Recently updated on February 6th, 2024 at 06:29 pm
How good website design will help your business grow
In today’s digital world, there are many do-it-yourself web building tools available when a business is launching or revamping their website. While many of these options offer a good starting point and can definitely streamline a web build, they often don’t provide important information and guidance on how to create a well designed website to meet yours customers needs.
This knowledge is critical to any business that’s looking to improve their online presence, increase profit and avoid making a costly web build mistake. So the team here at Spark Interact have put together the following guide to help you understand the fundamentals of good website design and how it can be applied to your next web project.
3 tips to focus on for good website design
We all know that feeling when we visit a great website and all the elements just seem to fit together. Whether it’s a homepage, a product or service page, a checkout page or even an FAQ section, we can tell when a page has been designed well. While no two websites are identical, you can assume the following aspects have been carefully considered during the web design process and should be part of your own project.
1) Leverage your website’s visual hierarchy
In basic terms, visual hierarchy describes which elements capture your user’s attention and draw their eyes most. This includes the flow of information, font sizes, colours, images, illustrations, graphics, videos, white space, call-to-action buttons and how the page loads.
So we recommend that you spend some time sketching out how you want your information and visual elements laid out on each of your web pages to maximise good website design. You obviously want the most important content about your business higher up on the page – often what we call “above the digital fold” – but you want to balance this with appropriate spacing, appealing images and graphics, and of course the right colours.
In fact, the clever use of colour can be one of the most visually interesting ways to differentiate elements on your web page and draw attention where you want it. Our brains are wired to notice contrast and we will automatically focus on objects that stand out due simply to their difference in color in relation to the surrounding objects.
2) Use engaging, informative headlines high up
If you imagine a typical user who is searching for your products or services on Google or Bing, chances are they will visit a number of your competitor websites during their research or consideration phase.
This means you only have a few seconds, and sometimes even less, to capture their attention with engaging and relevant language and keep them scrolling down the page to find out more. This is why language forms such an important part of user experience and good website design.
Firstly, you want to ensure they know they are in the right place when they land on your page, so your headline and first descriptive sentence should succinctly outline who you are and what you do and be easy to digest. This is 101 for good website design.
You should also focus immediately on how your products or services will make their life easier or better. Show that you understand their world with an interesting statistic, a great offer or an awesome product feature.
Anything that hooks them in and keeps them on your web page longer will not only improve your brand’s memorability it will increase the likelihood of them leaving their details or making a purchase.
3) Offer answers & advice to a range of questions
A well designed web page reads just like a conversation you might have with a customer who is trying to understand your products or services. While this ties into the above tip, you also want to offer breadth and depth with the information on each page.
You might think that users don’t want to be burdened with too much information, but if you’re answering common questions and providing useful tips, then you’ll keep their attention. There are many nifty ways that this additional content can be added to a page so it doesn’t interrupt with the user experience. This includes accordion boxes, which allow a user to open up content that interests them.
Similar to a sales conversation, you’re anticipating everything that a potential customer might want to know about you with your web page’s information. By showing you care enough to provide detailed answers and guidance on how to solve their problem, you are going to build rapport and ultimately win the hearts and minds of your customers.
5 examples of good website design
Simply Chocolate
The team at Spark are all chocolate lovers and it’s hard to look past this mouth-watering website from Simply Chocolate. Stunning, bright images and a fun, interactive scrolling feature with a floating ingredient background make you want to load up your cart with lots of chocolate goodness. The visual hierarchy here is just perfect and inspires user interaction.
Airbnb
It’s no accident that Airbnb dominates the short term accommodation market. They know people want to start searching for rentals straight away, so the easy-to-use search bar on the homepage design is at the top. They’ve also spent time building out a range of travel content and influencers to keep users excited about their next adventure.
Feed Music
Immerse yourself in an interactive music world with this creative mix of animation, video and scrolling features. Powerful imagery, awesome user experience and some very clever design inclusions make Feed Music one of the best designed websites we’ve come across in a long time.
Woven Magazine
Just like a real life magazine that you love to look at and touch, the people from Woven have delivered a beautiful, minimal publication that celebrates craftspeople and artists from around the world. Sometimes the simplest designs that allows for lots of white space are the ones your audiences love.
Spark Interact
We’re always looking to improve our website design and user experience by measuring where people are looking and what they’re interested in when choosing a digital partner. Our vibrant colour schemes, responsive page load design and catalogue of services and projects showcase how we can help businesses with their website needs.
Brand recognition & trust = increased enquiries
Remember, you’re not only competing against businesses in your category, but also every other website your potential customer visits. So the only way to ensure your brand is distinctive and memorable is through a well structured website that provides a great user experience using responsive design and modern design elements.
Users will form an immediate impression of your business based on the look and feel of your website. So building trust and demonstrating you care deeply about the needs of your customers is going to lead to more enquiries and sales. This can’t be overstated enough in today’s marketplace.
If you’re currently looking to launch a website or considering a refresh, we’d love to hear from you about your design project. We offer a range of highly flexible web design services customised to your budget and business needs.
