the one to visit the website and use it the most? The consumers are frequent visitors to your website. Of course, you need content that appeals to the viewers and retains their attention, but you do not have to make it too flashy or too complex that a user finds it difficult to browse/use your website. A simple website design favors an enhanced user experience and gives a better usability option to its users. You can use the core design principles to achieve a simple yet efficient web design.

• Choose the Right Colour 

Colors are essential in establishing a tone and mood among the users/viewers. The colors play a vital role in relaying messages effectively. Try to choose a color palette that resonates with your brand and use them to define a consistent tone/mood. Don’t go overboard with your color selection. The colors that fit your brand are enough to portray the right message to your audience. Use color combinations that are soothing to the eyes rather than using over-flashy colors and schemes.

• Set the Tone for your Content(Typography)

Every website needs text in it, regardless of the amount. Typography is an essential element that can elevate the look of your text. And attract the attention of the viewer/visitor. But this does not mean you need a separate font for every other page on the website, keep it to a minimum. Even text consistency matters. Use the fonts that complement your content and visuals.

• Proper Visual Elements

Use every visual element(photo, graphics, videos, etc.) available to your benefit. Visual elements in equal amounts will support the overall symmetry of your website. Visuals also help in appealing to your audience as they consist of a balanced blend of colors and details. Also, make sure whatever images you use on your website are of high quality.

Effective Website Navigation Structure

Take Website Navigation as a flow that helps you navigate through a website. To be able to navigate through the information available, a website navigation structure gets designed. It leads the visitors to their desired source of information. A complex navigation structure will only create difficulties for the users. Keep your design simple so that users can easily access the relevant information. [Source- Smashing Magazine]

It’s all About the ‘F’

Eye-tracking studies talk about the effective reading pattern, the ‘F’  shape pattern in which the people view content. The viewers prefer reading from left to right, which is plausible given that most readers read from Left to Right and from Top to Bottom. The website design should focus on placing the elements within the reader’s viewing range. Utilizing the reading habits for content placement will give your website a user-friendly layout.

Visual Placement

There are numerous ways to present/arrange your visuals. The visual content will get arranged based on the importance of the content. The order in which you place the visual elements gets determined by factors like size, color, tone, style, composition, texture, etc. To gain the audience’s attention, make them focus on the essential visuals present on the website. The placement will indicate that your information is important and demands the user’s attention.

Quality Content

In terms of doing things systematically, good content is essential. Good content means more user interaction. Content that gets based on current/trending topics/designs/ways attract attention. Being up-to-date with the content is of the essence. A good website design will acknowledge the importance of quality content and will use them to convert the viewers into customers.

Structured Layout

A layout is the appearance of your content (texts, images, links, etc.). Proper presentation of the visual and textual elements gives a clean and balanced look to your website. A poorly designed website is unorganized and will give a cluttered look to the website. Arrange your content in a grid-based layout. Balance your visuals with your texts. A neat layout helps identify which image is used along with the text. Also, a structured layout increases user engagement and visitor count.

Loading Time of the Website

Doesn’t it bug you when a website you’re trying to access takes a lot of time to load? You are most likely to reload it again or simply close the website. In a time where the attention span of the users on the internet is low, slow websites are a hindrance to a smooth surfing experience. It is essential to use elements that do not slow down the reload time of the website. An ideal loading time for a website is less than 2/3 seconds. To achieve less loading time, optimize your images and analyze your webpage to keep it performance-oriented.

Multi Device Compatibility

Every business needs to have its website optimized according to the various platforms used by the consumers. The web compatibility helps the website adapt to different platforms. It enables easy view in multiple devices like mobile browser, app view, desktop, laptop, and tablets. For example, E-commerce companies have their websites optimized to meet the needs of different users. E-commerce websites have a different view in the apps, mobile browsers, desktops, and tablets. The mobile compatibility helps in viewer engagement, increases interactivity, and increases view count. 

How does Good Web Design Benefit the Business?

A good web design brings plentiful benefits to businesses. A good web design uplifts your website and results in better functionality for both the website and the users. A win-win situation for both ends! 

Gives Best First Impression

What will a user/audience see when they visit your website? They will instantly see the first page/home page of the website. They are most likely to interact with the website based on how the page looks. The attributes present in the website will decide how the audience interacts with the content and the layout present in it. At this moment, the user will get the first impression of the website. A poor web design will give an unprofessional and unorganized impression. On the other hand, a good web design will show that the business is committed to providing a wholesome website experience to its users.  

Stay Ahead From Competitors

There has to be a factor that sets you apart from your competitors. A good web design will be your stepping stone to gain an edge over your competitors. Be consistent with your competitor analysis from your end to see what is essential in your web design. Learn from the errors of your competitors. Make those additions apart from the ones analyzed from your SWOT(Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threat) analysis. Staying up-to-date with trends will let you stay ahead and mark a strong impression.

Low Bounce Rates

Visitors/Audiences/Potential clients visiting your website only to leave without any interaction can be a bummer for all the businesses online. A proper web design keeps your bounce rate at bay. An appealing web design not only attracts visitors but also retains them. Thus, creating apt opportunities for website interaction and generating clients. A good web design will include elements and formats needed to retain a viewer/customer and maintain steady interaction. 

Improves Search Ranking

Keeping oneself up-to-date with technology is essential for online businesses. Since every major search engine and website go through updates and device new policies, brands also follow these changes to stay up-to-date with their websites. Doing so will help them make necessary changes in their web design/content to be in-sync with the technology. A web design that abides by such changes is sure to improve your website ranking. A poorly maintained web design will be a setback for businesses and rank them low in search ranking. An up-to-date web design will improve your search engine ranking.

Good for your Bucks

Most businesses incline towards digital platforms for maximum outreach. But also for the fact that it is a cost convenient method to achieve business goals. Hiring a professional for web designing will ensure that your website is up-to-date and modified according to the latest analysis. You won’t be using the designing tools on your own and mess it up only to rely on professionals later. The process, done with professional help, will reap great returns while saving you money and time.

Brand Identity

What will be the end goal/output that a well-executed web design will reflect? The answer is evident— Brand Identity. Brands work toward maintaining and raising their brand identity. Brand identity refers to what the brand is known as in front of its audience. The values that a brand reflects increases its credibility and trustworthiness. A proper web design will give you the right tools to convey the brand values in front of the audience. Hence, resulting in customer loyalty and stable bond building.

Adaptable to Future Changes and Modifications

A web design already has its foundation set when it comes to structure and elements. When you already have the blueprints/layout in your hands, making changes to the website in the future becomes an easy task. A properly designed website will give you an advantage while modifying the website at a later stage. 

Conclusion

Changes/modifications are always for the betterment of any organization/business if they want to flourish. Changes only mean that you are getting to a new face, and you are adaptable enough to go along with them. Moreover, modification/changes help you fix small or big issues and help you make the best out of the situation. 

It is now safe to say that website design is essential for the growth of businesses. These are the game-changers as they help increase website engagement. Also, it INCREASES the WEBSITE REPUTATION and gives your brand the recognition it deserves. Being up-to-date with the technology will let you adapt your brand and increase its efficiency.