Design Basics: 5 Essentials for Building a Good Website
Nowadays, it seems like everyone has a website, whether it’s a personal blog or a platform for a business venture. And with almost two billion websites across the internet, that’s not too far from the truth.
That’s why, if you’re in the process of creating your own website, it’s important to stand out from the crowd if you hope to find success. How do you do so? Well, it all starts with your web design.
Building a good website isn’t hard, all you have to do is a keep a few design basics in mind along the way. To learn everything you need to know about building good looking websites that attract users, just keep reading!
1. Keep Your Design Simple
Web design can be a great deal of fun, especially if you have a creative streak. However, it’s important not to allow yourself to get carried away with colors, widgets, and other clutter.
Now, this doesn’t mean your website has to be boring. You can (and should) still make it fun and a reflection of you and your brand, but don’t go overboard.
For example, when it come to colors, your website should have three: two brand colors and white. White space is your best friend when your goal is designing great websites. Having negative space on each page increases readability and draws attention to what you ultimately want your users to notice – your work!
Other than white, some good colors for websites include green, blue, and black. You can use more vibrant colors, such as yellow and orange, just keep in mind that these are best reserved for warnings or to create a sense of haste.
If you’re feeling a little lost and want a more detailed explanation of design principles, check out this helpful guide.
2. Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly
One of the best things you can do for your site is to make it as mobile-friendly as possible. Now more than ever, people are doing the majority of their web browsing from their phones, forgoing the use of a computer altogether.
Your site should look good on a desktop as well, but as you’re designing your site, check that it’s attractive and easy to navigate on your phone.
Thankfully, many of the top themes now create mobile layouts automatically as you design the desktop version. If this is the case with your chosen theme, you’ll still need to check that everything looks as it should, but all of the heavy lifting will be done for you.
3. Add a Blog
You could have the most stunning site in the world, but if Google doesn’t like it, you’re not going to find the level of success that you should. How do you make Google build trust for your site? By adding a blog!
Regardless of the type of site you have, it needs a blog. Frequent blog posts boost your SEO while providing additional value to your visitors at the same time.
When creating your blog, there are few things to keep in mind. First, your blog content should always be relevant to your website. If you’ve created a website about hiking, don’t include content about dog grooming.
Second, every post on your blog should be high-quality. For maximum effect, aim for uploading between two and four posts per week to your website, ensuring that each one is your best work. It’s much better to post two high-quality articles to your blog per week than four that you know could’ve been done better.
4. Ensure Fast Loading Speeds
The importance of a fast website cannot be overstated. For better or worse, we live in a world of instant gratification, and your users aren’t going to wait more than a few seconds for your site to load.
If a user can’t get to your site within three seconds, they’re more than likely going to click the back button and find another site to use. Having a simple, clutter-free design can do wonders in this department, but you might need to make a few other changes as well.
There are many free tools available on the internet that will measure your website speed and give you suggestions for improvement. Take all of these suggestions to heart and do your best to make the necessary changes. Yes, it can be a bit of a hassle, but it can drastically increase your user number.
5. Simplify Your Site Navigation
As we’ve already discussed, the pages on your website need to be simple and attractive. The same goes for your navigation.
A good rule of thumb is that a visitor should always be able to find what they’re looking for on your site in three clicks or less. Ask a friend or family member to find a certain page or article on your site – if they can’t do it in three clicks or less, your navigation is too complex.
In addition, be sure that your menu bar isn’t overcrowded. Keep it between three and six choices, each of which should be self-explanatory. Your users should never have to guess about what they’re going to find when they click on a menu option.
Use These Tips to Create a Good Website for Your Brand
As you can see, there are no big secrets to uncover to build a good website. The key to a thriving website is to create something that’s sleek, simple, and user-friendly.
As long as you keep your users at the forefront of your mind as you’re building, and make it as easy as possible for them to share your work or products, you’re good to go. Remember, when in doubt, less is more.
For more web design tips and tricks, take a look at our blog!
