Website design is like a good cake recipe. Not all have the same taste, but a good website stands out from the rest. A good website design can help your business to succeed online. A bad design can cause it to look unprofessional, have low conversion rates for sales and ultimately make you lose money.

So, what makes a good website design? And how do you achieve this? In this article, we look at the elements that make up a good website design – and cover key areas which should be considered when planning and creating your site.

1. Overall Layout and Visual Appearance

It’s hard to talk about web design without considering the visual factor. Your site’s design, graphics, images, and color scheme are essentially the first impressions people get when they visit your site. A large part of your site’s layout composes the visual appearance and is essential for telling your customers what your business is all about.

When visitors land on an appealing website with impressive visuals, they do not want to leave. Instead, they find themselves going from page to page, and the longer they stay, the higher chance they take action.

2. The Color Scheme of Your Website Is Vital

Color has a lyrical quality about it. Color is perceptive, and individual reactions can range from indifference to pure joy. The use of color, therefore, is the basis of designing a good website or any other design for that matter. Color schemes have become more popular these days while designers are finding new ways to use them and are integrating them with other elements effectively.

The use of color schemes in website design requires you to choose one scheme that best suits the design’s central focus, theme, and content. If you didn’t think about your color scheme carefully you might end up with a design failure.

3. Typography Is Just as Important

Typography is a subject that isn’t talked about much in web design. A lot of websites just use whatever is the default font their host offers (which can be pretty ugly at times) but this doesn’t have to be the case. You should start thinking about your typography right from the start and creating an effective hierarchy for your site. Typography is one of the few things that capture the attention of the customer. This is why it’s important to know what works best for your design brief.

4. Navigation Around Your Website

A poorly designed navigation can result in a user finding it difficult to access the information they need. Navigation is an important aspect of a website because it gives direct access to the different areas of the site. However, there are ways to design great navigation menus that lead visitors to what you want them to find. Design your navigation menu in such a way that users can find their way around your website easily; the developers at Envisage Digital advise. This includes having elements of text links and buttons to make it appealing and straightforward for visitors.

5. Content Cannot Be Overemphasized

The importance of creating engaging and useful content online cannot be understated. Today, websites of all kinds need to focus on developing their online presence by sharing engaging and relevant content with visitors. Whether you’re a small business looking to get your brand out there or you want to develop an online reputation for your startup, content is now king.

With so much information available across the web, it can be hard to capture attention and get noticed. That’s why creating quality, relevant and targeted content is paramount to building an engaging online presence.

6. Ease of Use on Mobile

It seems we’re at a pivotal moment in the web community. There are some important things that need to be said about how your website is being used. It’s no secret that many websites are leaving people behind. It’s obvious that some sites haven’t been designed with mobile solutions in mind. This is incredibly detrimental when trying to optimize your mobile online store.

It is of great importance to ensure ease of use when a customer chooses to engage with your brand through their mobile device. Not everyone will have a desktop or laptop to access your site on, and sometimes desktops are best left at home while out and about running errands, grocery shopping, or on their way to meet friends for drinks after work.

The idea and concept of making a good website design are not as complicated as you might have imagined. Unfortunately, anyone can come up with a website design but very few people will take the time to realize why it is good or bad. A good website design will incorporate simplicity, clarity, focus, balance, and white space.

And yes, a good website design will also be responsive, have fast load times, be cross-browser compatible and be user friendly. Implement the 6 elements we have shared, and see how they can help you improve your website’s exposure and traffic!