Dos and don’ts for good website design

In our increasingly digital world, your website is one of the first impressions you make on potential customers. Beyond aesthetics, good website design plays a pivotal role in user experience, search engine optimization, and overall brand perception. Nearly 75% of users admit to judging a company’s credibility based on its website design, and they form these impressions in just 50 milliseconds.

In this post, we’ll discuss some of the dos and don’ts of effective website design that the team at DoubleShot Creative takes into consideration as we develop websites that help our clients make a great first impression.

DO take time to define site structure

Start by mapping out your site structure. This means deciding how information will be organized and presented. A well-thought-out site structure ensures visitors can easily navigate and find what they need quickly. Your structure should be built around content pillars, central themes, and topics you are trying to convey, and then use subpages, blog posts, etc. to allow visitors to dive deeper on given topics. These content pillars are a key part of your website structure and help you to build authority from an SEO perspective. A great site structure should also help to future-proof your web presence, by considering potential content additions and developing a design that allows your site to grow and adapt accordingly. Finally, a robust site structure can also help search engines to crawl and index the site more effectively, further improving your SEO.

DON’T overwhelm users with information

Once we have our site structure, it’s time to consider what content will appear on each page, and roughly how that content will be laid out in a wireframe outline. It’s important to avoid overwhelming users with too much information on a single page. Complex layouts, excessive text, and cluttered design can confuse and frustrate visitors. Instead, we recommend prioritizing simplicity and clarity in both the layout and design, utilizing whitespace to create breathing room and focus attention on key elements.

DO use clear navigation

Navigation is the backbone of good website design. Your site should allow users to find what they’re looking for with minimal clicks. When thinking about site navigation you must put yourself in the user’s shoes. What are they looking for, what terms do they use, and how would they expect to move across the site. Use simple, well-organized menus and navigation bars, and don’t overwhelm visitors with jargon and options. For instance, we might consider using dropdown menus for subcategories to minimize topline navigation elements. Aesthetically, it’s also important to ensure that navigation elements are the same across all pages to help support an intuitive and consistent experience for the user.

DON’T neglect mobile users

With the majority of internet users accessing websites via mobile devices, responsive design is non-negotiable. In fact, 74% of online users are more likely to return to a website that is mobile-friendly. Your website must adapt seamlessly to different screen sizes to provide an optimal viewing experience. In contrast, a site that isn’t mobile-friendly will lead to a poor user experience and higher bounce rates. As such, we always take into consideration desktop, tablet, and mobile breakpoints from the outset of the design process, particularly when redesigning a website where we have access to data on the screen sizes used most often to access the existing website. It’s also important to build in time for testing across different devices and platforms to identify and fix any usability issues before going live with a website.

DO use consistent branding

Consistency in branding across a website helps reinforce brand identity and builds trust with visitors. As one of the first impressions a user gets of your brand, it’s important to use consistent color schemes, typography, and imagery that align with your company’s brand guidelines. This type of cohesive design approach not only makes a website more visually appealing, but can also make a site more user-friendly as it helps maintain a consistent user experience from one page to the next.

DON’T over complicate forms and processes

Web design doesn’t just apply to how information is displayed, but also how visitors interact with a site. Complex and lengthy forms can deter users from engaging, such as signing up for a newsletter or submitting a contact form. Wherever possible, simplify forms by minimizing the number of fields and use clear instructions and simple design styling to help increase the chances for a conversion. The same idea applies to button interactions. Every additional click required for a user to access the information they are looking for increases the chances of losing them, so it’s important to keep clicks to a minimum as you consider a typical user’s journey through your site.

DO prioritize accessibility

Designing for accessibility ensures that all users, including those with disabilities, can access and navigate your website effectively. Visually, it’s important to use design elements with adequate contrast, legible typography styles and font sizing, and take into consideration visitors with color blindness when choosing color combinations. Accessibility features such as alternative text for images, keyboard navigation options, and clear headings can also help enhance usability and inclusivity for all users.

DON’T neglect SEO best practices

Good design and SEO go hand in hand. Neglecting SEO considerations such as meta tags, meta descriptions, keyword optimization, image descriptions, page linking, and mobile-friendliness can limit a website’s organic reach. This also applies to page loading speed – a slow-loading website not only frustrates visitors but can also impact SEO rankings. Compressing images, leveraging browser caching, minimizing HTTP requests, and cleaning up outdated pages can all help improve site load times, and subsequently a site’s ranking.

Creating a well-designed website is a balancing act between user experience, accessibility, and brand consistency. By following the dos and avoiding the don’ts outlined in this post, DoubleShot Creative helps our clients develop websites that not only look appealing but also function seamlessly across devices and platforms, driving engagement and conversions. Remember, your website is one of the first impressions you make on a potential customer – if you’re struggling to make this impression a good one, we’d love to help.