Storytime– I was talking to a new client yesterday about website SEO. They are looking for ways to have a better ranking on Google for their search terms. I went hands-on and reviewed their website. That’s when I found out– their website is in a normal state. Their situation prompted me to write these pieces of advice on how to them your website pages correctly.
Everything you do with websites, see it from two points of view– as a website visitor and from Google’s viewpoint. As a technical person, who sees everything in 1’s and 0’s, I know how websites can get a better result, especially when it comes to ranking well on Google Search results.
Website designs are essential to make your website search-engine friendly. If your website is SEO-friendly, Google and other search engines can crawl on your web pages efficiently.
Let’s have an example of a highly-optimized website.
Suppose you are a local handyman who provides gutter cleaning services around the suburbs in Sydney. Your website should be full of information about gutter cleaning– the texts, images, and CTAs should be all about gutter cleaning. Even the web page’s technical parts have to be inclined with gutter cleaning– title page, meta description, and alt-text should have a common theme.
It’s quite evident that you should do these things. However, often than not, several websites have entirely missed this approach. It is common for them to only have the list of services their business offers, without any dedicated page or extra content about their service.
So, why is this necessary?
Come to think about it. If someone is searching for gutter cleaning Sydney on the search engine, and if your website is full of information about gutter cleaning, it will be a relevant search– right?
Before we proceed, take a look through your website. Are there things you would want to improve on– content? Image? A quality webpage is critical here. Keep your focus on building your website with the right foundations, and everything will fall into place.
Check out the best website designs that can help you rank high in Google search.
Judge It First – SEO and Web Visitor POV
Recently, SEO has been the main reason for UI and UX designs, but as Google updated their algorithm recently, their factors aligned in one holistic approach. You have to do the necessary methods to have a highly-optimized web design.
If you have a hard time to manage and apply the necessary approach, get help from a reliable company. They will not only help you optimize your website but increase the prospects of your products and services.
Keep your website user-centric. It gives you more opportunities for increased traffic, high visitor satisfaction, and better customer relationships.
Principles for Best Website Designs
What makes a website design the best is its usability and functionality. Although the visual design has a plus factor, visitors will appreciate your website more if they can easily navigate through it. If they cannot understand its feature, they might as well not have the website. That’s why we use these principles to have a better result.
1. Make Your Website Straightforward
According to the first principle of usability, websites should be straightforward and self-explanatory. It should have a simple structure and understandable navigation to ensure that your web visitors can easily find what they need.
A straightforward website structure and moderate visual clues can quickly help web visitors find their way through your web pages. Do not make your visitors think. Make it easier for them to grasp the idea of your website. Your target audience will immediately leave your webpage if they do not know how to navigate around your website.
Moreover, if you will offer your target audience a service of product, keep your requirements minimal. The lesser the action needed, the more likely your visitors will fill-up the form or try out the service.
2. Gain Web Visitor’s Attention
Websites provide both static and dynamic content. That’s why web owners focus and make their interface and content interactive. Visuals or images are more eye-catching than other formats because our eyes can instantly recognize patterns, motions, or edges. Thus, it is best to use visuals in your content to capture their attention.
3. Effective Writing
Content in web pages is different from print. It is necessary to adjust your writing style to the habits and preferences of your visitors.
Promotional content, long text blocks without images, keywords that are italicized or bold, and exaggerated language are most likely ignored by your readers. Moreover, do not use clever or cute phrases that will confuse your web visitors. For example, use “sign up now” instead of “start now.”
Thus, to have an optimal writing and effective content. Change your writing to:
- Short and concise phrases. Make your content straightforward.
- Use a scannable layout. Add headings, visuals, or bullets to make the flow of text uniform and easy to read and scan.
- Only use objective and plain language. Do not make your content sound promotional.
4. KIS Principle
The primary goal of your website design should be KIS or Keep It Simple. It is rare for web users to visit a site just to enjoy the design. They are mostly into the information they are looking for. Despite the design, they will appreciate it if it contains the information they need. Thus, always strive for simplicity.
5. Apply White Space
Some writers or web owners overestimate the importance of using white space on their blogs. White space help web visitors perceive the information on the content quickly and reduce the cognitive load.
Most visitors scan the web page and check on the content, whether it contains digestible information.
If your webpage has a complex structure, it makes your blog or content challenging to read, analyze, and scan. Thus, it is best to separate the paragraphs with whitespace to provide users with a visual hierarchy.
6. TETO (Test Early, Test Often)
The TETO principle should be applied to every web design project. These usability tests provide crucial insights into significant problems and issues related to your website layout. Test at the right time– early and often. Do not test too late, too little, and for the wrong reasons.
In this principle, you have to keep these things in mind:
- It is better to test one user than testing none. One of the common mistakes web owners commit is not testing their project earlier. Based on Boehm’s first law, errors are most likely frequent during design activities and requirements. If you test earlier, you can easily determine the errors. However, if not, they become more expensive to remove and change.
- Testing is a cycle. You have to design and test the webpage. I there are errors, you have to fix them and test them again.
- It produces useful results. Either you will be pointed to the errors or absence of major design flaws. Rest assured, you will have a useful insight with regards to your project.
To summarize: If you want to have the best website, you have to test it early and often.
Web Design Trend in 2021
Each year, the website design trends have become more gauged into sci-fi and technology. Several rumored design trends in 2021 suggest the opposite– instead, these web designers are into realism. They have become obsessed with combining digital and ordinary, reflecting how websites have become a part of our everyday lives.
Neumorphism
In 2021, web designers expect to have a promising era of minimalist realism. Neumorphism is the successor of skeumorphism.
Skeumorphism is the design approach that renders outdated materials into modern designs. Flat designs solely inspired its trendy design. Meanwhile, the balanced designs are simple icons in neutral colors. Although the flat designs are less realistic, they are more identifiable and uniform to look at.
Now, neumorphism is the combination of both web design style. It will resemble digital deboss or emboss. Web designers are now excited to reclaim their tactile experience that was disregarded in the flat design era.
Comfortable Color Scheme
As the market industry expands digitally, consumers are spending more time on the web. Given the circumstance, several of the users experience eye strain after long hours of screentime.
Thus, web designers considered their page’s color schemes and have color schemes that are more comfortable to the eyes.
Have you noticed the introduction of the dark mode trend in 2019?
This 2021, web designers have thought outside the black and white, dark and light schemes. Designers are looking for the middle ground in soft color palettes– warm browns, pastel blues, or light pinks.
The comfortable color scheme induces a calming and relaxing reaction to the eyes. Moreover, it has given the web designers an idea that future designs should be more of accessibility and comfort than dramatic innovation.
Captivating Questions
The most critical stage for web visitors is when they go over the landing page. It is the time where their curiosity becomes answered or not. If you have an intriguing landing page, it will help them read and go over your page.
Rather than having the users read product descriptions and make the decisions on their own, brands interact with their visitors through questionnaires. These questions are asked from a personal standpoint. Although they are in multiple-choice questions, they are focused on the probable likes and dislikes of the consumers. By then, the web owners know how to cater to their products well.
These get-to-know quizzes make the prospective buyer feel they are part of the brand community. Thus, captivating questions are part of the web design trends in 2021.
Final Thoughts
Are you ready to change your web design this 2021? The trends for 2021 web designs look less from a sci-fi movie. Instead, they are designs that we encounter daily. It shows how websites are increasingly used these days.
