In the digital world of today, a website is the face of your business. A good attractive, easy-to-navigate and information based website is the key to business growth. The more appealing a site, more will be the time that a visitor will remain on it resulting in a higher rate of conversions. Before designing a site, there are certain principles of web design basics that have to be kept in mind.
- Message of the site – Decide on the purpose of the site and the message it needs to convey. It might be a hard-sell e-commerce site pushing sales or just a site that gives information of the product, about your company, the research being carried out and new innovations being tested. The very structure of the website will reflect its purpose.
- User-friendly features – One of the most important aspect of web design basics is its ability to hold on to the attention of the visitor. The site should have a structure with plenty of pointers similar to highway signs. The user should be able to navigate throughout the site easily and comfortably. A site that is difficult to comprehend by the common man is useless. He will quickly leave the site and the resultant high bounce rate will adversely impact the search engine rankings. For example, in e-commerce sites, a potential customer should be able to see the products, reach the cart, place an order and make payment, all in one easy flow.
- Lucid and clear content – This is what ultimately matters and any visitor should be told in a very clear and logical manner all details about your business. Adequate information must be conveyed without cluttering up the site with complicated facts. Remember, there will be all types of visitors and the site has to cater to both the layman and the expert, until it is a highly advanced scientific or technical site for a niche market. Make the content informative, simple and easy to understand and one that will be able to hold on to the visitors’ attention for long periods.
- Layout of the website – While content is very important, web design basics should put great emphasis on the layout and presentation. Visiting your site should give the visitor a certain amount of pleasure. This will make him come back repeatedly. Images, videos, splash of color, pleasing font type and size all go together to make it visually appealing.
It should be kept in mind that a website should be a judicious mix of all four. Good content is irrelevant without a good layout and both become immaterial if the visitor cannot navigate the site easily. Concentrating on optimizing web design basics will take care of any glitches.
