How a website is laid out, what fonts, colours, words and images are used, and the content present is paramount to its success. One simple mistake is all it takes to fail, so you want to be absolutely certain that your site has everything it needs. In order to avoid mistakes, professional web designers and developers constantly look at the latest trends so they can update their skill set and produce the best work possible.
As a business, the logo is one of the most important parts of your brand, so it should be prominently located throughout the site. Using a high-resolution image and putting it in the upper left corner of each web page is an excellent choice of location, one that is used by the majority of companies. In addition, it is also a good rule of thumb to link the logo back to the home page, allowing for easy navigation by the visitors.
Using intuitive navigation always helps as well. Most primary navigation functions are located on a horizontal menu bar at the top of the site. However, a secondary bar is sometimes located underneath this in the left-hand margin of the website, commonly referred to as a side bar. Intuitive navigation is important because confusing layouts will most often lead to people leaving as opposed to trying to figure everything out. By placing the less important information away from the primary functions, they won’t detract from the purpose of your site.
Getting rid of the clutter on the site is a good idea as it is very easy for us to be overwhelmed visually with images, to the point where our brains cease processing due to excess information. To keep the visitors from leaving, make certain that pages don’t have competing calls to action or visual clutter, like lots of photos and gifs. These will draw attention away from the most important aspects on the pages.
Having good images on your website is very important, both in terms of user experience and standing out from the competition. The best photos draw the eye, providing an emotional connection to the written content. Poorly chosen photos that have either terrible quality or have nothing to do with your company on the other hand, are worse than having no photos and will reflect unfavourably on you.
Do your best to keep paragraphs short too, with the ideal length of a paragraph being no greater than five or six lines maximum. Also, create the right amount of space between paragraphs and images to give your viewers the space to breathe, so that they are able to absorb all the features that your site offers.
By understanding how a great website works, any business can create a simple way for their customers to research the company and find out about their services. The easier it is to navigate through and understand, and the more visually appealing the pages, the more likely it is that your website will lead you to success.