The key to a great web design is in its simplicity. No, it does not mean that your site should look plain or dull. A well-organized and informative site draws more attention than a site with a lot on its plate. Websites with great designs attract traffic as it gives more value to the needs of the visitors. Here are some essential things that you should know when designing your website for the win.
Search Engine Optimization
Even if you make the best designed website yet no search engine can find it, it is useless. It will create much anxiety if you are not able to promote your site well all over the Internet. Fewer eyeballs mean less people viewing your site. Search engines are attracted to quality content. A great web designer should rely on content that has greatly chosen keywords and appropriate keyword density ratio to the word count.
Navigation
If it takes minutes to find resources around your website, then it fails in navigation. You have to make it easy for users to find resources. Great websites offer straightforward navigation to users plainly without looking so bland. The navigation design of your site should be simple and intuitive.
White spaces
White spaces never fail to create a neat looking and very readable website. If it works on print media, it should work for web sites too. More white spaces allow the eyes to rest. Too much white space can lead to waste of precious space. A good web design should strike a balance between the two. Use space intelligently to keep the site design from looking crammed.
Images
Make sure that you use images that allow fast loading times. A good web designer knows how to optimize images by selecting the good format and making sure that the images can be loaded faster in any platform, web or mobile. In this day and age where broadband speeds are easier to come by, images can be loaded faster compared to the Internet 15 years ago. However, the emerging platform using mobile devices can prove to be a source of stress and anxiety to web designers especially when handling images. Limit images to the essentials to ensure faster web page response.
Font
Proper font use is essential in a good design. Choose the font size, color and face for your text. Make sure to pick fonts that are present in most font palettes so that it will not appear different to other computers on the Internet. When picking colors for your font make sure it compliments your background. There is no point in choosing dark colored fonts amid dark colored backgrounds. Gradient backgrounds are thumbs down because it will make fonts harder to distinguish or read.
A good web designer should be aware on what the readers are seeking. Make your work appealing and compelling for eyeballs to come back for more. When designing your website, think of what your target audience would want and avoid focusing solely on what you like. It would also be wise to do some research on the kind of readers that you have for your website. This way, it would become easier for you to design a website that is perfectly tailored to your target readers’ preferences.
