2 Important Thoughts to Consider When Building A Website

Everyday, there are thousands upon millions of websites being created and published. Whether these are personal opinion blogs, eCommerce websites, or news sites - there are far too many websites that standing out can be a bit difficult. For this reason, digital marketing has become an increasingly important part of pushing individual or organisation brands online.

Now, a lot of marketers will tell you that you should focus on search engines, meaning study search engine optimisation best practices and you are good. Target keywords, create content using those keywords, and make sure you get to engage with your existing and prospective visitors constantly. However, some tend to underestimate the power of a good design. Yes, it would be completely okay to settle for website builders and use templates since it was created with optimisation in mind. But even customising website builder templates require proper planning.

So for this article, let us forego the usual design tips and breakdown what you need to consider during your website conceptualisation stage. What should you keep in mind when planning your website’s design?

Make sure the purpose of your website is well represented in the design

You have to understand your visitors and their behaviours to know if you have created a website that is satisfying to their taste. If you are a resort out in the Maldives and part of your strategy is to use a lot of imagery to make the visitor feel like they are at your resort Atoll, then maybe the best design to go for is a catalogue or magazine type of design. Which means, a much cleaner and inviting design, with high quality images and concise content.

If you are an eCommerce website selling clothes, you want them to see the number of designs and products you offer instantly. Why not create a rotating hero banner which highlight the different products that are available. The best way to cover more ground is to choose your best sellers, categorise them into three or four, and then showcase them in clusters on the rotating banner. Make sure the call-to-action button is prominent and that the conversion path is clear.

Easy navigation makes it easy for visitors to know what to do next

There is nothing more annoying than visiting a website with such a complicated structure. Remember that the first few seconds of getting to your website, a visitor must know what they should be clicking next. Of course, this depends on the purpose of their visit. If this is a user who knows about you already and are just looking for updates, they should see new content on the home page. If this is a buyer ready to make a purchase, the call-to-action button and the whole conversion process must be straightforward. And if this is a new visitor keen on learning more you, navigating your website should be intuitive.

Avoid turning your website into something difficult to understand and too busy with graphics and loud colours. Accessing a website should not be rocket science, let us not complicate it.

The takeaways for this website is knowing how to stay true to your brand, learning about customer behaviour (which depends on the nature of your website), and clean functionality to make it easy for them to use it. Remember these and create a website that will continuously drive in traffic.