Top Tips on Building a Highly Effective Website

Building a website is something that most people can learn, but not everyone can do.

For this reason, those that are experts in such fields tend to be on high demand. Beyond making a website look aesthetically pleasing, another thing that web designers do is help clients meet their objectives whether it’s for a business or an individual brand. If you’re an aspiring web designer or one trying to brush up on their skills, then perhaps you should continue reading. With that being said, in the below article, you’re going to find top tips for building a highly effective website.

Keep it Simple

The first tip that you should take on board if you want to build a highly effective website is to keep it simple. These days, it’s all about simple and clean designs, so keep that in mind when building your website. In terms of how you can make it simple, be sure that there aren’t too many images and the information isn’t clustered up on the page. A clean and simple design is so important as it is timeless and means you won’t have to keep redesigning it to keep up with the latest trends. In addition to this, it will make your site easier to scan as well as far more accessible.

Have Clearly Defined Goals

If you want to build a highly effective website, then having goals is a must. You can set goals based on the client’s needs and organizational objectives, so learn as much about who they are and what they need as possible.

If, for instance, you’re creating a landing page for the launch of a new product or service, then you want to make sure there are clear calls to action that convert leads. On the other hand, if the clients objective is greater engagement and awareness, you may decide to create a microsite instead. If you read this page, you can learn more about both landing pages and microsites.

Update Your Knowledge

As a web designer, one thing you should be doing is continually updating your knowledge. It’s crucial that you do so because the world of web design is constantly changing meaning new tools and strategies are being developed every day. For instance, one of the trends in web design for 2019 is a flat design which is essentially a minimalist approach that uses clean as well as open spaces, two-dimensional demonstrations, and vibrant or bright colors.

Another trend that you may or may not have noticed is conversational bots and machine learning. This is an ideal solution for customer service as it ensures you can answer common questions customers have on the spot. Beyond the mentioned, there are so many more trends that you could learn about and apply in your work as a web designer.

Carry the Client Along

A characteristic of a good web designer is their ability to carry their clients along. Be sure to keep them updated, especially if you’re having challenges or can’t fulfill some of your deliverables. By communicating frequently and clearly, you should also reduce the number of discrepancies and misunderstandings that occur.

To communicate with clients and teammates effectively, try using a project management tool. Below are a few worth trying.

• Asana: To those who want to, Asana is best used if you’re working with a team and one task heavily depends on the completion of another. Some features of Asana include being able to create projects in which tasks can be posted to share boards and team members can leave comments.
• Basecamp: Another great project management tool that you may want to give a try is Basecamp. It provides a central location for communications between teams or the entire company in addition to your projects. There is also a calendar available if you need to schedule meetings or establish deadlines.
• Todoist: This is a good tool for beginners as it’s relatively easy to use and has basic features. For instance, you can use it to ensure effective communication, collaborate, and finish tasks on time.

Make Navigation Easy

Being able to navigate around a website easily is critical, especially in this day and age. With people having such short attention spans, you want them to stay on the website for as long as possible. There are several ways to make a website easier to navigate around, and one is by clearly dividing all of your categories. This will help them easily move from one page to another without feeling lost or confused. Alongside this, accurate navigation titles are also needed.

Your search feature should also work properly in case visitors want to use keywords or key phrases to find certain information.

Have Calls to Action

No matter what kind of website you’re building, there should be some call to action. Some common ones include getting people to sign up to a newsletter or download an incentive. Whatever the case may be, here are a few tips for creating good calls to action.

• Use a Verb: Seeing as the point of a call to action is to prompt your audience to do something, using a verb in your text is a must. Some common words include, subscribe, buy, share, follow, download and follow.
• Add Sense of Urgency: In addition to the mentioned, adding a sense of urgency is another way to get people to take action immediately. You could do this by using incentives like limited time offers, telling them to respond before a certain date, or acting before the supply runs out.
• Keep it Simple: If you want people to respond to your call to action, it’s important that you keep it as simple as possible. You can do this by limiting the number of options that you give them so that it isn’t difficult for them to follow through with the action.

Having the skills needed to design an outstanding website is one worth having in the 21st century. However, things are rapidly changing in the industry so staying up-to-date with the latest trends is a must. The more you develop yourself, the better value you should be able to offer your clients.