When I was in high school, I had this fountain pen that I considered lucky for me. Whenever I did anything with that fountain pen, it would turn out to be perfect. Be it exams or quiz of even just writing a simple application. That pen was with me till my college.
Then one this insight hit me. It was not the flow of the fountain pen or the weight of the pen that made it special; it was tit’s design—not kidding. From that point, I started thinking in terms of designs. How come some things attract us more than others? It’s mostly because of their design. A website designer is an expert in their field and they can help you to bring your brand to its best. You want to do what you can make your business work well and that means hiring the best website designer you can find.
When I started my business, this insight helped me to design my eStore with a lens of a website designer.
So, this blog is for all those website owners or web designers who are struggling for their perfect web design.
The principles that follow will help you to design your perfect website that will surely attract, engage, and make the customers fall in love with the design.
- Simplicity is the first win
Study the logos of the most famous companies. What is one common thing in them? They are all simple. Read the most popular blogs on the internet. What do you find familiar with them? They are all simple. Simplicity is not just a choice; it’s a way of expressing things in which everyone and anyone can get a clear message.
Be it building a website, pitching a client, or a hard conversation with a co-worker, simplicity is something that will get the job done.
When a visitor lands on your website, they don’t want to get stuck. They are looking for a way to solve their problem. If it takes more than five seconds to load your website, they’ll leave. If they are not able to find their desired service/product within a few minutes, they’ll leave if your search filter is out of order. They’ll leave.
Point being, to grab the attention of your visitor, you need to lay down things as you do it for a toddler.
Right from the interface to the design and the content on the website needs to be simple enough that the visitor doesn’t get stuck anywhere.
Also, simplicity is one of the ever-green website design trends that are still in use.
- Be Consistent
One thing that separates successful websites from the boring ones is consistency. You cannot achieve greatness without being consistent
The overall look and feel of the design must be consistent. Whenever a new user visits your website, every page, every corner of the site must show some consistency.
The navigation, the overall look of the website must be consistent. The background, the typefaces, and the UX/YI must give out just one message to the visitor.
It’s easy to say but challenging to do. For instance, even though the overall layout of pages will remain the same but there will be elements like header, footer, a sidebar, or a navigation type, which will remain the same in everything.
The goal is to make the visitor give a feeling of oneness in the site. Be it a landing page, a contact us page, or a product page. Every page must give one feel about the brand. This will help the user associate certain things with your brand. It can be a logo, a color, or a tagline. Everything must be consistent with the overall theme and design of the website.
- Credibility
The end-goal of the design is to convert visitors. The design elements can give credibility to your website. If you are unable to provide the best user-experience, credibility can cover it up.
One of the fastest ways to earn credibility is to be transparent and honest about your product/service. Don’t make the users dig deep to know about your brand. You need to keep essential things like contact number, social media icons, and about us page right in the front.
Another way to increase your conversation rate and earn the credibility of the user is through social proof. When the visitor sees that other people are using your website and they are quite happy to do so, it will be easy for you to earn the trust of the customer and make them buy without putting a lot of pressure on them.
- User-Centricity
It all brings down to user-experience. A professional website design agency understands that if the user is getting stuck somewhere while placing the order, the design is not user-centric and needs immediate attention.
If the website is not opening within the first three seconds, then this will raise the first red flag for the visitor. Next comes the search feature. If it’s not user-friendly, it will drive people away.
And finally, the shopping cart. You need to keep it as simple as possible. Take a little information as you can and let the user proceed with the order. Moreover, the most crucial part is not to add any extra shipping cost in the final payment. Keep everything clear. If there is an additional charge, inform the user what is the fee all about? And don’t leave anything on surprise.
Final Thoughts
In the end, it is all about getting the attention of the visitor and make them feel safe while placing an order on your website.
One mistake that most website owners make is that they focus on customer’s problems and worry too much about their profits. In doing so, they lose customers big time.
The goal of the website is to make customers fall in love with your brand. It should give a feeling of credibility. Like mentioned earlier, social proof can add significant value to the overall design of the website.
The website design is the first impression on the visitor. Everything else comes later. So, for your business to succeed, you must follow the design principles mentioned above. These are simple yet effective principles for any successful website.
Author Bio:
Aaron Starc is a strategist & writer at Branex. She is learning photography, and she likes to help people with whatever she can. She hopes to leave her mark on the digital landscape. She tweets at @ErinStarc87.
