10 Tips on What Makes a Good Website Design
These days, an online presence is an essential part of running a successful business.
It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to sell products online or just want to make sure people can find you. Either way, you need to make sure your website has a good design and is easy to find.
If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to designing a website, keep reading.
Listed below are ten great tips to help you figure out what makes a good website design.
What Makes a Good Website Design?
It’s easier than ever to put together a website for business or personal use. But, in order for your website to really be effective, a good design is key.
These ten tips will help you answer the question “what makes a good website design?” once and for all.
1. Fast Load Times
Whether your business offers medical supplies or antique furniture reproductions, fast load times are essential.
If your website takes forever to load (in this case, forever means more than a couple seconds), people are going to go elsewhere.
Fast load times also improve your search engine ranking, which makes it easier for people to find your site.
2. Easy Navigation
Visitors don’t want to waste time figuring out how to navigate your website.
Make sure it has a clear, obvious layout with an easy-to-locate menu, obvious navigation categories, and a search bar.
3. Use an “F” Pattern
Another way to make your site easier to navigate is to arrange your content in an “F” shape.
Eye-tracking studies have found that people tend to scan a page in an “F” shape.
This means that they pay attention primarily to what’s shown in the top left portion of the screen. Information that’s located on the right side or bottom of the page often gets skipped.
Take advantage of people’s natural tendencies and make sure the most important information is located in the top left quadrant.
4. Keep it Simple
Clutter is unprofessional and uninviting. If you have a million images and icons on your site, it will be harder for visitors to find what they’re looking for. It also will decrease your site’s load times.
Before you add anything to your site, ask yourself what purpose it serves. If you’re not sure, leave it out.
5. Use the Right Font and Font Size
All the information on your site needs to be easily readable. Both the font and the font size that you use will help with this.
Look for fonts that are clear and easy-to-read.
Focus on simplicity and clarity; don’t look for anything fancy or overly stylized. Avoid using a variety of fonts, too. Stick to just one or two complimentary styles for a cohesive look.
You also should avoid using anything smaller than a 16-pixel font size. Sixteen is typically considered the bare minimum for text. Don’t make visitors squint to see what you have to say!
6. Make it Mobile-Friendly
Google recently announced its mobile-first index in response to the increase in the number of who are using their smartphone or tablet browser to visit websites.
This means that Google’s algorithms will start using the mobile version of a website’s content for rankings.
If your website isn’t set up to be viewed on mobile devices, you’re setting yourself up for failure in the SEO world.
A mobile-friendly device will adapt and rearrange itself so that it’s easy to view on a smaller screen. It will also be easy to use on any device, not just a desktop computer.
7. Make Your Contact Information Obvious
Don’t make visitors hunt for your contact information. Include your email address, phone number, and any other information you want people to have in an obvious location.
Ideally, this information should be available on every page of your website. And, you should have a separate contact page as well where people can email you directly.
8. Annotate Your Links
Don’t just use the words “click here” for your anchor text. It may seem like a smart move for getting people to click on your links. But, in reality, people need to know exactly what they’re clicking on.
Help your readers out. Start annotating your links so that people know where they’re going and what they’ll find when they get there.
This practice also helps visitors who are blind or have poor vision and may be using a screen reader. These devices allow them to skip from link to link to get an idea of what’s on the page. If your site is full of “click here” links, blind visitors will have a hard time figuring out what your site is all about.
9. Use the Right Colors
The colors you use when designing your website can make a huge difference to visitors’ experience.
When you’re trying to figure out what makes a good website design, you should think about the message you want to send with your color choices.
Visitors tend to associate certain colors with different emotions. For example, blue often signifies trust, while grey signifies professionalism.
In addition to choosing colors that send the right message to your visitors, you should also be sure to use colors in a way that makes your site easier to read.
Contrasting colors for the text and background make text easier to read. And, vibrant colors help draw attention to important elements (like a call-to-action button).
10. Use Images to Your Advantage
Pictures help you establish your brand and connect with your audience. But, they need to be high-quality, professional photos. Blurry snapshots won’t cut it.
If you don’t have any high-quality photos to use, you may want to consider investing in stock photos to give your site a professional feel.
Infographics and videos are also great for communicating complex ideas in a simple way.
Visitors often prefer these options to reading a large block of text, too.
Want to Learn More?
You now know more about what makes a good website design. But, do you feel like there’s still more to learn?
Check out some of our other web design-related articles to improve your skills even more. With our help, you’ll be a web design expert before you know it!