Having an online presence in today’s world is a must. In order for your company to be competitive, it’s important to have a website where users can go to learn about your brand and the products you offer. But, the biggest trap that most companies fall into is rushing their website creation and design. Having something is better than nothing, right?
The problem with a rushed website is that more often than not, many of the small details are overlooked and entirely left out. While these details are minor, they’re often what take your website from being just okay to totally awesome.
If you’re looking to create your company’s website or if you want to improve your existing site, you’ve come to the right place. Here are 4 of the most commonly overlooked elements of web design and why they’re crucial for the success of your website.
Table of Contents
1. Responsive Design
Years ago you could get away with a website that was designed to fit a standard desktop monitor. But, today consumers browse the web using a variety of devices. This means that your website needs to be designed to fit different screen sizes. While your website should load on a standard desktop or laptop screen, it also needs to be designed to look amazing on tablets and mobile devices.
The fact is that mobile internet usage continues to increase. In fact, in 2018, more than 52% of all website traffic around the world was generated through mobile devices. This is a 2% increase from 2017. So, if your website doesn’t load or function properly on mobile devices, you risk losing hundreds, possibly thousands of conversions.
Creating your site using responsive design is the most effective way to ensure that your website displays optimally on all screen sizes. With responsive design, you can have the peace of mind that your website loads for all internet users.
2. Forms & Validation
Forms are the most common way to collect customer information directly on your site. But, forms shouldn’t be created willy-nilly. The fact is that users don’t want to be presented with a form that’s confusing to use.
When designing forms, layout and column types are crucial. For example, if you’re collecting a visitor’s name, you’ll want to use an input column. If you want visitors to list what country they live in, you’ll want a more user-friendly column option, such as a select field. Using the right input fields makes forms much more usable.
Another important factor to incorporate when creating forms is validation. For example, if you have a form for users to sign up for your company’s email list, you’ll want to ensure that they provide their first name, last name, and email address. You can ensure this information is provided by using form validation and required fields.
3. Link Styling
Many web developers overlook link styling simply because it doesn’t seem that important. But, by using proper link styling, you can ensure that links are not only visible but that users can also quickly identify where they are on the website and what pages they’ve already visited.
When designing a website, there are three main link styles that need to be incorporated into your CSS.
- Normal – This is the styling for the default state of a link. Normal <a> styling will apply to a link that isn’t being hovered or clicked.
- Hover – Hover styling is the state of a link when a user mouses over it. By using hover styling, you can make it obvious to a user that they’re hovering over a URL that will take them to another location on your website. Hover styling generally involves color, text decoration, and cursor styling.
- Visited – Visited link styling allows a user to see where they’ve clicked throughout your website. By identifying links that the user has visited, it’s easier to find information more quickly.
Once link styling is in place, take the time to create flows using wireframing tools so that you can not only ensure that the styling works, but that it also makes sense for the overall look and feel of the site.
4. Fresh Website Content
Visitors shouldn’t be presented with the same information that was on your website months ago. Fresh and compelling website content makes your website highly effective in driving traffic and increasing conversions. You can post consistent updates to your website by creating blogs on a weekly basis, writing new FAQs, and changing verbiage on certain pages.
Not only should you routinely post new content, but it is also just as important to create content that is high quality and interesting. Users won’t keep visiting your website if they aren’t learning something or finding answers to their questions.
If you don’t have a copywriter on your team, now is definitely the time to hire one! Otherwise, you risk your website’s search engine result rank slipping.
Conclusion
Ensure your website is one step ahead of your competitor’s by focusing on these commonly overlooked elements. By focusing on the minor details of your site, you can provide a quality user experience, which increases the chance of new leads and conversions.
About Carson Derrow
