How to design a great website to stand out from your competition?

Today, there are more than 1 billion websites on the Internet and visitors do not spend much time on a particular website unless they find it really interesting. According to Time, 55% of visitors bounce from your website in just 15 seconds.

 

How can you stand out and make them stick with such a short attention span?

 

This is where the aspect of design comes into the spotlight. A study was conducted and the outcome was that 94% of participants prefer design over the website content.

 

People are visual creatures and a great design influences them. In this blog post, you will learn various techniques to make your website stand out.

 

10 ways to design a great website

 

1. Be user-centric

 

Before start designing, keep in mind the user behaviour on the Internet such as:

 

•The majority of searches are done on smartphones today.

•People access the Internet to find a solution or to explore information on various topics that they are interested in.

•Visitors skim most of the websites to see if there’s anything worth reading.

 

Visitors will impact your website's ranking in Google search. A high bounce rate will lead to a massive dip in rankings. So, it’s important to study their behaviour before building things for them. The closer you get to know them, the better your website will perform.

 

2. Easy navigation

Navigation refers to how you manage your content to be seen and accessed by the visitors. It’s the foundation to a great website design.

 

You can begin the design by asking yourself a few questions.

•             What pages do you want to showcase on your website?

•             What information should be presented on those pages?

•             In what manner should all the pages be placed?

 

Design the navigation flow according to user behaviour. The easier it will be for the visitors  to find something, the better it is for your website

 

3.  Make it mobile-friendly

 

Close to 60% of searches happen on a smartphone and in selected industries like food and beverages, it can go up to 72%. Also, with the rise of voice search, visitors may not even type to find out your website and smartphones are comfortable to carry unlike desktops, giving exposure to your website 24*7. So, to make your website stand out, make sure it is mobile-friendly.

 

4. Craft skimmable websites

 

The standard user behaviour online is to glance at everything and if they find anything interesting, they will explore it further. You have to make your websites look skimmable so that visitors can easily make out what they have been looking for. You can achieve it by using shorter paragraphs, good typography, correctly aligning images and effective use of white space.

 

 5. Writing plays a vital role

 

At first glance, writing may seem useless for designing. But, good, clear, and convincing writing helps visitors to skim the content and make them engage with it effectively. It is the cornerstone for building a great website. Good writing comprises of great headlines, in-depth product and service description that reflects your brand.

 

 Writing can be used in three phases:

1. Write to describe – It helps the visitors to understand your business and why you do it. About Us,  and the Contact Us pages are good examples. 

2. Write to convince – It is to persuade visitors to take the desired action. Examples are Landing and sales pages.

3. Write to educate – It helps to educate visitors through eBooks, infographics, blogs, and much more.

 

 6. Attractive images

 

Images are a great tool to help your website reach new heights. They not only attract the focus of visitors but also convince them to stay longer on the website and engage with the content. People are visual creatures and by embedding images in your content, visitors can quickly learn and execute through infographics.

 

 7. Efficient use of white space

 

The first impression is the last. With such a short attention span, you have to make your website attractive and clean to retain the visitor’s attention.

 

Giving enough white spaces between each element will help your website look organized and managed. This will not only impress the visitors but also reflects professionalism in your website. It also makes the content easy to skim and read.

 

8. Great typography

 

Typography isn’t just about choosing a font and playing with it. It has its unique value in a website.

 

It helps by:

 

•             Showcases the personality of your brand.

•             Blends into the overall design of the website.

 

Choose your fonts wisely. If you have an ecommerce website, a plain and simple typography will work but if you have a website showcasing paintings and art, you can go for italic and curvy fonts. According to your business, choose a typography and stay consistent with it.

 

9. Significance of social share buttons

 

One crucial way to attract more visitors is to make people share your content on the website. The design of the website has a lot to do with it. The placement of share buttons for different platforms should be in parallel with the content.

 

If visitors find it difficult to share your content on their favourite social media platforms, it will result in reduced visibility and less organic traffic.

 

10. The magic of colours

 

Colors play a crucial role while designing your website.

 

They primarily affect psychology and invoke emotions in your visitor’s mind which help them to connect with your website. Remember, we talked about how people are visual creatures. Brands use specific colours all the time to embed their product and services in the visitors day-to-day lives. 

 

Choose your colours wisely while designing a website and be consistent with them throughout your journey.

 

Takeaway

 

A design of a website reflects your professionalism on the web. Content indeed rules the Internet but the design is what provides the content with an opportunity to shine.  With such a short attention span, a great design helps to attract the focus of visitors. Also, a good design enables a good user experience and customer journey on your website. To ensure that your website design stands out from your competition, get in touch with UI UX design experts at Octet Design Studio.

 

For More Info:- UX Consultants in Mumbai