Building a website isn’t a simple process, it takes time, commitment and an eye for detail to create something that is not only going to be appealing to visitors, but also easy to use and well-branded. These days, almost every business has their own website and as you’ll probably have noticed from browsing the internet over the years, some are a lot more well-designed than others and typically, it’s the well designed ones that are successful in terms of generating revenue and customers for businesses.
But what exactly makes a website great? Is it all about the design? Coding? Is ensuring that it’s responsive and viewable on mobile devices important or not? These are all good questions, so let’s find out the answers.
The Importance Of Colour
Source: YouTube.com
One of the things that is often overlooked in the world of website design is colour. If you look at any popular, well-known website, you’ll notice that generally, there is a clear and concise colour scheme that will probably only consist of 2 - 3 primary colours.
For example, take a look at YouTube (pictured above). You’ll notice that the colour scheme is well-defined and clean. Literally, the only colours used in the design are red, black and various shades of grey. This creates a clean looking website that is easy on the eye and easy to navigate. More colourful aspects of the site are the result of user-generated content or advertising (i.e. videos or banner ads), they are not part of the design.
You’ll also notice that the colour scheme used by YouTube for their entire website is the same colour scheme that is used for their logo. Essentially, this helps to create a clear brandable identity for the company and helps to keep things consistent and recognisable; an important part of any branding strategy.
Source: Amazon
You can also see that this is the case with the well-known online store Amazon.com (pictured above). Their logo design uses black and yellow which are also used as the primary colours for the overall design of the site.
Much like with YouTube, this helps to create a clear and instantly recognisable identity as well as a clean, easy to navigate website. In turn, this generates a level of trust between the company and consumers which earns repeat business and contributes to the success of the company.
The Importance Of Navigation
Source: Apple.com
Another hugely important factor when it comes to creating a great website is the navigation section. Ultimately, your website is there to serve a purpose and provide people with information/products/services that they’re looking for. The more you can simplify the navigation of your website, the easier it’s going to be for visitors/potential customers to find what they’re looking for, thus leading to more sales/enquirers.
A good example of a well-thought-out and clear website navigation design is on Apple’s website (as pictured above). Apple are well known for their user-friendly interfaces and their website is no exception to the norm.
Their navigation is split into their product line, allowing any visitors to easily find the overall section of the website that they’re looking for almost instantly. After this, the visitor will be presented with a submenu which takes them deeper into that particular section of the website.
Source: Apple.com
As you can see from the image, when you click “Store” from the top navigation on the website, you’re directed deeper into the site where there is then a submenu exploring that section in greater detail.
There is now a new menu at the top listing the various sections of the shop (in Apple’s case, iPod, iPhone, Mac etc) and there is also a sidebar menu which gives even more options.
Essentially, creating a great website navigation is all about creating a hierarchy. You should be presenting your most important pages on your main menu, slightly less important pages on submenus and so forth. This helps the visitor to easily navigate the website and find what they’re looking for.
The Importance Of Cross-Browser/Multi-Device Compatibility
Source: Mashable.com
When it comes to coding your website (or getting your web developer to code it), you need to make sure that you keep two key factors in mind; the fact that people use various browsers (e.g. Firefox, Google Chrome etc) and also, the fact that people are now likely to access your website across a multitude of devices with varying screen sizes (i.e. Smartphone’s, tablet PC’s etc).
Designing for different screen sizes is a must in the modern world as a huge portion of internet users are actually browsing the web from either their Smartphone or tablet PC. Because of this, you need to make sure that you either have a mobile version of your website or that your website is coded in a responsive way so that it adjusts to varying screen sizes (as pictured above).
It’s also important to keep in mind that different browsers may display your website in slightly different ways and therefore, cross-browser testing is a must, even if you’re only running a small website.
Conclusion
Truthfully, there are a lot of factors that make or break a website and although the ones above are extremely important from a technical point of view, one of the most important things to remember is that your website needs to serve the purpose that it’s supposed to serve.
You think about the ultimate aim of your website. Do you want visitors to call you and hire your companies services? Do you want visitors to make the purchase online via an ecommerce system or do you just want to present them with information in the most convenient way possible?
The design of your website will ultimately reflect the choices made at this stage of the process; this is why a blog typically features a different design and is structured differently from a small business website, because it serves a different purpose and thus, information needs to be presented differently.
Either way, the golden rule is to keep things clean, clear, simple, brandable and also, ensure that the design fulfills it’s end goal well.
Author Bio: Josh is a branding and design enthusiast, currently working for Discount Banner Printing; a UK-based company specialising in sticker and banner printing/design.