Designing successful websites: the key ingredients. 

Websites come in all shapes and sizes, but there are certain features that are fundamental to all successful websites. A well-designed site is a pleasure to be on; it is designed with the visitor in mind and provides them with the information they are looking for quickly and efficiently. It is also optimised to attract the right traffic from search engines, traffic that will actually convert into customers.

) Planning

A well-designed website asks the big questions at the beginning of the process and uses the answers as a guide throughout the rest of the design process. It needs to ask questions such as: What is the purpose of the site? What would make the site a success? How are you going to differentiate yourself from similar sites? What emotions do you want people to feel? How will the site be maintained? Who is my target audience? How will they find my site? 

Determining the answers to such questions early on helps make design decisions much easier later on.

2.) First impressions

Because there is a very short period of time to "hook" your visitors, the site must create a reason for people to stay immediately. That means crafting a compact and simple message that instantly piques interest.

It should also communicate a tone or feeling that represents your brand and makes people feel comfortable and interested in your products or services.

This is often achieved with beautiful imagery, creative typography, use of colour, generous white space and good copywriting.

When done correctly, it leaves visitors with a powerful impression that leads to action.

) Easy navigation

The organisation of your website should make it easy for visitors to find the information they are looking for. Your main navigation should be easily identifiable and provide users with an immediate overview of what is on the site.

Avoid using "pretty" tags for your main navigation and instead use one or two words that directly summarise the information that can be found on each page or section.

4.) Interface (UI / UX)

User interface and user experience design or UX are two of the most important aspects of any website or application.

The user interface is what visitors see when they browse your website, while the user experience is how they interact with it. If one of these is not perfect, your website will not succeed.

To create a perfect UI and UX for the website, there are many factors to consider. The first is to ensure that the design is easy to navigate and that all important information is easily accessible with the right structure.

The design must also be visually appealing to attract visitors.

It is also essential to ensure that the website is responsive and works well on all devices.

5.) Functionality and Usability

Everything has to work on the website, as intended. That includes everything from links to forms to e-commerce shopping carts.

Nothing frustrates users more than a site that doesn't work the way it's supposed to: it's a sure way to alienate visitors.

6.) Visual design

A great website is visually appealing. Your design should convey the feeling and essence of the person or company behind it.

Good design should consider the following:

6.a.) Blank space

White space refers to the space between elements on your site. Good use of white space guides the attention of your visitors, allowing your design to breathe.

Websites that do not use white space feel cluttered and do not generate pleasant feelings, but the proper use of white space creates a sense of calm and relaxation.

6.b.) Typography

The fonts used on a site say a lot about the business behind them and contribute to the overall tone of the site.

Variation in size, weight and placement of typography on your site helps to create interest. It is important to get the balance right with fonts.

Avoid using too many different fonts on your site and make sure the typography is easy to read at all times.

6.c.) Images

The images you use require careful thought and consideration. Each image should have a clear purpose behind it and should be used to guide the attention of your visitors.

Whenever possible, use photos with real people in them because they tend to resonate with average viewers.

Don't put an image on its own; make sure it contributes to the overall objective of the site.

6.d.) Videos

Creative video is a wonderful way to showcase your company or brand, resonating with users.

Video has proven to be very effective in terms of ROI and if you are looking to boost your online marketing, it might be a good idea to consider video production.

Background videos are also becoming more common on the web and when done correctly, they can connect with users in a way that still images cannot.

6.e.) Colours

Colours should be a natural fit with your company and brand. Are you trying to create a sense of calm and relaxation with your users? If so, try creating an analogue or monochromatic colour scheme. Do you want to spark action in your users?

Try to use a bold complementary colour scheme.
Try not to make a design with too many colours. It is easy for site colours to become an unnecessary distraction if they are not used in the right way.

Use colour to draw attention to important information and calls to action.

Put yourself in the mind of your target audience and carefully consider the impact of each colour decision on them.

7.) Content - copy

Do you prefer to rely on a fancy site full of low-quality text or a simple site full of useful, engaging and valuable web content?

Unfortunately, many companies today focus most of their attention on creating an attractive site and neglect the value of persuasive text on their website.

Your web copy does more than just provide visitors with information about your brand and what it offers; it also helps search engines understand the site.

Although images are as important as site design, the effect they have on SEO pales in comparison to the SEO value of their copy.

The more web copy you have written on your site and the higher quality it is, the more likely search engines will detect it and rank it higher in organic search results.

8.) SEO - onsite

On-site SEO (also known as on-page SEO) is the practice of optimising elements on a website (as opposed to links elsewhere on the Internet and other external signals collectively known as "off-site SEO") to rank higher and get more relevant traffic from search engines.

On-site SEO refers to optimising both the content and the HTML source code of a page.

Both on-site and off-site SEO form two of the basic concepts of search engine optimisation when it comes to ranking.

Beyond helping search engines interpret page content, on-site SEO also helps users quickly and clearly understand what a page is about and whether it answers their search query.

In essence, good on-site SEO helps search engines understand what a human would see (and what value they would get) if they visited a page, so that search engines can reliably deliver what visitors would consider to be high quality content about a particular search query (keyword).

Read also: What is on-page SEO?

9.) Site speed

Users do not want to wait for slow content to download; they need the information quickly and without delay.

In today's Internet spaces, most users know that if they click on a website and it doesn't load as fast as they expected, they can go back and click on another one that will load quickly. Optimised graphics, video and audio give a website the speed it needs to load fast.

All in all, page speed plays an important factor when it comes to staying ahead of your competitors.
Every millisecond counts for Google.

Read also: How much does it affect you if your website is slow?

9.a.) What does the speed of a website depend on?

If you find it annoying to wait for a website to load, think about how your visitors feel.

Page speed plays a vital role in a website's conversions and user experience.

Unfortunately, too many website owners prioritise bells and whistles and sophisticated website design rather than focusing on performance.

9.a.1.) Code

Common culprits of slow websites are the CSS and JavaScript files that add functionality and style to the site's interface.

This is a particular problem when it occurs with content in the top half of the page.

Not all website developers can write efficient code. Some produce websites with massive blocks of code that only perform minor functions.

This results in badly coded pages that also load slowly.

By removing unnecessary elements from your code, such as extra spaces, line breaks and other formatting data that is not necessary to get the job done, you will see an increase in the speed of your website.

Read also: How Google rates your website's source code and why it matters

9.a.2.) Images

Images typically account for the majority of bytes downloaded on a page. As a result, optimising images can often generate some of the biggest byte savings and performance improvements: the fewer bytes the browser has to download, the less competition for the client's bandwidth, and the faster it will download and display content on the screen.

9.a.3.) Hosting - Server

Bad server/accommodation.

The choice of hosting company and the server you use to store your website can significantly affect page speed. If you make the wrong choice, both your visitors and your business are likely to suffer.

Get quality, secure web hosting with good technical support.
It can be tempting to skimp on web hosting and choose the cheapest service you can find. Don't do this.

A cheap web server can cost you in other ways: excessive downtime, slow site speeds, limited or no support.

Read also: Cloudways - the fastest website hosting

10.) Monitoring - Analysis - Continuous improvement

Site metrics and analytics provide information about what is happening on a website. Good sites measure their traffic and marketing effectiveness.

11.) Website maintenance

Website maintenance is the act of regularly checking your website and its security, looking for problems and errors and keeping it up to date and relevant.

This should be done on an ongoing basis to keep it in good shape, encourage continued traffic growth and strengthen your SEO and Google rankings.

Maintaining a well-functioning and attractive website is important for businesses large and small to attract and retain customers. It is easy for businesses, especially start-ups, to take shortcuts and miss out on some tasks.

Website maintenance can easily become one of those things, as it does not always present immediate problems.

Related articles

  • How attractive is your website? Nowadays, visitors to a site expect an attractive design and content. There are sites that are already obsolete, perhaps because they were developed a long time ago, when it did not have so much...

  • The "copy" is the text that appears on your website and includes all the content of your pages. It is important to keep in mind that the "copy" does not only refer to the informative content of the site,...

  • Creating a successful website is no easy task, but there are a few key pillars that can help ensure your site succeeds. Here are some of the most important pillars: Attractive design and...