7 Principles of Good Website Design

Phew...good website design is harder than it looks.

Maybe you’re struggling because your current copy is clear but your visuals are outdated. Or maybe your visuals are engaging, but you lack a strong call-to-action.

From how good a website looks to how easy it is to navigate, the opinions of your website visitors matter – and in this case, their poor opinions may cost your business a sale.

Here are 7 principles you can incorporate into your website design that will not only help clarify your message and build trust with your target audience, but motivate users to take action.

Great First Impression

A website visitor's first impression will determine (rather quickly!) whether he/she decides to stay or move on. A poor first impression means you lose out on an opportunity to communicate your message and potentially win a new customer.

Get feedback from family and poll your peers — are they singing praises about your website or struggling to navigate it?

Effective Communication

Many people may visit your website, but you want more than just an excuse to educate these engaged visitors — you want leads and sales.

In order to be effective, your website must communicate your message well or you risk losing out on a potential sale or ready-to-book client. Additionally, incorporating a single call-to-action (CTA) throughout your website will increase the likelihood that the user will contact you and eventually purchase your product or services.

Make sure your website is designed to communicate your message quickly and creatively.

Know your brand and stick to it with consistent and clear copy.

Write concise paragraphs and break them up with descriptive headers.

Pick a straightforward call-to-action, such as “Book a call” or “Sign Up Today”, and plaster it across your website.

Visual Design

48% of people cited a website’s design as the number one factor in deciding the credibility of a business. (SME Website Statistics. Rareform New Media) People are highly visual and we connect with images of other people. When you have high quality photos on your website, it establishes a sense of trust and credibility with the user.

Make sure your web pages are created in a visually appealing way so that customers can easily find information.

Include high quality images and clean design elements.

Great User Experience

A website that is easy to navigate will not only help gain your customer's trust, but also lead them to return over and over again (and maybe even recommend it by word-of-mouth!).

Incorporate a powerful video tutorial or engaging tour of your website for first-time visitors.

Create elements that are sticky, meaning they go with a user as they navigate your site. As you scroll, the element also scrolls, helping the user take the next logical step in your customer journey.

Search Engine Optimization

Your website can be designed well – but if your target audience can’t find it, what’s the point? Search engine optimization (SEO) plays a key role in where your pages appear within Google search results, which helps you attract the right website visitors. Organic rankings on Google are based entirely on what the algorithm determines to be the best results for a given query, so it’s more important than ever to make sure you have the right keywords woven into throughout your website.

Put yourself in your client’s shoes and conduct a simple search on Google. Is your website popping up, or is it landing on page three of the results?

Conduct a keyword audit and give your copy, headlines and meta descriptions a refresh. Our top picks for keyword research include Google Keyword Planner and SEMrush.

Mobile Responsive

Your website must be user-friendly and mobile responsive. If your visitor is struggling to navigate your website using their phone, they will quickly lose patience and leave your page.

Check out your website on desktop, mobile and tablet. How does it look? Not so great? Now is the time to reach out for help to make sure your website is built to automatically adjust to the screen width of a visitor’s device.

An Offer Above The Fold

Your client or customer is coming to you because they have a problem, and you have a solution for them. Include a hard-to-resist offer, right away on the homepage, so the user doesn’t have to spend time and effort searching.

Position yourself as a leader in your industry who can assist your client and solve their problem, and incorporate an offer above the fold so it’s the first thing a new visitor sees.

Need help incorporating these principles into your current website or ready for an entirely new award-winning website? We can help!

For more information regarding our web design services, contact us today to book a Discovery Call!

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Jenny Cross

With more than 10 years of agency experience, Jenny has had the privilege of working with a large variety of brands. She loves partnering with other business owners and entrepreneurs, and specializes in brand development. From digital marketing to online course creation, Jenny’s knowledge and skillset has prepared her to be a successful creative director.