While each website designer may have some preferences about how they plan a new build, one thing that they all have is a checklist to keep them on track. This checklist should include not only basic steps like securing a domain name, but it should also ensure that they’re adding all of the elements a site should have.
The thing that differentiates a good site from a bad one isn’t how much it cost to build. Instead, it’s whether or not the designer included the correct design elements. These elements help ensure your website is easy to use, appealing to users, and visible on search engines. For us, this means including our list of the top 5 most important website design elements.
Navigation
One of the most important aspects of website design is ensuring a site is easy to navigate. People are easily frustrated by clunky, awkward, or convoluted navigation. And if they can’t easily find what they are looking for, they are highly likely to simply give up and move on to a competitor instead. Navigation should focus on functionality. A sitemap is a great place to start, as it outlines what pages your site has, how they’re ordered, and where they link to each other.
Visual Design
Building a website involves a lot more than simply adding some text and pictures. Every site needs to be designed to be visually appealing. The average website visitor decides whether or not they like your site within just a few seconds, giving you a narrow window to grab their attention. Your site should have sharp, clear visuals that are relevant to your business. It should also have an appealing color scheme, short blocks of content, and enough “white” space to break everything up a bit and draw a user’s eye to a CTA, headline, etc.
Content
Putting in a few words to describe yourself simply isn’t enough these days – but you also shouldn’t have thousands of words filling it up either. The ideal word count range for sites these days is 300 to 750. That is enough content for users to understand what it is that your business is about, and for Google’s crawlers to be able to correctly categorize your site for relevant searches. Content that is clear, concise, and engaging can do wonders for increasing leads and conversions.
Mobile Friendly
Over half of all traffic comes from mobile devices today. It’s a trend that is expected to only increase over time. And if your website isn’t designed to display properly on mobile, users are faced with a site that is awkward and difficult-to-navigate. Over 80 percent of mobile users say they have left a site for a competitor over mobile friendliness. By ensuring your site can be accessed properly on mobile devices, you are better reaching potential customers where they are. You’re also helping to increase the time people spend on your site, as well as leads and conversions.
Call to Action
A call to action, or CTA, encourages people to take a certain action while on your site. After all, you’re putting time and money into building a site in order to increase your business’s sales. This can mean making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or contacting your business for more information. In order to best drive leads and conversions, your website should have a CTA on every single page. CTAs are most often easy-to-find clickable buttons such as Buy Now, Join, Download, Sign Up Free.
Get More Conversions with Great Website Design
There are a lot of important components that go into building a website. These five are just a few that we consider to be the most important – as well as some of the most overlooked. If your website includes these elements, you’re more likely to have a higher ranking in search results, get found, and increase your sales.
If you’re looking to learn more about having a website built for your company, Gulf Coast Web is here to help. With a combined 85 years of experience in managing all types of digital design, our team can conduct a thorough audit of your site to see exactly what is working, and what could be improved upon. Our staff consists of highly-trained web design and digital marketing professionals who are both passionate about their jobs and excel at what they do. Contact us today to book a consultation with our team. We look forward to outlining exactly how we can help you grow your business with our digital media agency services.