Professional Website Design Tips From D2 Branding

Website design can be an exciting, creative venture and an efficient way to promote your business. Websites are our window into the digital age, yet they often require a lot of effort to design appropriately and maintain. A good website design is professional, lays out information well, has fast page loads, is mobile-friendly (responsive), uses SEO best practices, and is search engine friendly through the use of meta tags and keywords in the content. With a few tweaks here and there, you can have that professionally designed website with all the bells and whistles that drive traffic to your site!

Every company needs a strong web presence on the Internet; it’s an essential part of communication these days. A website is the very first place that many people will look to see what you’re all about, and if they like what they see, they’ll stay to browse further. You want your site to be appealing, easy to navigate, professional, interesting, and maintained by someone who knows what they’re doing.

Website design is evolving at a rapid pace, putting new challenges in front of web developers. As more and more information is available on a daily basis, the main design challenge for most websites is staying fresh, relevant, and up-to-date with modern trends. Here are some tips for a successful website design:

Website Design – Presentation

Clean and consistent interface design: The interface design is one of the first things visitors will notice. It should be consistent with the overall brand identity and provide a clean appearance that doesn’t overcrowd the page with too much information.

The presentation should be designed for visual appeal and to fit the business type. For example, a legal practice should have a firm, serious look for their website design to suit the professional environment, while a nightclub should have a flashy, fun look to match the clientele.

Website Design – User-friendly navigation

Visitors’ attention is precious, and you should try to keep them engaged on your site for an extended period. Make sure your website structure is simple, clear, and intuitive. You need to give visitors options when it comes to browsing through your products or services, but make them discoverable in some way rather than hidden behind hard-to-find links.

A user-friendly navigation structure is an easy-to-remember way to establish multiple ways of browsing your website design. The most successful website design offers a choice between browsing through products/services by category, price, popularity, newest and etc.

Website Design – Responsive interface design

As more and more websites are created for mobile phones, responsive design is becoming an essential part of website design. Mobile-phone users get a taster of your website when they visit it, but many others don’t. By designing your content correctly, you can create a better user experience that is accessible to anyone with a smartphone or tablet. This means that people will be able to access the content without having to download any software or clear the cache or cookies.

Website Design – Leverage relevant keywords

You cannot create a successful website design without having the right keywords in your content. You’ll want to try out different variations and combinations of your keyword(s), going as far as putting them in quotes or capitalization. This is called “Keyword Optimization,” and it’s a vital part of search engine optimization (SEO). Keywords will help search engines to recognize what your site is about and where it’s going. Investing time in this part of the process is very important as your competition will do the same, so you shouldn’t wait too long!

Website Design – Content

Your website design needs to be well-written, rich with content, and filled with engaging images. You should also have well-structured articles on your website that are appealing and interesting to read. Visitors should understand what you are trying to sell as soon as they see your site. Make sure they know what they’re going to get, do not bombard them with too many distractions, but give them a way to find out more if they so wish. You’ll want to focus on the main product offerings, keep your navigation simple and avoid distractions that take visitors away from the core of your site.

Your content should consist of short important information that will catch your visitors’ attention. You should also include a few links to help them find things out or learn more about something. It’s essential that the information you provide is relevant, fresh, and updated frequently to keep visitors coming back. Content helps you show your industry expertise and establishes your credibility as a source of expert information.

Website Design – Business purpose

Why are you doing what you’re doing? A website needs to match the overall goal of your business. This goal is your purpose. The reason why you started your business and the main reason why people are attracted to what you do. Your website should be ‘your’ company’s vision put into words, pictures, and videos. Explain who you are, what you do, what sets you apart from other businesses in the same field, and where you want to go with the business.

Once people know what the company does and why it does it, they will better understand what the brand is about. Some companies may have different brands for different products or services. Give the visitor the opportunity to understand your whole business., but in a few words.

Website Design – Social media integration

Social media can be a great way to get people engaged with your brand, so make sure that each section on your website shows the information on where your visitors can visit your social media accounts. The content can also include calls-to-action buttons and links, encouraging people to follow you on Facebook or Twitter, etc. This also helps you to “build your brand” and is another important step in increasing your visibility in the market.

Social media helps the client get to know more about the company. You should not underestimate the impact that social media can have on your business since it doesn’t take much, tweets, Facebook updates, blog posts, and other forms of social media to help you get more exposure and show your audience you’re effective.

Website Design – Chatbots

Chatbots are computer programs that can communicate with people via voice, text, or video. They’re often used to answer routine questions or to provide detailed information on a particular subject. Some of the most advanced chatbot applications have been known to learn from human interaction and refine their wording and response to make them more human-like.

Chatbots can be a great addition to your website design, especially for those that have more advanced products or services. With the right tech stack and software, you can have a chatbot that can answer simple questions about your products and services with just one click.

Website Design – Speed and performance

You’ll want to make sure the speed of your website design is at an optimum level to ensure a good user experience. Remember that every second of delay costs you a seventh of your website visitors. Slower websites take longer to load, switch pages or execute requests, which leads to a higher “bounce rate” and, therefore, fewer repeat visits. Always keep your website as fast as possible, and ensure you’re not using too much bandwidth (bandwidth is the rate at which a website transfers documents or data over the Internet). When it comes to speed and performance, modern web developers are up on their game, so it’s a good idea to ask around for recommendations when looking for someone to build your site.

Website Design – Mobile-first optimization

More and more people are accessing the Internet with their mobile devices, and some use them exclusively. If your website design is not optimized for mobile devices, you’re missing out on a large portion of your target audience. People use their phones to browse the web, so make sure your site appears as it should on their screens.

Website Design – Typography

There are three main typefaces commonly used in website design.

  1. Serif typefaces. These have little horizontal lines (serifs) on letters and are widely used for body copy in printed works. Serifs, especially on lowercase letters, add to the readability and coherence of the text.
  2. Sans serifs. These have no such lines and are common on informational websites. The lack of serifs denotes a lack of emphasis; in other words, it can help to be more readable on a website with lots of text.
  3. Proportional fonts. These are the most common typefaces used for body copy. In this case, letters’ width and height are equal, allowing for easy readability.

A modern website design will leave a lasting impression on your visitors and potential customers, so it’s important to make sure that you get it right the first time.

Website Design – Visual elements

Visual elements can be very important to the success of your site and are a good opportunity to make a lasting impression. Depending on the type of business you’re in, you will want to take into account how much traffic your website design receives and how important it is to maintain your brand image.
If you are a serious business person, then there could be a lot of images to select from logos, photographs of yourself with clients, or in the case of online retailers trying to sell products, actual product shots.

For designers and marketers: images can be used for the following purposes: – they can be a target to capture the attention of the visitor; – they can be used to inform, educate, and explain your proposition; – they are an ideal tool for statistics and a good way to illustrate them; – they can be used as a guide for interaction (graphics with “hot” areas that trigger when a mouse moves over it)

Website Design – Colors

You’ll want to ensure that your colors work well together and match your overall website design. You’ll want to have a combination of primary and secondary colors that work well together when viewed on-screen; however, it’s not always a good idea to go by this alone, as certain colors may seem better on certain platforms.

Website Design – Add CTAs

Calls to action are some of the essential elements of your website design. They will help you to direct traffic and send it down the right path. Your call to action should be a button or a link placed in an area where people are likely to notice them; this could be at the bottom of your homepage or on certain sections with more detailed information on your product or service.

If your site is for ecommerce, then you’ll also want to make sure that there is a call-to-action for every product that you have listed on your site. This is something that can be done through the use of keywords in your product titles.

Website Design – Interaction

Interaction with your visitors on your website is essential in getting people to convert. You’ll want to ensure that your website has many different ways to interact with it. Make sure you have an email newsletter signup form on your homepage, as well as a way for people to reply to or comment on the information you have on your site.

When it comes to interaction, it should be intuitive and easy for people to use your site. This means that there should be a variety of options to choose from and that they should work well with the overall structure of your website design. People will use different devices and platforms to access the Internet, so make sure that your forms are compatible with all of them.

Website Design – Keep it super simple

You don’t want to make your visitors second-guess themselves, so make sure that everything on your site is straightforward and easy to understand. The fewer steps required on the site, the better. If you have a lot of products or services to sell, then always keep the page short so that people can easily decide which product or service they want to buy. This will help you to improve conversions.

In conclusion, these are the elements to consider when creating a website design. The Internet is full of all types of websites, and your product or service must stand out among them. You’ll want to ensure that you have all these elements in place for your site to make the most out of it.

Deedra Determan, Founder

Deedra Determan started her career working in television for one of the top media companies in the country and later became a marketing consultant in the television industry.

Determan went on to launch a niche website for moms in her local market with over 100,000 moms visiting the website each month using the power of Facebook. After one year from launching, Determan sold the website to Oklahoma Media Company, Griffin Communications. Determan went on to launch a digital marketing agency, D2 Branding – Tulsa SEO, Marketing, and Website Design that was recently recognized as one of the “Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America” by Entrepreneur Magazine’s Entrepreneur360.

Determan is the host of the Do It My Way Podcast Show, empowering women business owners and CEO’s to do business on their terms with no regrets, hesitation or fear. Determan coaches these women on how to create a personal brand so they can live a life of financial freedom, working when they want to work and making the money they want to make!