Websites no longer can be haphazardly thrown together, for visitors who don't like a site will quickly bounce off and go elsewhere online. If you're building out a new site, make sure it has these elements of good design.
Responsive Website to Accommodate Mobile Users
Smartphones are no longer only for calling and texting; they're also regularly used to visit websites now. If your website isn't built to accommodate smartphone and other mobile device users, you'll lose a lot of the site's visitors.
Responsive web design adjusts your site's size and layout for whatever device a visitor is using. Users on desktop computers and laptops will see the site at its full width, filling much of their screen with content. Users on tablets and phones will see a narrower version that stacks elements of a page on top of one another, thus making the site easily scrollable.
An alternative option is to build a computer-focused site and a separate mobile site. Maintaining two sites doubles the site maintenance, search engine optimization and other work that's involved with keeping a website running well, though. Creating a single responsive site that can effectively serve all visitors is simpler and more efficient.
Important Content Above the Fold
The fold of a website is the line at which content is below a user's screen. Everything that must be scrolled down to view is below the fold, while everything that's immediately visible without scrolling is above the fold.
The above-the-fold space should be reserved for each page's most important content. The right content will let users quickly learn what a page is about, and it'll draw visitors into the site so that they're more likely to scroll down.
Properly Labeled Elements
The elements of web pages are used by search engines to identify what each page is about. In order to rank your site well for the most relevant search terms, properly label each element on your site's pages. For example:
- Article and post titles should be an H1 header
- Subsections of articles and posts should be labeled with H2 headers
- Images files should describe what the pictures are
Most website-building platforms make it easy to label elements appropriately, even if you don't know any HTML coding.
Colorful Pages
The pages of your site should also be colorful. Color can be incorporated into pages through the background, header and subheader text colors, pictures, graphics and link text coloration.
For more information on website design, contact a designer.
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