Benefits of Hiring a Professional Web Design Company

Having just a website for your business isn’t sufficient. You need an effective site that will build your business.

The most concerning issue today in digital marketing is that small business owners don’t see how significant their site can be to their business. The look and functionality of your site can make or break you. While doing it without anyone’s help will certainly save your money, within a year you will realize that you lost more revenue and goodwill than it would have cost to hire a professional web design company. The present websites are not at all like those from 5 years ago. They fill in as both a 24-hour marketing vehicle for your business and a tool to make your life simple. So what’s the big deal having your site done professionally? Take a look at the below-mentioned reasons that why you should leave your website design to the professionals.

1. A Positive First Impression

When a user visits your website, they form an opinion of your business. This opinion is based entirely on the look of your site. Even if you provide the best service or products in the world but if your website doesn’t look good then users might leave it in seconds. Thus, it always said that the first impression is the last impression. When you go an extra mile to hire a professional web design company, they’ll develop an attractive website for your company that will help in increasing visitors.

2. A Faster Website

Most websites do not perform optimally as is. A web design company with experience knows very well about the various plugins and 3rd party tools to integrate into your website to enhance speed and security. So, a website design company knows about these things very well. That means you’ll get a website that works smoothly without any bugs when someone browses it.

3. Compatibility with the Latest Mobile Technologies

Because you aren’t a web developer, you probably have little knowledge of new and upcoming technologies for the responsive website. Mobile-friendly designs are constantly changing and growing. A growing number each quarter are accessing the website with mobile devices, so now it’s important to have a website that is compatible with mobile devices.

And the best thing is, there is no need to create a separate version of your website for mobile devices. Your web design just needs to be responsive and a professional web designer knows how to build your website using this technology.

4. A Better Website Design

Obviously website design matters. Many websites are designed using pre-defined templates as people try to save their time and money. But, the easiest way may not be the best way here. If you want your business to scream quality then you need a customized website.

5. You Can Save Time

There may be chances that your work will get delayed if you hire an unprofessional or beginner just to save your money. In some cases, beginners take a long time to come up with the architecture of a site. Hiring a professional developer will save your time. They know how to build a website that creates a strong online presence.

6. Reliable Web Design

If your website is not developed by a professional then it is more at risk. Fixing problems with your site can be expensive and tedious. For example, you design your website yourself and it works well for several months. But when you try to change something, it starts to have other problems.

7. Professional Will Create SEO Friendly Website

If your site isn’t SEO optimized then your website will never appear on the first pages of Google or in any other search engines. It means nobody will find you through search and losing potential customers. A web design company will code your site in a way that it will be an SEO friendly website.

8. It is an Investment in Your Future

Your site is an investment, not an expense. It can make you a lot of money when done right. Regardless of whether you hire professionals to design your site or not, simply remember that your site is the most significant part of your business.

9. Digital Campaign

You can use many social media platforms to increase your business. Nowadays, Facebook and Instagram have become the highest social media platform where any company can grow their business digitally and increase traffic on the website. But without a website, one cannot take advantage of this factor.

10. It Will Look Trustworthy

A professional web designer will know how to convey your trustworthiness on the website. A site that is put together in a rush or just not made well won’t give them that. However, the best web designing services company can. A good web designer or agency will be able to make your website look trustworthy by creating a nice and functional website through which you can get more customers.

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5 Reasons You Should Hire A Professional Web Designer

Will you defend yourself if you have NO legal knowledge or experience? If not, why would you want to design your website yourself if you’re not a professional web designer?

With all the DIY resources, tools and tutorials at our disposal, there’s a false perception that designing your own website is easy. Of course it’s possible to try it yourself, but it’s not recommended.

Ever tried to navigate your way around the backend of a website? Do you know how to code, align, do section breaks and resize elements? Can you make a website mobile responsive? If this sounds foreign to you, it’s obvious you should not attempt designing your own website. These are a few areas of design experienced web designers are skilled and knowledgeable in.

So, here’s 5 reasons why you should hire a professional web designer to design your website.

1. Saves you time and money
In this day and age, who has time and money to waste? Whether you’re a solopreneur or a team; you’re trying to run your business to make money – this means managing staff, finances, sales and all the nitty gritty tasks that consume your day. It also leaves little to no time to properly learn how to design a website. And even the basics may take months to grasp.

But any website, whether done by a professional or an amateur will require more than just the basic design skills. You’ll end up directing your customers to a poorly designed website, and you’re likely to lose them to your competitors.

2. It will look professional
Professionalism sells! Designers have an eye for detail and know how to make a website aesthetically appealing through balance. They know how to get the right text to image ratio. Where and how to use the correct color schemes and the right fonts that contributes to the overall look of a website.

3. A professional knows the do’s and don’ts of web design
When a potential customer lands on your website, you want to make sure it ticks all the design boxes. First and foremost, you’d want it to be mobile responsive. When people find it difficult to navigate their way around a site on mobile devices, they’re more likely to leave the site.

Security is key. Every website needs to have an SSL certificate to make it safe and secure to browse. Having a “this site is not secure” notification pop up will immediately direct your website visitors away from your site.

Additionally, designers will have knowledge in implementing the following:

  • When and where to add page or section breaks
  • How to distribute call to actions
  • Optimizing images to load better on pages
  • Proper navigation

4. It gives you a marketing advantage
A website and marketing goes hand-in-hand. People want to know who you are and what you do. Having a website allows potential customers insight into who you are as a brand, enables you to rank in the business listing, and this further adds to your credibility and can give you a competitive edge.

5. You’ll have technical support
Designing a website is merely one part of getting a website online. The domain needs to be registered and you’ll require monthly hosting. You’ll stumble across many companies offering domains and hosting to you, but it’s important that you partner with the right service provider.

More often than not, these services are offered at a cheap rate and clients find themselves in a loophole of struggles – little to no technical support, communication issues, systems crashing and so much more. Getting professional support will ease the burden.

As a professional web design company offering affordable website design packages, we strive to meet all your design needs.

You can get your website designed by our professionals that;

  • Saves you time and money
  • Looks professional
  • Offers technical support
  • Gives you a marketing edge
  • Is secure and responsive
  • Includes monthly maintenance

 

If you’re a small business owner in search of a professional web designer to help you get your business online, we’re here to help you! Give us a shout, pop us a mail or send us your details and we’ll get our team to contact you.

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5 Benefits Of Hiring Professional Web Design Companies | 97 Switch

If you’re looking for ways to boost your business and look more credible online, you might want to hire a professional web design company to manage your digital marketing needs. Businesses often need a credible website—one that will effectively get your message across to users, where they can relate to your company’s mission, voice, and services. (And, here are a few web design tips to improve your website.)

You’ll want to make sure your design is the best it can be, where it’s highly searchable online and can attract the right audience. And, that’s exactly where a web design company comes in handy. Here are 5 reasons to work with a web designer in bringing your company front and center in the digital space.

Better SEO

When it comes to optimizing your website for search engines, like Google, there are quite a few factors that go into it, such as using specific keywords that are in high demand but with less competition amongst other users. And, these analytical details can be easier to understand with someone within the digital marketing field. (If curious, here are a few ways to enhance your SEO.)

So, by letting a web designer take control over the SEO and back-end work of your site, you’ll be more searchable online and be able to see greater results. The web design company can also help track analytics for you if you’ve entered into an ongoing agreement.

A Unique Design

Nowadays it takes a lot for a website to stand out and show a unique, creative edge that goes beyond its competitors. Yet, with the help of a web design company, you can bring your company’s vision to life and use the images, graphics, text, sliders, and colors that you want to showcase. This way, you can go from a basic website that blends in online to one that really highlights your company’s personality and makes you look more professional to users.

Staying Up To Date On Current Trends

Things are constantly changing in the digital world in relation to tools, web design, and trends. (If you’re wondering, here are a few trends that made a statement in 2017.) Of course, if you’re in a different industry, you might not know about these adjustments. By hiring a web designer, you’ll get an inside look into what’s most popular and attractive to users, so you can better engage clients and draw in a wider audience. This way, you’ll stay relevant, effectively expressing your expertise in your industry and remaining on top of search engines.

Using The Newest Technology Available

Much like website design trends, technology is continually advancing, too, where new plug-ins, features, tools, and apps are being built each day to make your website and digital marketing needs even greater.

But, unless you’re in touch with these improvements, you won’t be able to reap those rewards and you’ll run the risk of falling behind your competitors. Good news—a web designer will stay on track with what’s advancing and will implement accordingly.

A Great First Impression

Your website is your 24/7 ambassador. If people look you up online or go to purchase your services, your appearance will dictate how they feel about you.

So, if you have a sleek, sophisticated site that explains your business model and shows regular activity—perhaps by way of a content marketing strategy or blog—then it’ll make a longer-lasting and better first impression. Likewise, if a user visits your website and it looks outdated and it’s hard to read, it’ll be an instant turnoff and they won’t likely want to inquire further.

And a tip? If your website isn’t responsive, meaning it’s not accessible on mobile and tablet, for instance, it can hold you back from making connections due to the lack of functionality. A web designer can make sure your site is efficient on all relevant platforms.

Interested in learning more? Click here.

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DeathtoStock_Medium9

When creating/designing your website, the user experience must be considered throughout the entire building process. This is especially true with its design, as a poorly-designed website could leave your visitors confused, frustrated, and unlikely to revisit your website.

Even if you wouldn’t consider yourself someone with a good eye for web design, you can still build a beautiful, user-friendly website that visually stands out. From our design gurus to you, here are the top seven web design tips for all levels of designers to create a stunning website.

Use No More Than 3 Fonts

The more fonts you incorporate into a website, the messier it will look. Aim to have a separate font for your headers, your body content, and one other element (either your logo or calls-to-action). If your brand guidelines insist you stick to one font, that’s perfectly fine! Just make sure the font is legible and a good size (14-16 px is the sweet spot for your content’s size).

Selecting the Best Colors

Your website should have a cohesive color tone to it. Just like fonts, don’t include a ton of different colors; select a color scheme. Also, strive to keep all major call-to-action buttons the same color (make this color pop on the page), so visitors can recognize each CTA.

If your logo has a primary color, select two or three complementary colors with an online tool. Paletton.com and Coolors are great tools to help you find the best supporting colors for your website.

White Space is Your Friend

Do you have a room in your house with neutral-colored walls? Our guess is you probably do; it would be very distracting to have a crazy-printed wallpaper all-around your home. Think about it: If your home was filled with bold, busy walls, no one would ever notice your home’s features or furnishings!

This same principle is also applied to websites. Don’t try to fill every pixel of your pages with something; embrace the white space. By leaving white space on your website, you’re drawing your visitors’ attention to areas that you want them to focus on. Plus, it also helps your site look cleaner and uncluttered, which is design 101.

Get to Know a Grid System

A clean website design means every text block, button and section are aligned perfectly. This is where a grid system comes into play; this may be a more “intermediate” tip but it will make a big difference with your website’s design. The next tip and this both go hand-in-hand, so keep on reading!

Design with Mobile in Mind

Responsive web design is today’s norm for website design. A grid system is important to learn because you will not be able to design a responsive website without one. Check out our post all about responsive design and keep these tips in mind.

Implement Content Hierarchies

Oftentimes, a page full of text can leave users clicking the back button of their browsers. For your blog posts or any pages that will have a list (i.e.: your products/services page), use subhead hierarchies with short body copy to follow (hey, that’s kind of like this post). This will break up the text, which will make it easier to read and scannable for visitors.

The Easier the Navigation, The Better

Don’t make it hard for your visitors to surf around your site; keep your navigation simple and visible on every page. Make your logo a part of your navigation and have it be clickable to the homepage. As long as your navigation is simplified as much as possible, you’ve hit “web design gold.”

Website design can be as fun as you make it! A good first step to website planning is to design your website through the eyes of your audience/visitors. Think about how they want to perceive your website and what elements they want to see. If you can strive to design your website using the tips above coupled with the user experience, your website will naturally become a well-designed website.

To learn more about website design or if you need help with your website’s design, contact

LEXA SOFTWARE AND WEB DESIGN

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hand drawing on a pad with a stylus to create web textures

When we talk about web design, we tend to discuss the things that visitors directly focus on: color palettes, images, typography, and well-placed branding, just to name a few.

However, here I want to discuss a more understated technique for your website design tool belt, one that gives context to your content and personality to your pages without stealing the user’s attention. Let’s talk about texture.

Web textures are a great design choice if you want to elevate your website’s pages beyond plain solid colors while conveying personality and engaging more visitors.

So, in this guide, I’ll explain what web textures are and why they’re effective. I’ll also share tips for adding them to your website and provide you with some of the best web texture resources to get started for free.

Web textures are a unique web design method because they aim to replicate one of our physical sensations, touch with, another, sight. By presenting a 3D backdrop for your page elements, they induce something of a haptic sensation through the visual medium of our computer screens.

This all has an interesting effect on our brains — it evokes emotions that we associate with the real world. Think of lying in the grass on a summer afternoon, or the tiny craters on a piece of construction paper. Web textures try to replicate that life-like feeling in the digital world.

Types of Textures Used in Web Design

Web textures come in many varieties to evoke a range of feelings and experiences. It’s useful to classify web textures in terms of two factors: realism and prominence.

Realism refers to how closely a texture resembles a real-world texture. This can range from abstract designs, like a color gradient or geometric pattern, to real-world tangibles like grass, carpet, or linen. This is similar to the concept of skeuomorphism — the more realistic a texture appears, the more we associate it with our real-life experiences, which makes the page more immersive.

Prominence refers to how much a texture stands out against its fellow elements. On one end, subtle textures are hardly visible, but still present enough to lend a sense of personality and warmth. On the other end, loud textures immediately bring attention to that region of the page and firmly establish the personality of a website.

I know I’ve talked a lot about textures without examples, so let’s look at some now.

First, here’s an abstract, subtle web texture. You’ve seen gradients like this all over, since they’re a great way to engage visually with minimal distraction.

example of a blue gradient web texture

Here’s an abstract and loud web texture. The sharp corners certainly stand out more than a smooth gradient. This polygonal design in particular might be associated with the digital space, making it suitable for, say, a tech startup.

example of a polygonal web texture

Here’s a realistic and subtle texture. If you look closely, you can make out a linen-like or paper-like surface. When simply browning a website, however, you may not notice this on a conscious level. These types of textures are very common on websites because they can convey emotions related to real-life without users’ realizing.

example of a white, soft web texture

Finally, here’s a loud, realistic texture — you don’t need to squint to know this is concrete. Bold and lifelike designs like this leave no ambiguity as to the purpose of your website. Use these textures with caution, as they have high potential to clash with accompanying two-dimensional elements.

example of a concrete web texture

Web Textures vs. Patterns

You might have noticed that I’ve been avoiding using the word “pattern” to describe web textures. That’s because “texture” and “pattern” mean slightly different things in web design, even though you might see these terms used interchangeably in your research.

Patterns are small and repeating images. When you see a pattern on a web page, you can probably make out the “tile” which constitutes the pattern. For example:

example of three web design patterns

With textures, on the other hand, it’s more difficult to discern a repeating image, often because entire background textures are composed of a single detailed and complex image with no exact repeats. See the difference?

example of three web textures

Why Do We Use Textures in Web Design?

As with just about any other design element, effective web textures go beyond making a page look interesting. Web textures can serve two primary functions on your site: conjuring feelings and drawing attention.

Conjure Feelings

Great design accounts not just for what users see, but also for what they don’t see. I’m talking about visual elements that most users don’t consciously register but affect their browsing experience nonetheless.

Web textures are great at doing this — they can make viewers feel positive emotions and associate them with your brand. For example, an outdoors company could implement a grass, night sky, or snowy texture. A tech company can opt for a geometric abstract texture. A bakery texture might add a sprinkle of, well, sprinkles to their texture. It all depends on the personality you want to communicate and the real-world associations you want to make for visitors.

For example, this quirky spin-off site for a Vancouver-based digital agency capitalizes on the power of texture perfectly. The entire site, including its buttons, is overlain with a felt-like texture, invoking a cozy feeling associated with returning home for the holidays.

example of a felt web texture used on a web page

Image Source

When used correctly, a web texture helps visitors feel immersed in your website experience, like walking through a store, rather than just peering through a browser window.

Guide the Eye

Web textures can also influence our browsing experience on a subconscious level by directing our gaze to certain areas of a web page. When applied to a page region, element, image, or text, web textures pull our attention toward these things by contrasting with the surrounding page.

This French design agency accents the featured image on their homepage with a basic green marble texture. Many of us associate marble with art displays, museums, luxury, and prestige, making it a fitting texture choice in this instance.

example of a marbled web texture

Image Source

Farther down the page, additional images are set against the same marble … Read the rest

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Just getting started in web design? This guide will get you ready to tackle your first project as a beginner.

Jeff Cardello

Web design is a crucial component of the web development process. If you’re interested in web design, we’re guessing you have a creative streak. And how could you not be excited about jumping in and making your first website? Web design is about crafting a functional piece of art — but where do you start? If you’re wondering what you need to know before you begin, this guide will help you out.

Choose something basic for your first site design

This seems like a no brainer, right? But sometimes we can get overly ambitious and end up discouraged. For your first project, it’s a good idea to choose something simple and fun. An ecommerce site is more complicated and would be better to tackle once you have more experience.

A blog is a great place to start. It will be a good design exercise and you’ll learn how a Content Management System (CMS) works, which will be important to know for future site designs. Best of all — you don’t have to start from scratch. There are plenty of blog templates that make it easy to put one together.

Templates are a valuable learning tool. Watching how HTML, CSS, and Javascript elements are styled and come together will give you deeper insight into what makes a design work. You can use templates as a foundation to make changes and customizations.

Maybe you don’t want to start a blog — try pulling from your creative pursuits or hobbies. How about building a showcase for your photography skills or for your collection of short stories? Creating a design to feature a passion of yours makes for an enjoyable first project.

Find inspiration from other designers

You’ve no doubt come across websites that have wowed you with their stunning design.

Create an inspiration doc with links to sites you love, or bookmark them as you go. Pinterest is a great place to find great site design — you can find and pins illustrations, book covers, posters, blogs, and other types of design work to refer to. Designers use the term “mood board” for these collections. Mood boards are a quick reference resource if you find yourself stuck. Which you will.

Outside the discoveries you make on your own, there are some curated collections you should check out.

  • Awwwards always has new and fresh work and a variety of themed collections
  • Behance is a fantastic compilation of website design work, where the focus is on quality and creativity
  • Dribbble focuses on individual designers, providing a forum to get feedback and communicate with others about their work

And of course, head over to the Webflow showcase to see the variety of ways people are using our design platform. There’s so much cool stuff to check out and so many templates available to clone as your very own.

Look outside the web for sources of inspiration

Web design is informed by a visual language that can be found anywhere, like the cover of a graphic novel or the digital kiosk at your bank. Develop an eye for recognizing good design and start analyzing why something works or doesn’t work, whatever the medium.

Pay attention to typography

We often read without even being aware of typefaces. Pay attention to the effect type has on as you consume content. Is that font on the menu readable? What makes that hand-lettered sign for the local business work so well? Letters are everywhere. Make note of both good and bad uses of typography.

Typewolf is an excellent resource to keep tabs on popular fonts. It has plenty of lists to explore, a featured site of the day, and lookbooks that have spectacular font combinations. It’s helpful to see actual examples of typography being used, and websites like Typewolf are a great place to see their practical applications. Getting familiar with different fonts will help you pick the right type for your first site design.

Let the fine arts influence you

Oh, did we mention there’s an entire history of art to draw from? So many movements and artists still shape the work of creatives today — especially web designers. Take a stroll through our Web design and art history piece to discover many monumental artistic achievements. Not only is filled with valuable information, it’s an excellent example of how content and artistry can come together to tell a story.

Learning about art history will further expand your design knowledge.

Research different types of design

There are so many disciplines of design to be familiar with. A knowledge of product design, illustration, and even branding can further develop your creative senses.

For inspiration that goes beyond web design, Abduzeedo offers brilliant examples. Whether it’s poster art, luggage, or furniture, you’ll see fantastic examples of design done right. Be open to different types of design and actively seek out inspiration. The more knowledge you have, the easier it will be to design your first website. Education informs intuition.

Abduzeedo is a multidisciplinary design collection of projects that showcases sound design practices in a variety of fields.

Have content ready before you start

Putting content first means having content ready to work with before you start designing your first website.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. You can always edit and optimize for Google SEO (search engine optimization) later. But having at least a rough draft of what will go live will help make sure the design is laid out to accommodate it. Designing with real content gives you a better representation of how the website will look and function. It also gives you the opportunity to make changes earlier in the design process.

For blogs, you’ll need to have a post ready to test in the CMS. Having a couple posts written before you launch will save scrambling to write something after the fact.

Keep your

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Awebsite’s a website, right? Wrong. An outdated, confusing or broken website will hurt your brand. We’re not saying it might hurt your brand, we’re saying it will hurt it.

So how can you set yourself up to succeed? You can create an awesome website by totally nailing your web design from the beginning. But what is web design, actually? Read on if you want to learn what web design is all about, why it matters so much and how to get it right.

What is web design?

web design with custom graphics
Web design by MercClass

Web design is what creates the overall look and feel when you’re using a website. It’s the process of planning and building the elements of your website, from structure and layout to images, colors, fonts and graphics.

Web design has numerous components that work together to create the finished experience of a website, including graphic design, user experience design, interface design, search engine optimization (SEO) and content creation. These elements determine how a website looks, feels and works on various devices. Check out this in-depth guide on building a website, if you want to learn more about the whole process.

Web design is different from web development, which is the actual coding that makes a website work. When you’re building a website, you need both web design and web development. Although you can find web designers who are also web and UX developers, these are distinct skill sets.

three website mock-ups
Here’s what your website will look like in its earliest stages. Via Hal Gatewood.

Web designers take your ideas and turn them into a mockup that shows what your future website will look like. Web designers handle the creative part of designing a website.

Web developers—also sometimes called engineers or coders—take the mockup your web designer made and translate it into a coding language so it can be displayed on the web. They make websites functional, which often means custom-coding widgets and other tools.

user experience developer, also known as a UX developer, is the one who makes your website user-friendly. They have technical skills as well as design skills and put them to work creating websites that attract and keep visitors.

Why is web design important?

web design mockup for mobile and desktop
Your brand’s website is one of its most valuable assets. Web design by akdcreative

First impressions really matter. We can’t stress this point enough: if you don’t have a strong web presence, you’re holding your brand back.

Prospective customers who search the web for your brand and find nothing might think you’ve gone out of business. If they search and find something subpar, they’ll get the impression that you don’t care much about your company or product. Make every relationship that begins on your website a great one by getting your web design right.

Now that you know what’s what and who’s who, let’s look at some tell-tale signs of great web design and what distinguishes it from not so great web design.

What does good web design look like?

Good web design isn’t subjective. With other types of design, like illustration or sticker design, a lot of what constitutes “good” is up to the viewer’s taste. With web design, the line between “good” and “not good” is much more defined. A well-designed website is a website that perfectly creates the experience your visitor is looking for.

web design with flat design graphics
Web design by Adam Bagus

Web design that works is web design that converts. In webspeak, “convert” means getting the user to take a specific action. When a user follows through with an action that your website set them up to take, your website made a conversion. Conversions can be anything, like signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, opening an account or accessing more content on the website.

Effective web design brings a few different elements together to promote conversions. These include:

  • Compelling use of negative space
  • Clearly presented choices for the user (the fewer choices the user has, the less likely they are to become overwhelmed and confused)
  • Obvious, clear calls to action
  • Limited distractions and a well thought out user journey (ie. using only images and text that are 100% relevant to the subject on the page, featuring only buttons that lead to desired actions and using font variations for emphasis and calls to action, not just for the sake of featuring different fonts)
  • Responsive design (a design that resizes and reorients itself to the user’s screen, making the website easy to use on any device: phone, tablet, laptop or desktop browser.
  • Appropriately sized fonts that follow a hierarchy (see “Limited distractions”)
  • Relevant, high-quality content and images that hook your readers’ attention
  • A balance between the amount of text and images on each page (too much text can overwhelm a visitor, too little text can be equally disengaging)
hands on a Macbook Pro keyboard, a colorful website on the screen
Every design choice you make will affect your website’s usability and conversion rate in some way. All of them. Via rawpixel.

If you don’t think aesthetic design choices affect conversions, think again. Your website must be attractive—especially to your prospective user, so try to figure out what style is going to speak to them.

Invest in eye-catching images that work with your brand. Stay away from obvious stock photography. Learn more about using stock images here.

Remaining true to your brand is key to successful website design. Even the most gorgeous website is useless if it doesn’t match your brand.

Other building blocks of an effective web design are:

  • Buttons
  • Fonts
  • Color palette
  • The visual balance between your images and copy on each page

Of course, good web design isn’t just utilitarian. Visitors like websites that are engaging and fit the brands’ aesthetics. No matter how you achieve it, meshing an on-brand, engaging look with design elements that convert is how you win at web design.

Web design: what doesn’t work

We’ve gone over what good design is. Now let’s talk a bit about what it isn’t.

As a general rule, visitors shouldn’t have … Read the rest

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untitled image

When it comes to website design, there are so many different styles and directions in which your website can go: it can be anywhere from classy to minimalistic, from playful and vibrant to sleek and modern.

 

While your final look-and-feel should exude your personal style, line of work, and brand identity, there are a few ground rules that are always applicable.

 

Great web design feeds into your user experience and functionality, while being easy to understand at first glance. Below we’ve gathered five simple website design tips to help make your site effective and compelling:

 
 

Web design tips for an outstanding website

 
  1. Keep your homepage minimalistic and free of clutter

  2. Design with visual hierarchy in mind

  3. Create easy to read website content

  4. Ensure your site is easy to navigate

  5. Stay mobile friendly

 
 

01. Keep your homepage minimalistic and free of clutter

 

Your website’s homepage should communicate your core message instantaneously. After all, we rarely read every word on a website. Instead, we quickly scan the page, picking out key words, sentences and images. With these known behaviors in mind, it’s better to appeal to emotions rather than word count.

 

The less site visitors have to read, click on, or remember, the better they’ll be able to process and evaluate your content. By designing for decreasing attention spans, it’s more likely that users will do what you intend them to do.

 

When learning how to design a website, these simple website design tips will help you break up your content and make for a presentable and inviting homepage design:

  • Keep important content above the fold: Visitors should understand what your website is all about as soon as possible, without having to scroll or click anywhere.

 
  • Space out your content: Employ whitespace in between elements. By leaving some areas blank, you’ll give the design a much more spacious, well-balanced feel. As for your text, write in bite-sized, legible paragraphs.

 
  • Add imagery: High-quality media features such as beautiful photographs, vector art or icons, will do wonders as alternative ways to communicate your point.

  • Include a call-to-action: From making a purchase to signing up, encourage site visitors to perform the action you intended by placing a call-to-action (CTA) button on your site’s homepage.

 
 

02. Design with visual hierarchy in mind

 

Hierarchy is an important principle of design that helps display your content in a clear and effective manner. Through the correct use of hierarchy, you’ll be able to lead site visitors’ attention to certain page elements in order of priority, starting with the most significant piece.

 

The main components of visual hierarchy are:

 
  • Size and weight: Highlight your top assets, such as your business name and logo, by making them larger and more visually prominent. Readers tend to naturally gravitate towards large and bold titles first, and only then move on to smaller paragraph text.

 
  • Element placement: Use the right website layout to steer your visitors’ eyes in the right direction. For instance, you can place an important call-to-action button at the very center of the screen, or position your logo at the header.

 

Once you establish a clear hierarchy for your information, readers can’t help but unconsciously follow the breadcrumbs you have left for them. Then, apply color, contrast, and spacing for further accentuation, remaining mindful of what is drawing the most attention and making sure that it’s always intentional.

 

Some powerful web design elements to help you achieve a strong visual hierarchy are strips or grid layouts, such as that of the Wix Pro Gallery. For more ideas and inspiration, check out our designer-made website templates.

 
 
Web design tips: visual hierarchy
 
 

03. Create easy to read website content

 

“Readability” measures how easy it is for people to recognize words, sentences, and phrases. When your site’s readability is high, users will be able to effortlessly scan, or skim-read, through it. This way, taking in the information becomes effortless.

 

Achieving website readability is relatively easy; try these key rules:

 
  • Contrast is key: Sufficient contrast between your text color and background color is important for readability, as well as for website accessibility. While your website color scheme is likely to be representative of your brand colors, make sure that there’s sufficient contrast between your elements. To do so, try using an online tool, such as Contrast Checker.

  • Large letter size: Most people will struggle to see smaller fonts. A typical rule of thumb for web design is to keep your body text at least 16pt. That’s a good place to start, but keep in mind that this number completely depends on the fonts you choose for your website.

  • Type of fonts: The world of typography offers many types of fonts at our disposal. You can choose between serif fonts (that have little projecting lines on the ends of letters, like Times New Roman) to sans serifs, which literally means “without serif.” Sans serif fonts are typically the best choice for lengthy online texts – like the one you’re currently reading. You can also create interesting font pairings by mixing these different types together. There are also many display fonts that are more on the decorative side, such as script fonts that look handwritten. If you’re going for one of those, make sure not to over use it, so as to avoid an overwhelming effect.

  • Limit the number of fonts: Don’t use more than three different typefaces throughout a single website. Some projects may call for more elaborate font combinations, but too many varied typefaces usually appear cluttered, distracting from your brand identity.

  • Utilize text themes: To establish a clear hierarchy, make sure that your written website content is varied in size and weight – from a large title, to smaller subheadings, to the even smaller paragraph or body text. This handy website design tip can ensure that there’s always something drawing readers’ attention.

 
 
Web design tips: create easy to read content
 
 

04. Ensure your site is easy to navigate

 

It may be in your nature to break the mold, but website navigation is not the place to Read the rest

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Considering that there are 4.66 billion active internet users worldwide, every business should be working to transform its website into its greatest sales tool.

First impressions count. In fact – every impression counts. This is why growth-drivend esign is proving to be the most practical way to create a website that works as hard as you do.

If you’re considering a redesign or even simply a refresh, these ten interesting facts about website design will help you understand what really matters, how to avoid costly design mistakes, and how to attract, engage, and convert even more of those 4.66 billion active internet users.

 

Facts About Good Websites

1. Web Design Influences Perceptions of 3 in 4 Users

Appearance and credibility are inextricably linked. According to web credibility research from Stanford University, 75% of web users admit to making judgements about a company’s credibility based on their website design.

2. You Have Less Than 1 Second To Impress

Ok, so your company’s credibility is based upon your website design, so how long have you got to make that important first impression?

The bad news is studies have shown that it takes only 50 milliseconds (that’s 0.05 seconds!) for users to form an opinion about your website. Quite literally, a decision is formed in the blink of an eye.

3. Web Design = User Experience

First impressions stick. A positive first impression about your website has been found to lead to ongoing higher user satisfaction and can have a priming effect on your customer’s future interactions with your business.

Research shows that positive priming can boost user satisfaction and conversely unfavourable first impressions have a significant ongoing negative effect on future user satisfaction.Representations of how website design can affect credibility judgements

4. Small Mistakes Have Big Impacts

You should avoid website errors of all types, no matter how small they seem. Stanford University researchers found that broken links and typographical errors have a significantly more negative effect on users opinions of websites and businesses than people may first assume.

Get proofing that website!

5. Mobile-First Is Key

Over 92% of all internet searches are now completed on mobile. Yes, you read that correctly. Of the 4.66 billion active users we introduced at the start of this article, less than 8% of them use desktop or tablet to browse the www.

So what does this mean for your website? It means that an increasing number of your users will view your website on a small screen, so your website needs to be not only responsive (changes size for different devices) but also will likely need to include elements that are specifically designed for mobile.

6. Nearly 8 in 10 Will Bounce If Your Site Disappoints

And they’ll be driven straight into the arms of your competitors… Impact says that 79% of people who don’t like what they find on one site will go back and search for another site.

If you’ve done the hard work of ranking for the keywords and convincing the user to click through to your site, don’t let poor design drive them away to the next best thing.

7. It’s What’s Under The Bonnet That Counts

Your website is like a sports car. It may look great, but the real performance comes from what is under the bonnet. Behind your website, the underlying source code can affect your search results.

You will need a professional web developer to implement SEO & coding best practices in order to improve your rankings for search engine optimisation (SEO).

8. Relevance Impacts Rankings AND Credibility

This surely shouldn’t come as a surprise. Stanford research shows that internet users assigned higher credibility to websites that had been updated regularly and often.

Businesses often make the mistake of investing every few years in a website refresh, and then neglecting the site once it’s been updated. We do agree that there’s a time and place for empirical content, but that time is not now, and the place is not here.

Growth-Driven Design focuses on identifying questions and topics your audience is discussing, and helping you connect with them by providing the content they actually want.

9. Time Really Is Money

In today’s world, people do not hang around. The average mobile page takes 9.3 seconds to load, and the average attention span of humans is 8 seconds.

When the odds are already stacked against you, don’t let slow page loading speeds drag you down even further.

Your website load speed can be affected by pictures, videos and coding practices.

10. 5 in 10 Google Searches Result In Zero Clicks

Half of all searches won’t progress past the search engine results page (SERPs). Perhaps this is because many search queries are answered aptly through Rich Results and Featured Snippets?

It’s hard to say for sure, but one thing we can say with certainty is that if you manage to get a user to click through to your site, you’d best be sure you’re getting them to convert.

Conversion Rate Optimisation will help you identify user behaviour, and adapt your website to make more from your web traffic.

 

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Website Design Has Never Been So Important

The stakes have never been higher for professional businesses when it comes to web design. When competition is this fierce, you need to ensure your website is working with you and not against you.

At Digital Media Stream, we’ve helped many businesses implement and execute successful growth-driven design websites.

As our ten facts have illustrated, the tech world is constantly evolving and online credibility is something that is hard-won, and easily lost.

Make sure your website is as professional as the rest of your business.

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Step-by-Step Guide: How to Design a Website in 2022

As technology advances, it enables us to achieve more and more tasks without even realizing how complex they are. Learning how to design a website by yourself is one of these.

 

Thanks to the evolution of website builders, you can design a website and craft an impressive online presence of your own. Using professional web design features, you can generate revenue, nurture a community of fans, and promote your brand online.

 

So, what is web design and how do you get started? We’ve got the knowledge you need to put you on the right track. From choosing your website builder and domain name, to understanding how to design each element of your site, this complete guide will walk you through how to design a website in 2022:

 
 

How to design a website

 
  1. Set your goal

  2. Choose a website builder

  3. Define your layout

  4. Claim your domain name

  5. Gather your content

  6. Add the right pages

  7. Design your website elements

  8. Pick the professional tools you need

  9. Make it accessible to everyone

  10. Optimize for mobile

  11. Strengthen your SEO

  12. Engage with visitors

  13. Ask for feedback

  14. Publish and update

 
 

01. Set your goal

 

Before you design a website, be crystal-clear about what you want to achieve. With so many types of websites out there, you should start by deciding which kind will help you meet your goals:

 
 

Once you decide which type you need, it’s time to start the exciting part – designing your site. As you set off on this journey, keep your overarching purpose in mind and think about how the design will help achieve your objectives.

 

As you move forward with designing a website, you’ll find that your choice of elements to include will vary depending on what you want to accomplish. For example, if you want to sell your photos online, try displaying your work in a portfolio format and including an online store where you can sell prints. Or, if you’re creating a website with the goal of landing a job, a simple and professional resume website sans embellishment might suit your needs perfectly.

 

If you need help envisioning a design that meets your goal, browse through these outstanding website examples for inspiration.

 
 

02. Choose your website builder

 

Now that you’ve identified your goal, your next step is to choose the right website builder to accomplish it. A website builder (also known as a CMS) is a platform on which you can design, personalize and publish a website without any knowledge of coding.

 

There are dozens of platforms available on the market. Not sure which one to use? Wix.com was ranked #1 out of the best website builders in the world, and for good reason. Here are a few Wix advantages:

 
 

Diverse pricing models: Creating, publishing and hosting your website is totally free, for as long as you wish. If you want to upgrade your online presence with some tailored features, Premium packages are also available. They include everything you need to succeed online, from professional templates and web design features, to a custom domain name.

how to design a website
 
 

Design customization: Whether you’re a seasoned website designer or are still learning how to design a website, you’ll find that Wix offers different creative routes for everyone.

 

One option is the Wix Editor, whose drag-and-drop technology gives you complete design freedom. Each element of your website’s design can be customized for the look you want, while plenty of tools and built-in features will heighten its professional presence.

 

Beginners might also enjoy using Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence), the first artificial intelligence platform that creates websites for you. This is a great solution for designing a website quickly – after answering a few questions, you’ll get a complete website that you can customize afterwards.

 

At the same time, experienced creators can look into Velo by Wix, which lets you dive into your site’s engine to build sophisticated apps, APIs and databases. This way, you’re sure to have a one-of-kind result that suits your brand perfectly, and looks like no other website in the world.

 
 

Professional solutions: Because your website is the hub of your online life, Wix puts all of the professional solutions you need in one place. Tools like email marketing, invoices, bookings, social media accounts and more can be integrated into your website’s design for the best experience of managing your site and business. On top of this, you’ll also be able to optimize your site with Wix SEO to increase your chances of getting found on Google.

 
 

Unique design features: Wix’s design features are completely customizable, which means you can design your website exactly the way you want. From a suite of imagery and backgrounds to innovative features like transparent videos and scrolling effects, you’ll have plenty of options to start with, and you can always upload files of your own.

 
 

Customer service: You’re not alone in your journey of learning how to design a website. If you need assistance, you’ll always have someone to talk to thanks to Wix’s 24/7 support team and social media pages. If you want to read up on web design tips, find web design tutorials, and get inspiration, you’ll find plenty of helpful material available online, too. To grow your knowledge in web design, online marketing, SEO and more, – take a look at the Wix Blog (sincerely yours) and Help Center.

 
 

Ready to design a website? Here’s how to get started:

 
  1. Go to Wix.com from your desktop or mobile.

  2. Enter your email address, pick a password – and voilà! You now

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