Top Things to Consider Before Designing a New Website

Let me take you back to your childhood, where we were told that the first impression is the last impression. If you succeed in presenting yourself in a better way at one shot, then half of the job is done. If you’re related to marketing or are a sales person, then you comprehend this.

To put in simple words, if you want to sell something, you’ve to get the message out to the public and for that, you should make your presence felt by grabbing their attention and instilling in them an urge to have a look at what your product is all about. In this digital era, nothing can beat websites for spreading your message instantly.

Development websites is not a daunting task anymore. With the introduction of various Content Management System (CMS), it’s quite easy to develop websites. It’s easy to grasp the nuts and bolts of web development services and even if you don’t want to do that, you’ve another option of hiring a web development company. But, what we’ll be discussing today is things that one need to consider while designing a new website.

With the following things in mind, you’d be able to create and design a website that not only meets your business objectives but also goes beyond your expectations.

1. Defining the purpose of your site:

Your design, architecture, layout, navigation, images, content etc. should project a specific functionality of your site. All the aspects of the site should be driven by the purpose that is in alignment with your business goals and user needs.

2. Targeting the right audience:

Whatever the purpose of your site is, you should target the right audience. One of the major reasons low conversion rate is not targeting the right audience. Be clear about the what you want to sell and what users must see on your site. Only then you can move towards deciding how best to communicate this. Once everything is clear about your objectives and user requirements, the design will come naturally. But if users don’t seem to know, or are unwilling even to discuss the matter, it may be time to consider either pushing back or walking away.

3. Showing off your expertise:

Who doesn’t likes showing off a skill that they have mastered? One thing that’s common in every other website is that all of them claim that they are the best in a particular field with adequate experience. In fact, you could go another way round. You should be specific about the area of your interests and at what you’re the best. For instance, if you’re good at graphic designing, then include some graphics the moment a user lands on your page instead of the conventional method of greetings. If you have happy previous customers or clients, consider adding testimonials. Otherwise, showing examples of your work or products usually is another good way to go.

4. Is your site mobile-friendly?

If you can proudly and confidently say YES to it, then your site is mobile-friendly. It might seem mobile-friendly but the story may be another way round too. The World is going mobile as there are mobile applications for respective websites. Also, mobile apps have replaced websites as the favorite option for browsing. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, then you are missing out on a lot of things. There are lots of clients you are missing out on, you’d be missing out on new opportunities. So, think mobile first and designing accordingly won’t go far wrong.

Mobile devices continue to climb year-over-year indicating that more users are searching while on the go. Plus, with Google’s latest algorithm, your site must be mobile-friendly or it gets punished through lower search results.

5. Get Creative:

Your website represents you and is your face, therefore, there’s no harm in being creative and projecting it through your site. Don’t be afraid to go the extra mile and trying something different. Why not stand out from the crowd with something totally different design.

6. Simplicity:

It hardly takes few seconds for users to switch to another site. One bad experience can ruin everything. If they don’t like your site, they won’t use it again. So you must be sure to keep the end user in mind at all times. Albeit, you want to incorporate new features and functionality as what users might want but simplicity never goes out of style. Keeping it simple yet enchanting will probably assist you in achieving your business goals.
Always keep in mind the ways to keep users engaged and give them reasons to navigate through your site ultimately ending up making a purchase.

7. Different platforms require different functionality:

Different CMS such as Joomla, WordPress, Magento, Drupal etc. require different functionality. What might be simple on one platform might be complex in another one. For example, Magento is quite popular with e-commerce due to the ease of control over hundreds of web pages, Joomla offers a great deal of control over the layout of the site, but if you’re a layman and doesn’t want to get in depth, then WordPress would be the right decision.

In addition, you need to consider whether your site will need additional functionality, which could involve custom CSS coding, JavaScript and/or customize existing plug-ins or building your own.

8. What is the end goal?

You should often ask yourself what’s the ultimate goal or end goal of your site. Users need to be privy to the end goal of your website. With time functionality changes and calls for new responsibilities. For instance, you might have started out as a simple website but now want to have an e-commerce site. If you’re planning to do that, you’d need to build a framework so that everything’s is in place without hindering your site’s basic functionality.

It’s also a matter of design and that’s where CSS comes into play. When designing a site, you must do your research and see what design would complement your site’s performance and not an impasse.