What a website needs to stand out from the crowd
Photo by Igor Miske on Unsplash
If you decided to create a website, don’t settle for average quality. Go the extra mile and do everything needed to stand out of the crowd and appear more attractive to potential customers. The more present you are online, the more powerful your business will be.
The website should not only be practical, but beautiful too. Check the portfolio of popular designers and discover all the attractive and unique websites they’ve created so far.
If your website needs some beautifying too, take care of the following:
Structure & layout
Let’s assume for a moment that you have the most beautiful website in the world. If this website is not easy to navigate, viewers will focus on the downsides rather than the upsides.
In short, you need an intuitive yet impressive layout, and this is not easy to achieve. If it is you behind the wheel, make sure you improve and visually challenge the design skills you already have.
The key task is to keep information well-structured and organized on each of the pages. You will encounter problems fitting all elements you want, so be rigorous and selective.
Last but not least, choose a program that is easy to use and access. JavaScript is the most common choice for complex websites, but end users may not be happy with it.
Branding
As a developer, you are happy to work with clients with well-elaborated brands that already stand out from the competition. The real challenge may happen if the client wants you to build that brand for them.
Successful branding is not all about clearness in conveying messages. It also aims to create an emotional reaction for every user that comes across it. If the client doesn’t have a logo in place, follow their guidelines and pick elements that work well for their product.
One of the hardest choices to make will be the choice of an appropriate font. Start with it, and only then think of colors, styles, and messages.
Effective use of text
At first sight, fonts don’t differ significantly from each other. And yet, it is tiny nuances that make one font more effective than the other. The choice of font for a business client may define their reputation in the business community. It does so by simply showing what they stand for in terms of the corporate culture.
The well-written text also entails media and subheadings, and it is easy to read for every user. Ideally, a well-written message will invoke an emotional response and help the client engage with their audience.
Despite all tactics out there, the use of quality text in a non-obstructive manner can be an issue for a developer. Make sure you take the right decisions here.
Listening to what your audience wants
Websites of today are completely user concentrated. Next to the usual efforts invested in a beautiful UI, a website needs to be responsive and easy to navigate.
You’d be surprised by how many designers simply skip this step. Make sure you don’t – research the audience, pick up on their interests, and make sure your website has everything they need.
The simpler the better
It is true – it doesn’t take more than the logo and the branding color palette to reassure users they’ve reached the right destination. And yet, whether they choose to browse further or not is an entirely different question. The better the layout, the easier it will be to read and understand the content. Next to quality fonts, you need effective use of white spaces and colors, as well as simple navigation, maybe a few web transitions, and an obvious hierarchy of elements.
If you are not sure whether you’re doing a good job, make the obvious choices. Simplicity won’t overwhelm the audience. Instead, it will guide viewers to the information they needed in the first place.
Effective use of white space
White space is, in fact, the empty background space that keeps the design simple. How you organize a website can be decisive in its success.
Take some extra time, and make sure each page has aesthetic value. White space will keep you maintain a fresh and clean design.
Typography & fonts
Think of yourself as a user – what is the first thing you liked about your favorite logo? Was that the font? Are you still able to recognize it immediately when you see the logo displayed?
For many businesses out there, the choice of font is the most recognizable feature. Make sure you choose a beautiful and effective font that will cause similar reactions in the future.
You’ll need to pick an impactful header font as well so that users feel the urge to keep reading. This won’t even be an expensive undertaking, given that Google Fonts offers plenty of excellent options for free.
Legibility
One thing all great websites have in common is the large text size. They rely on it to facilitate the flow and ensure text is legible on every device. Designers, however, tend to restrict large fonts to simpler language, so that the message accomplishes its mission.
Viewers appreciate clear texts. They don’t only understand what a text is about but are also able to scan through it quickly and find the information they need. The most helpful tools here are headings and subheadings.
Impactful headlines
Use a dramatic heading to make a statement viewers will remember. Ideally, do that to convey the main message of the website – what that business is all about. This is a trick that helps you grab and preserve user attention, even if the content is not that good.
Check some modern websites to get inspired. You will see that they all work with impactful and large headlines and a clearly defined headline structure.
Carefully chosen palette
Remember – your work is not done when a user lands on a website. It has just begun.
You will want users to stick around and make a purchase, or maybe simply read what you have to tell them. But walk a bit in their shoes. What you are expecting them is to engage in a fully unknown experience in a matter of seconds. Nothing can influence a decision like this as well as colors can.
If you want to boost your conversion rate, use welcome and efficient colors. Make content easy to access and highlight elements that invite users to act. You can easily highlight sign-up buttons or get started buttons by using the right color.
There are many posts on color psychology but focus foremost on colors that stand for the brand and have the most effect on viewers. The palette of subtle tones can also help you create the hierarchy, and guide viewers to the most important buttons.
Smart contrasts
As we discussed even before, web designers use colors to provoke an emotional response. As an effect, the palette shows viewers what the company does and portrays its true atmosphere.
Color will not only impact the mood, nevertheless. If there is contrast, the designer can make certain areas more attractive than the others, and that’s where the real magic happens.
Experiments
Is a watercolor website theme something you would consider? There are many ways to effectively use watercolor, so don’t discard the idea.
The trend has only been growing in popularity over the last few years. We see watercolor on headers, footers, sidebars, or any other element of a website.
Even if you own such illustrations, you can use Photoshop to create them. You will be surprised by how entertaining this process is.
Use grids
Here comes another trend that made a strong come back in recent years. More and more websites are embarking on the grid journey, just to show us once again what effective and well-displayed imagery can do for a website.
It is tricky to use grids, so make sure they are simple. This is especially important if you are applying them on the navigation panel, as they can confuse your users.
Less is more
How fond are you of the minimalist trend? As a back-end user, you can only appreciate how white spaces and large images convince viewers that they are offered plenty of content. There is the clean surface, and beneath it, everything else.
Minimalism is there to simplify things, but also to lead viewers to specific parts of a website without overwhelming them. It focuses on content and leaves background trays where they need to be – in the background.
Large images only contribute to this scenario, by making pages convincing and dramatic. It is at this point those viewers build an emotional connection to the website, so make galleries a key element of your online space.
Social proof
If you are successful at what you do, make sure viewers know this. Conduct research, publish case studies and success stories, and reassure visitors that you are reliable. This can be achieved easily with reviews and testimonials from satisfied clients.
Reviews are there to explain to viewers why your product is good and important and do so with little words or an image. Believe it or not, they are the most persuasive elements on any website.
Loading times are essential
Bounce rates are huge, even among beautiful websites. The reason is that today’s users don’t have the time to wait for a page to load, and they leave never to come back. If they are your prospective clients, make sure your website is fast and reliable. By fast, we mean no more than three seconds.
At the same time, loading speed is one of the most important parameters search engines use to push your website higher in their rankings. The fast download depends on which elements you used to design the website.
Final thoughts
There is only one right way to design a stellar website. You need to know what customers need and embrace their wishes into a thoughtful and reliable design. Great websites are not only aesthetically pleasing but also fast and functional.
If you have mastered the skill of listening to customers, you’ll have no trouble with competition. We hope that our tips helped you embark on this journey, and we wish you lots of success!
