In our day and age, it seems like everyone knows how to create a website and even if they don’t, they still have a lot of opinions on it and are more than willing to share them. Maybe that’s why the internet is packed with so many websites that look and perform poorly. It’s become clear that as a business, if you’re not online, you don’t exist. But what’s the point of having an online presence if it doesn’t bring you any benefit?

The discussions on what makes a website truly great could go on forever, because it’s hard to define what a great website really means. There’s not a clear set of rules that you should follow to create the perfect website, because it all comes down to your specific needs. Whether you want to attract more visitors, generate new leads or increase sales, your website should support whatever purpose you have. Besides, in the web development world things are constantly changing, so you have to keep up and adapt to the new standards as you go.

However, there are some essential concepts that are at the core of every successful website. Focusing on website design is extremely important if you want your site to go from average to highly competitive. Here’s what you should consider:

Clear the clutter

First impression is always important, and that applies to web design as well. If a user is overwhelmed with information the minute they land on your website, it’s highly unlikely they’ll visit it a second time. He’s already formed an opinion and it surely wasn’t a positive one. That’s why you should make sure your website looks clean and professional by removing all the unnecessary elements from your pages and organizing your content. You should:

• Get rid of complex animations
• Remove low quality images
• Break content into shorter paragraphs
• Use bullet points to organize content

Users also focus better on the information when there’s more white space surrounding it. So, resist the urge to use every corner of your website and instead create more space around important elements.

Improve page speed

Studies have shown that over 50% of users will abandon a web page if they have to wait more than 3 seconds for it to load. People have increasingly high standards when it comes to web speed and if your website is not fast enough, they’ll simply go elsewhere to find what they are looking for. Therefore, you must take into account that a few seconds of delay can have a serious impact on the bounce rate. To avoid that, you can:

• Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
• Enable caching
• Use a reliable hosting platform
• Use fewer plugins
• Optimize high quality images

These are just a few tips to tackle the issue, but many of the methods used to improve your website design will also help you optimize page speed and increase the overall performance of your website. Also, you can use various tools such as Google’s PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to help you monitor your site’s speed and improve loading time.

Make navigation easy

If a website has good navigation, users will find what they are looking for fast and easy, without going through a maze of information in the process, and therefore they will spend more time on your pages. If they get tangled in menus and links that won’t take them where they want to go, they’ll quickly leave the site. All the information should be organized in a way that will make it simple for visitors to get around. It’s a good idea to place your navigation bar at the top of the page, so users will have no trouble finding it. The sections of your website should be clearly displayed on the navigation bar, with short and descriptive names for each category. Including a search bar can also be of great help when navigating a website.

Focus on mobile optimization

Statistics show that 80% of internet users have a smartphone. With more people using mobile devices to browse the internet, it makes sense to adapt to their needs and optimize your website, so that it can offer an excellent experience on all type of devices and browsers. Also, you shouldn’t ignore the fact that a mobile-friendly website will rank higher in Google search. Therefore, users should be able to view pages properly whether they are using a smartphone, a tablet or a desktop and your site should be just as functional on all of them.

Use clear calls to action

Don’t let users guess what they have to do next. If you want to point them in a certain direction, you must state that through a strong and clear call to action. All users expect a smooth navigation, but they also want to know what they have to do, so make it as obvious as possible to make sure they won’t be left wondering around your website purposelessly. Whether it comes in the form of a button, a banner or a pop-up, all calls to action should be direct and motivate the user to move on to the next stage. Pay attention to the wording, as it has to be straightforward and leave no room for interpretation. It’s generally advisable to keep the text short, but you can also use sentences. The most important thing is to be concise, such as in the following examples: subscribe to our channel, sign up for our newsletter, get more tips, download here, install now, shop now etc.

Add social sharing buttons

Can you imagine the internet without social media apps like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram? Social media is the hot spot for connecting and sharing the latest news, so if your website is late to the party, it’s time to join in. The millions of people using social media can help your website gain more visibility and therefore gain more traffic. It’s as simple as adding those small social sharing buttons on your web pages, so that visitors can find it easier to share your content or their experience with other users, on whatever social platform they choose. This is a guaranteed method to increase traffic and promote your website.