Creating a new website is an exciting venture, whether you’re starting from scratch or giving an existing site a facelift. However, with so many elements to consider, it can be overwhelming.
To help guide your process, here are our top five factors to keep in mind when designing a new website, ensuring it’s not only visually appealing but also effective in achieving your business goals.
1. User Experience (UX)
User Experience (UX) should be your top priority when designing a website. It’s all about creating a seamless, intuitive, and enjoyable experience for your visitors. A well-designed UX can significantly enhance how users interact with your site, leading to higher engagement and conversions.
When focusing on UX, it is critical to focus on:
Navigation: Design a clear, logical navigation structure that allows users to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily.
Responsiveness: Ensure your website is fully responsive, meaning it adapts smoothly to various devices and screen sizes, particularly mobiles and tablets.
Loading Speed: Optimise your site for fast loading times. A delay of even a few seconds can frustrate users and increase bounce rates.
2. Content Strategy
Your website’s content is what informs, engages, and converts your visitors. Having a strong content strategy ensures that your message is clear, compelling, and aligned with your audience’s needs.
Take the time to focus on your message, your content, and how it connects with your reader, including:
Relevance: Write content that resonates with your target audience, addressing their specific needs and interests.
SEO: Optimise your content with relevant keywords and meta tags to improve your search engine rankings and reach a broader audience.
Regular Updates: Keep your content fresh by regularly updating it. This not only helps with SEO but also signals to visitors that your site is active and up-to-date.
3. Brand Consistency
Your website is a major representation of your brand, so it’s critical that it reflects your identity consistently. This consistency helps to build trust and recognition among your audience.
This can be both visual and non-visual too:
Visual Identity: Use a cohesive visual style across your site, including consistent colours, fonts, and imagery that align with your brand.
Tone of Voice: Ensure that the tone and style of your content match your brand’s personality, whether it’s professional, friendly, or quirky.
Logos and Taglines: Display your logo and tagline consistently across all pages to reinforce your brand’s identity and make your site more memorable.
4. Target Audience
Understanding your target audience is fundamental to creating a website that truly connects with them. Everything from the design to the content should be tailored to meet the specific needs, preferences, and behaviours of your audience, and we suggest spending time on:
Audience Research: Conduct thorough research to understand who your target audience is, including their demographics, interests, and online behaviour.
Personalisation: Where possible, personalise the user experience by catering content, offers, and calls to action to different audience segments.
User Journey: Map out the user journey from the moment a visitor lands on your site to the point of conversion. Ensure that your design and content guide them smoothly along this path.
5. Performance and Security
A website that performs well and is secure builds trust with your visitors and protects both your business and your users from potential threats.
Performance and security should never be overlooked in the design process.
Our Statamic-built sites are built with both speed and performance as a priority, and it is important to focus on:
Website Speed: Optimise all aspects of your site, from images to server configurations, to ensure fast loading times and smooth performance.
Security Measures: Implement robust security features such as SSL certificates, regular backups, and strong firewalls to protect your site from cyber threats.
Compliance: Ensure your website complies with relevant data protection laws and regulations.
Designing a new website involves balancing aesthetics with functionality, always keeping your target audience in mind. By focusing on user experience, content strategy, brand consistency, understanding your audience, and ensuring top-notch performance and security, you’ll create a website that not only looks good but also drives results.
A successful website isn’t just about design – it’s about creating an online space that serves your audience and supports your business goals effectively, and at Mity we’re here to help achieve this.
Michael Scruse
Michael brings a rare blend of technical, web and sales expertise to every project, backed by over 30 years of experience in the IT industry.
He’s also a qualified chef, though these days his culinary skills are mostly reserved for the home kitchen. A self-confessed history buff, Michael is currently deep into researching his own family tree.