Web Design Advice: 5 Tips for Outstanding Results

Fantastic web design and web design advice is about more than just great looks. Outstanding web design combines aesthetics with speed, functionality, and usability. Ideally, every website element is designed to work well in conjunction with everything else. That means consistency and an all-around fantastic experience for visitors.

Whether someone builds websites, manages them, or just wants the best for their business while leaving the design itself in someone else’s capable hands, this feature will cover five mainstays of great design that should always sit near the top of the priority list.

1. Speed Trumps Almost Everything

Modern websites need to be fast. Even great looks and awesome content fall behind it, and it all comes down to visitor expectations. So naturally, the faster a site loads, the happier visitors will be. However, the use case becomes more specific in that almost half of the visitors expect a webpage to load within three seconds.

The consequences for a page that fails to do so are clear. With just a click or a swipe, what was a potential customer just a few seconds ago is now back in the search results and taking a closer look at the competition.

From a designer’s perspective, there’s another critical consideration. In a 2019 Unbounce survey, half of the respondents stated that they were happy to compromise on animations and videos in favor of faster load times.

Movement on web pages can enhance the journey and really make a website stand out. However, when sales and conversions are the goals, it may be worth cutting back on the visual flair with a preference for an improved user experience.

2. It’s Often Better to Stick with a Single Image in a Space

Carousels, sliders, and other efforts to place multiple images in a single space are popular choices among designers and clients alike. However, they’re also one of those design choices that generally favor a specific audience. Site owners think they look great, and some designers love being able to flex their creative muscles with multiple images in a limited space.

However, the fact is that most visitors don’t really care. As far back as 2013, a Notre Dame University study suggested that 90% of revolving image clicks took place on the first slide.

There are multiple reasons for this. Visitors are more likely to either click on what they see first or not at all. Similarly, designers and site owners are most likely to position whatever matters to them most first in the rotation.

However, sliders and carousels have their downsides. They cost more time and money for assets that many visitors will never see. They can potentially even conflict with the first tip, as loading multiple images naturally takes longer than just one.

In most cases, both in terms of practicality and user experience, it’s best to decide on just one image for the space on a page and to leave it at that.

3. Prices and Calls to Action Demand Prominence

One of the less talked about aspects of website design involves price. It’s easy to overlook the simple element of what something costs when designing a product or sales page. However, there’s no point hiding it.

Many retail experts still consider price the most important factor in the marketing mix. Many visitors are likely to head elsewhere than dig deeper into a site for the price if it’s not presented clearly. Similarly, terms like “price on application” have fallen out of favor as it’s easy for someone to go elsewhere rather than to spend time waiting for information.

Similar considerations apply to calls to action. Selling and convincing is often the most challenging part of a conversion. Enabling them to buy, register, or otherwise meet a goal should be the easy part. From floating buttons to repeating the same link multiple times on a page, great design means ensuring that the option is available front and center when someone is ready to convert.

4. Design for Scrollers, Not for Clickers

Many designers will remember a time when it was common to divide longer-form content into multiple pages. It was justifiable through thinking that they were helping a visitor out by making content more palatable. There was, of course, the added side effect of greater impression numbers and ad placements.

The practice has disappeared on most modern sites, and for a good reason. Just as with sliders, most visitors may click once, and that’s if a site owner is lucky. Content tucked away on pages after the second may as well suffer from Google’s “second-page syndrome” – they may as well not even be there!

It’s also vital to remember how visitors interact with content has changed. When over half of any website’s traffic often comes from mobile devices, users are perfectly accustomed to swiping and scrolling.

In great design, a webpage is as long as it needs to be, and visitors won’t thank a designer for chopping pages up on their behalf.

5. White Space Remains a Key Tool

The design world has changed a lot over the years. The internet revolutionized graphic design, and, even then, there’s seemingly a new trend every month. However, one thing that has remained consistent is the use of white space or negative space.

Indeed, negative space may be a more appropriate modern term, especially now that one of the more prominent design trends involves the implementation of dark modes on websites. Nevertheless, both serve the same purposes.

Most designers know that clutter is the enemy, and white space is often the best way to avoid it. Meanwhile, it allows site visitors to scan and focus on content. That content matters, as while great design helps, it’s often the words on a page that ultimately lead to a conversion.

Great design doesn’t see empty space as an opportunity to fill it in. Instead, it’s a chance to leave something blank and, in the process, draw greater attention to other elements on a page.

Great Web Design Advice and Outstanding Usability with Vervology

The above five elements of great design are an excellent starting point, but there are hundreds of ways to utilize design elements to create something perfect online. In many cases, it’s best to leave it to the experts, as a single inexperienced decision can significantly reduce conversion rates.

At Vervology, we have the expertise and experience to make every project perform. From planning and strategy to deployment and monitoring, our design services work to achieve the best possible results.Whether your current website needs a refresh to attract more sales, or you have a great idea that you’d like to see become a reality in the best way possible, get in touch to find out how we can make it happen with purpose-driven web design.