5 simple tips for your website design
With content management systems like WordPress and Joomla, a website is created in no time. With the installation of a theme, you can change the look of your website in one fell swoop. So configuring your website can be as elaborate as you like, you can do it in an afternoon and find it good enough. Or you can take weeks to design it entirely to your taste. For beginners, it is often advisable not to overwhelm yourself with information, but to start simple. In this blog, we'll give you 5 simple tips that you can use to get a good end result for your website. Let's get started.
The navigation on your website should be clear
A menu and navigation on your website should be clear and often minimalistic. As soon as visitors have too many choices, they will abandon and go back to another website. So it's very important that you give it the attention it needs to be easy to navigate. A logo belongs by default in any menu that serves as a back-to-start button. You can also create a separate link for it in your menu. Also, you can link to the pages that are most important to a visitor. For example, how a visitor or customer can get in touch with you. More information about your company or your main products.
So get a picture of it and discuss it with your team members, and see how your direct or indirect competitors have set it up. It doesn't have to be copied, but you can get ideas.
Provide a pleasant reading experience
Visitors have landed on your hosting website because they are interested in your services or products, or simply want to read your blog. In order for visitors to find the information they need and also read it, it is important that you write sophisticated texts that are easy to read and provide enough information. Of course, this is different for every business sector, and you need to keep making small improvements and see what works and what doesn't.
It is also advisable to give your texts a lot of white space, not only between headings, but also between paragraphs. This makes the texts clearer and thus invites you to read on. Large blocks of text often deter users from your website.
Pleasant user experience on any device
It's no secret that many people use a cell phone to make purchases, access information, or seek entertainment. So it's important that your website is suitable for any screen size. Different phones have different screen sizes, so testing only on your phone may not give you the right picture.
Your text and content should automatically adjust and stretch to fit the different sizes. Many WordPress themes already do this automatically for you. But for your images, you should definitely take this into account. Your images are even better tailored to the formats preferred by your theme. And what the situation at hand requires. For example, a cover image is a different size than an image on a page.
Use clear, preferably your own images on your website.
Images and visual elements play a big role on websites. Sophisticated images that encourage or persuade can work better than a big chunk of text. It's also becoming increasingly important to use your own images. These often show the real picture better than a standard stock image. Eventually, you will also see your images appearing more and more on other websites. This can cause you to miss a certain authenticity. With your smartphone, you can already easily take photos of your products or create a few impressions that are well suited for use on a website.
In addition to properly sizing an image, it's important to subject it to a compression feature. There are plug-ins you can use for this, but you can also do it with an online tool like tinypng. Your images will then be reduced in size once, which will have a positive effect on the loading time of your website. Especially with less stable mobile networks that your visitors may be using.
Encourage people to take an action
Every website is based on a commercial idea, be it clicking on an ad, buying a product or service, or subscribing to a newsletter. It's up to you as the webmaster to make this as inviting as possible. So use eye-catching colors and buttons, and switch things up here and there. You can use Google Analytics and other statistics tools to ensure that your customers' actions are tracked. After a few months of data collection, you can then make an informed decision based on this.
What tips have you used for your website? Let us know via social media!