It’s easy to perform a simple Google search and you’ll instantly find hundreds of website design tips to help make your website more attractive to potential visitors. However, that doesn’t mean that everything you read is going to be good advice.
To a certain extent, website design is subjective and boils down to an individual’s personal preference. But at the same time, a website’s design is one of the most important factors that contribute to its overall success.
In fact, almost 50% of internet users say that a website’s design is the primary factor they use to judge a company’s reputation and credibility. And as a consequence of this, a website’s design will affect its conversion rates, bounce rates, and overall visitor satisfaction.
In the article, we’re going to go over a few tried and true tips for improving a website’s design. If you want to learn more about web design and online branding you can also check out https://www.citytechhq.com/, where you’ll find plenty of information about websites and software solutions for businesses.
Keep Things Simple
When it comes to website design, less is often more. In fact, Google has published many studies that have proven that website visitors don’t really like visual complexity. So, the more complex you make your website design, the less likely your visitors will find it attractive.
One simple way to improve your site’s design is to ditch the sidebar. More and more, web designers are swapping out their site’s sidebar and replacing it with a single column website design instead. This design means there will be less distractions for your visitors and they’ll be more likely to stay focused on your content.
Users Prefer Scrolling to Clicking
Studies have shown that a long, single web page is much more effective than having a website with multiple pages.
But while might seem like putting all your information on one page is a bad idea, most website users tend to prefer scrolling through a single page, rather than having to click and browse through several separate pages.
So, if your website’s content is currently spread across a few different pages, it might be time to reconsider your design.
Avoid Using Sliders, Carousels, and Accordions
Browse through a handful of websites and you’ll quickly learn that website owners tend to use a lot of sliders and carousels on their web pages. But unfortunately, research shows that sliders, carousels, and accordions mostly tend to go unnoticed.
In fact, studies have show that the first slide of a slider or carousel tends to receive around 90% of all clicks, while the rest of the slides are go almost ignored completely.
This is made worse by the fact that website visitors generally don’t read entire web pages. Instead, most people simply scan through a page and aren’t very likely to make any extra clicks to see the rest of your content.
Hick’s Law
Hick’s law explains that when given more choices, individuals take longer to make an actual decision about what they’re doing. In fact, a study performed by a grocery store showed shoppers different displays with either more or less varieties of jams to try.
In the end, shoppers who had more choices were less likely to end up buying anything at all, whereas, the displays with less varieties to choose from sold more.
This means that you can potentially increase your website’s conversion rates by simply limiting the amount of choices you’re giving your visitors. You can do this by:
- Limiting menu items
- Reducing form fields
- Focusing on a single call to action
There are also many other things you can do to reduce distractions on your website, which will help direct visitors to the choices that you want them to make. Read more tips on simplifying your website design here.
Improving Your Website’s Design
Web design can be a rather complex conversation topic. Not only does it boil down to a lot of personal preference, it can also play a huge role in the success of your website. For that reason, it’s important to take some time to properly plan out your website design.
While there are many things you can do to improve the overall success of your website, following the above tips will help get you started on designing the best website you can.
