Digital marketing is an ever-changing field. With the emergence of new technology and constantly evolving consumer expectations, marketers must stay on top of their game in order to remain successful.
However, this can be easier said than done, especially for smaller businesses who don’t have access to a team of specialists. Fortunately, there are plenty of established strategies that can be implemented by any company at any level. Whether you operate a small blog or plan to launch a complex ecommerce website, effective web design principles are universal across all industries and market niches — which means you don’t need a team of designers to implement them!
In this blog post, we outline the 10 essential principles of effective web design in order to help you create more attractive and user-friendly websites that convert more visitors into customers. Read on for more detail about each principle with useful examples from real-life sites that implement them successfully.
An understanding of user behaviour
Before setting out to design a website, it’s important to first understand the behavioural patterns of your target audience. Users employ different strategies to access content, and this will impact the design and structure of your site accordingly. For example, some people may visit a website from their desktop and browse through pages in a linear fashion. Others may use search engines or social media to find information about a product before visiting the site. Clicking on ads generates traffic for your website, so when designing your site, thinking about your audience’s behaviour can help you make the most out of these opportunities.
Consistent across platforms and devices
Consistent page design is one of the most important principles in effective web design. It means that every page on your website should look and function similarly, and not just when viewed on a PC or laptop screen. Consistency in design allows visitors to easily navigate your website, especially those who use mobile devices. If you want to create a superior user experience for all audiences, then you should ensure that your website’s navigation is intuitive across all platforms and devices.
It is essential for any company to use consistent design across their website to maintain a great user experience for everyone who visits the brand. The homepage of a website should be efficient and easy to navigate. Additionally, any product pages viewed on any device should be easy to navigate.
Good content is key
Top-tier content is always a huge factor in your visitors’ browsing experience. In order for your website to be successful, you need to give your visitors an outstanding user experience. A common practice among many businesses is to spend extra time and effort on their homepage. This area is often the first impression of your brand, so it’s crucial that the homepage is well-designed and optimized for search engine optimization. When deciding what content should be included on your homepage, keep in mind where you want to direct your visitors most: new visitors, existing users, or both. If you have a blog on your website, make sure that you are providing enough content across all of the blog posts. On average, blogs tend to lose traffic after 7-10 days because they don’t provide as much updated content as they should.
Avoid visual noise
One of the most important elements of effective design is to avoid visual noise. Visual noise refers to any element in your site that distracts the visitor’s focus from what they are viewing. This can include unnecessary photographs, banner ads, and sidebars that you don’t need for your site’s purpose. Now consider this example: on a blog about cooking, you wouldn’t want a photo of a steak with a pile of vegetables as the background. It would be inappropriate for the audience and would hinder their ability to read the content.
Embrace simplicity
Simplicity is one of the most important aspects of effective web design. The key to simplicity is not making your website too busy. A cluttered website will frustrate users and make it difficult for them to understand what they’re looking at. So, make your site simple by: – Eliminating unnecessary text (avoid long paragraphs) – Using clear navigational links that don’t need too much explanation – Having a universal font and colour scheme that’s easy on the eyes.
Incorporate progressive disclosure
Progressive disclosure is a design principle that increases the usefulness of a website by providing users with information as they need it while minimizing unnecessary content. This is achieved through subtle hints and visual cues, such as loading indicators and navigation menus. For example, in Microsoft Word, when you hover over a button or icon, the tool tip will appear to provide more details about the feature.
Stay flexible and be future-proof
It is important for websites to be future-proof. Some web designers may spend weeks or months on their site and implement every design element precisely. However, it is important for companies to stay flexible and change the site as new trends emerge. Often times, this means designers will need to modify the site’s layout or style in order to remain relevant with the current market. A good example of staying flexible is a website that has many different sections and subsections – the design needs to change constantly so that customers can always find what they are looking for easily. A great example of staying flexible is Tumblr’s homepage which features rotating blog posts and images; this keeps users coming back every day simply because they never know what content will be waiting for them next!
Conclusion
A good web design is always a work in progress. It’s never finished, which is why it’s important to be able to adapt your design for future changes and make it useful to the user. Learn how to deliver the best web design experience for your users.