Website Designing for Beginners: The Important Things to Know
Designing your own website may sound like a challenge, but it does not have to be that hard. Check out this guide on website designing for beginners.
In general, users take around 10 to 20 seconds to assess whether or not they want to stay on your website. This means you have but a brief moment to convince them you’re worth their time.
If your company website is a bit mediocre, then perhaps it’s time to rethink your design. But what if you’re an entrepreneur or small business owner, and have to handle this aspect on your own?
If you’re stuck and don’t know where to start, then keep reading. We’ll make website designing for beginners an easy thing to do!
Use a Website Builder
While building your website from scratch gives you more options for customization, that takes a lot of coding know-how, which is something you may not have. You may not have the time to dedicate to spending hours on building it either.
In this case, it’s best if you use a website builder. These usually cater to SME business owners like you who want to have a refined website but don’t have any coding knowledge.
For a small fee, you can build a website and also get help and support from their knowledgeable staff. Depending on the company you choose to go with, they’ll have a nice array of tools to help you get a live website up and running.
Pick a Memorable Domain Name
Before you get started on anything, you need to pick a domain name. And you need to make sure it’s memorable too.
If your business name is something like “Stephanie’s Hair and Nail Salon,” you don’t want to use the whole thing in your URL; it can turn out long and clunky. Not to mention hard to remember as well. Instead, choose something like “stephanieshairnail.com.”
Also, be conscious of what potential bad or unsavory words can form when you put certain words together. What might seem innocuous may quickly become offensive when you mash all the words together in a URL.
Think About What You Want to Convey
You can set up a nice website, but it won’t hold people’s attention if you don’t have what they’re looking for or if your content doesn’t give them added value.
Put yourself in your prospects’ shoes and imagine yourself searching for these services. What would you like to find out? And where?
You should then set up your different pages with pertinent information and make sure it’s easy to navigate to from the front page. You’ll also want to ensure there’s plenty call to action buttons and that your contact page is easy to find as well.
Also, if possible, have a few blog pieces lined up so you can beef up your content. Even better: use good SEO practices for all your pages (including your blog) to drive even more traffic to your website.
Keep It Simple and Clean
When you’re looking at all the possible features you can add on your website, you may be tempted to utilize every single one. After all, the more features, the more snazzy it’ll be, right?
However, your website can soon become cluttered and distracting, which may alienate visitors instead of attracting them.
Plus, a big part of what keeps them on the page is the loading time. The more features you put on your site, the longer it’ll take for it to completely load.
Consumers are impatient nowadays, so if they have to wait more than a few seconds to fully load a website, they’ll click off it. This will eliminate any chance of you attracting your potential customers.
Choose Good Typography
The images you choose for your website will heavily influence the draw for your visitors. An important element of your graphics is your typography.
The font and color of it should match the personality of your company. If you’re trying to be bold in your industry, then using all caps and a heavy-set font that contrasts the rest of your page will send the right message.
Not only should it convey your company’s personality, but it should also add to your images, not detract. Be conscious of how busy it makes your photos look and consider not just the font and color, but also the placement.
Do you want to feature what’s being showcased in the image? Or are you using it more as a background to the words you’re putting on top? The answer is extremely important, as that influences what typography you choose and its placement.
Take a Page From the Big Names
Big names in the industry have the resources to create websites that are optimized perfectly. You may not have the same resources, but you can definitely learn from these big brands!
Take some time to browse the sites of well-known companies. Take note of what they all have in common, and try to emanate it on your own website.
If you want a list to start with, then check it out with Optuno. They have five brilliant examples you can take notes on.
Follow These Tips for Website Designing for Beginners
Website designing for beginners doesn’t have to be too difficult. So long as you follow our tips above and recognize when you don’t have the skills to achieve what you envision, then you’ll be set.
Should you hit any roadblocks, make sure you work with a professional who knows what they’re doing. Since first impressions mean everything, it may be worth it to invest a little money into getting professional web designing services. That way, you’ll bring in the customers you hope to attract.
For more information on websites, please check out our other blog articles.
