Web design agencies are an important element of the web development process. The main goal of web design should be to create a website that both users and search engines enjoy. But where do you start?

You’ll need to understand some web design fundamentals to create a website that is aesthetically pleasing and functions well. Several factors like mobile-friendliness, load time, content and color all contribute to good website design. Here are the top 6 elements that every good website needs to have.

1. Website Purpose

What purpose is your website fulfilling? Is it a hub of practical information such as “how-to guides or a sports coverage site”? Different sites serve a variety of purposes but there are central purposes common to all sites:

•       Building your reputation
•       Describing expertise
•       Lead generation
•       Sales and post-purchase care

That said, always try to meet the needs of the user. The pages of your website should have clear intentions that will help your visitors interact with your offers.

2. Optimized for Mobile

Today more than ever, it’s important to have a website that is optimized for mobile. This is because a majority of people use their mobile devices to perform a search. That’s why it’s important to ensure a positive user experience across multiple devices.

Google added mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor. So if your site isn’t mobile-friendly Google may penalize you. Having a responsive design that displays on mobile is the first without scrolling is the first step but not always enough.

You need to evaluate how visitors interact with your website on mobile and ensure they can find what they want quickly. For the less tech-savvy individuals, they may need to hire services from a professional company like web design Dallas TX. You can search for medical website design near me to find a local web design company.

3. Great Content

Content is still king. It’s crucial to understand that content is just as important as the designs that support it. If you provide users with interesting content, you should start to notice an increase in traffic to your website.

When you’re trying to figure out the effectiveness of your content, you should take a look at the bounce rates. Analyzing the bounce rate for your site pages can tell how long visitors typically stay on your website before leaving.

If your business website has high bounce rates on the checkout page, it means prospects leave your website before buying. You typically have about 15 seconds to capture the attention of website visitors once they land on the intended page.

In general, users appreciate quality and credibility with the content that they view. Your site pages should provide useful and top-notch content to users. They’ll likely continue to view it if so─ even if there are ads.

4. Simplicity

One of the often-ignored web design fundamentals is simplicity. An over-designed website with a ton of elements on the page may not work. This is because the many elements may distract visitors from the core purpose of the website.

A clean and fresh website is both appealing to the eye and easy to navigate through pages. To achieve simplicity through design, use the right colors. Color is able to communicate messages and stir emotional responses.

Choosing brand colors that fit your business allows you to influence customers’ perception of your brand. Complimentary colors can give your website the balanced look needed to enhance users’ experience. Don’t forget to use white spaces as they help reduce a site’s visual clutter and mess. Plus, don’t use more than 5 color selections.

Typefaces also play a crucial role on a website so keep them legible. Try to use no more than 3 different fonts per website. This also helps keep the consistency of your brand.

Also, consider adding imagery to your website. Imagery includes components like still photography, video, illustration, and all types of graphics. You want to use expressive imagery that acts as an embodiment of your brand personality and captures your brand spirit.

5. A Call-to-Action

All pages of your conversion-based website should have a clear call-to-action (CTA). You don’t need to hard-sell. Instead, consider adding CTAs based on a page’s place in the user journey.

For different web pages, ask yourself questions like such as

• What’s the most important action do you want your site visitor to take?
• What’s the quickest and most effective way they can take it?

CTAs should be easy to detect and interpret. Make your opt-in forms, buttons, ribbons and other forms of CTAs instantly recognizable.

6. Page Layout Essentials

To make sure that your website visitors engage with your content longer, consider including a flow. The flow will properly guide visitors through your site and in the direction you expect them to go. With the right layout in place, you can take visitors through a carefully planned web experience that directs them to a conversion page.

The grid system is considered one of the best layouts for websites. The layout lets you structure the content of your website. At the same time, you can customize the layout and design of the website.

There are many variations of the grid that involve different arrangements of rows and columns. Think of how texts and images are arranged in magazines and newspapers.

The grid was more or less directly imported into the web. Numerous templated layout options have emerged to make your life easier. They’re responsive and compatible with most coding languages.

Learn the Web Design Fundamentals for Your Site

Everyone has different opinions on web design fundamentals. That’s what makes the web design very diverse and interesting.

The most important parts are covering the basics and using what works for your business. For more tips and advice on web design and other branding elements for your business, check out our blog.