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Effective Website Design Tips | Hero Marketing Agency

If you want to stand out from the competition, you need to have a great website. Check out this guide for our best website design tips.

What Are the Most Effective Website Design Tips?

As of 2023, there are around 1.1 billion websites worldwide. However, only about 17% or 193,800,000 of these sites are active, while the remaining 83% are inactive. The real challenge lies in making your site stand out for the right reasons among these sites.

A good website layout can speak volumes about your brand for you from the first click. Designing a website requires the proper website layout and optimized website options. This will ensure a successful and beautiful website.

Following the website design tips below can help you create a website layout you can be proud of. Keep reading to discover further information.

Create a More Responsive Website Design

Designing a website means that it should be optimized for use across a number of different devices. Around 61% of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices. If your website isn’t up to par for mobile use, follow these website design tips.

A responsive website layout considers areas such as the screen ratio and resolution, as well as the screen orientation the site will be viewed with. Resize your images so that they show up with the proper dimensions on devices like tablets and smartphones.

You should also ensure that your mobile website layout is adaptive. This means that it will rearrange the content so it is easy to view on different-sized screens and browser configurations. This includes features such as menus and buttons so they maintain functionality and sizing.

Provide a Seamless Navigation Experience

An effective website design allows users to find and navigate across your website effortlessly. You need to make sure that certain website options are clearly laid out and easily visible. Here are some website design tips you should follow pertaining to your website layout.

Most website menus are usually located at the top of the website’s main page header. They often feature a horizontal dropdown menu from the top or a vertical menu option on the left or right sidebar. Your website should have a familiar feel to it so that navigating through menus and pages is simple and straightforward.

Internal linking within your website’s blog content will make it easy for site users to click through to other pages for more information. While including keyword search boxes can help streamline the site exploration process.

Offer Fast Site Loading Times

When building a website, speed is of the essence. You may only have a maximum of about 3 seconds before a site user gets frustrated with website loading lag and abandons it altogether. You will also need to verify whether your website offers a smooth page-scrolling interface and doesn’t stall or freeze up.

If you have many large images, trying to load these can drastically slow down your page’s loading speeds. Try compressing these images so that they will load faster on the page. You can also use “lazy loading” which doesn’t load your images until the user scrolls down further on the page.

You can use caching to store and load page information for faster loading with each visit. By implementing these website design tips, you’ll have a website layout that is user-friendly with an efficient loading time.

Make a Consistent Website Look and Feel

Designing a website means you need to consider all of the aspects of your website’s design and how it pertains to the look of your business. Certain website design tips can help you make your website layout appear more orderly and professional looking.

For example, does your website content all have the same brand voice and quality? You need to verify that every page on your site uses the same fonts, color schemes, and imagery. Your menus and website options should have the same functionality as well to facilitate proper website use.

This will also help your business with cohesive branding since your website will have a more uniform feel. Customers and site visitors will associate color schemes across your website as a part of your overall digital marketing efforts. You’ll also have a beautiful website that catches the eye for all the right reasons.

Use Clear Communication Methods

One of the best website design tips is to be clear and upfront. Your website design should be able to communicate in plain language the purpose of your site to its visitors. You can achieve this through easy-to-read and understandable graphics and written content.

Site visitors should be able to determine the intention of your site the moment they hit the landing page. Too much or too little information will likely confuse them. Using big words and advanced terminology is also a bad idea.

If your aim is to educate site visitors, point them toward this information through a simple website layout directing them to your blog. Short, informative videos and understandable snippets of information make them want to learn more and click through for more blog content.

Provide Ways to Get Hassle-Free Conversions

When designing a website, you must also consider what action you want site visitors to take. Do you want them to sign up for a service or do you want them to opt into your email marketing list? Is there a particular product or service you want to highlight?

You want site conversions that are organic and result from using clear calls to action. Don’t use too many pop-up windows to try to attract attention. This can have the opposite effect and turn site visitors away from completing your conversion goals.

You should also be wary of asking for too much information from site visitors. Asking for too much information upfront can be a deterrent for completing a conversion since first-time visitors especially can be suspicious of giving out a lot of personal information. These website design tips will have you converting new customers in no time.

Apply Detailed Attention-Grabbing Headlines

You only have a short amount of time to make an impact on your site visitors. If you’re designing a website to be more impactful, these website design tips will let your site shine through and look its best.

Don’t rely on using bland and generic descriptions and headlines. You need to reel them in with short but to-the-point headlines that inform and attract. Using well-worded headlines also adds SEO value to your search rankings.

If your products are sustainable and eco-friendly, emphasize this point to get the attention of eco-conscious consumers. Highlight the features and ingredients of your product on your website for the most effective appeal. Or emphasize the core values and vision of your company for further effect.

Simplify Your Website Layout and Design

In the process of designing and building a website, less is always more. You don’t want your website to resemble the popup-laden, headache-inducing graphics of the websites from the ’90s.

Bombarding your site visitors with too much data will overwhelm them and scare them off.

You also need to allow your website content room to breathe. This encompasses using white space on your website and not stuffing every inch with data, graphics, and videos. You should also avoid using overly complex backgrounds that can be overstimulating since the eye won’t know what to focus on first.

Above all, maintaining a simple website layout is key for an uncluttered and beautiful website. It may seem like you’re not doing enough if you don’t have wall-to-wall content. But when done the right way with these website design tips, it can have a powerful and lasting impact on your site visitors.

Establish an Appealing Visual Hierarchy

Designing a website allows you to have creative control over your site’s visual appearance. This can benefit your business when used effectively along with some website design tips. You can use graphics in your website layout so that they draw the eyes of your site visitors to certain elements that you want to highlight.

An appealing visual hierarchy shows visitors where to go on your site in a way that feels natural. This method arranges website options to give site users an organic user experience that they navigate towards on their own.

The strategic use of color, size, and text does the job of bringing the right attention to the right areas of your website. You can even utilize white space with videos and GIFs at the top of the page with low-contrast text below to maximize its full effect.

Rely on Giving Full Site Transparency

Building a relationship with your existing and potential customers is important to any business. To build a proper relationship, you need to have open and honest practices in your business that extend onto your website to establish a unified image.

You can follow some website design tips such as posting a disclosure of how information collected on your site will be used. You can also give site visitors details on your pricing and fees upfront. Adding honest customer reviews and ratings to your site is a surefire way to build a website layout that gets you noticed.

Find More Professional Website Design Tips at Hero Marketing Agency

Designing a website doesn’t have to be a complicated process. Not when you have the right tools and information at your disposal. Hero Marketing Agency is here to help your business website effectively connect with your ideal customers.

We are a full-service digital marketing and advertising agency with locations in Colorado and Texas. Read our informative blog posts for more website design tips. Or get in touch with us about how we can help your website achieve the professional look and performance you need.

Contact us today to book a call to discuss your website design and digital marketing needs. Your pathway to marketing excellence starts here.

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Meet the Author

Josh Cates

Chief Executive Officer & Founding Principal

Throughout my 25-year career as a multifaceted and data-driven entrepreneur and senior marketing executive, I have amassed a wealth of business knowledge by starting up five companies, three of which were successfully acquired. In addition, I have consulted in over 70 industries, giving me a unique and multidimensional perspective on business growth and development.

In my current role as Founder and CEO of Hero Marketing Agency, I understand the importance of strong relationships—our agency exists to help companies achieve transformational long-term success. I have a deep passion for working directly with organizations to realize real marketing returns and provide the best and most strategic services available.

I carry a DoD Top Secret Clearance, effective 17 April 2020, received a nomination for the Colorado Springs Advertising ICON award, recipient of multiple ADDY awards, and was honored to be nominated for Businessman of the Year by the Greater Boerne Chamber of Commerce.

Kurt Cannarella

Director of Paid Media

As veteran of the NYC & Dallas Advertising Agencies, Kurt has managed paid media for many of the top brands within the country including DIRECTV, Charles Schwab, Ralph Lauren, and the NBA.

His focus involves designing a fully integrated paid media strategy tailored to each business’s goals and objectives. After moving on from the larger Ad Agencies, Kurt shifted his focus on aiding small and mid-sized brands craft their integrated paid media strategy. Outside of his paid media interests, Kurt spends his time rooting for his beloved NY Mets as well as traveling with his wife Lauren and two daughters Chloe & Camille.

Our clients at Hero Marketing Agency consistently praise Kurt for his high-touch communication style, thoroughness, integrated media knowledge, and his strategic approach.

Josh Cates

Chief Executive Officer & Founding Principal

Throughout my 25-year career as a multifaceted and data-driven entrepreneur and senior marketing executive, I have amassed a wealth of business knowledge by starting up five companies, three of which were successfully acquired. In addition, I have consulted in over 70 industries, giving me a unique and multidimensional perspective on business growth and development.

In my current role as Founder and CEO of Hero Marketing Agency, I understand the importance of strong relationships—our agency exists to help companies achieve transformational long-term success. I have a deep passion for working directly with organizations to realize real marketing returns and provide the best and most strategic services available.

I carry a DoD Top Secret Clearance, effective 17 April 2020, received a nomination for the Colorado Springs Advertising ICON award, recipient of multiple ADDY awards, and was honored to be nominated for Businessman of the Year by the Greater Boerne Chamber of Commerce.

Joanna Brown

Creative Director

Joanna is a creative director, an art director, and a designer with 20+ years of experience delivering world-class creative content. Her career has taken her from London (UK) to New York City, then down to the heart of Texas with her family.

She is a creative leader with proven strategic thinking, problem-solving, effective communication, and management knowledge who forges meaningful connections with internal and client teams. In her role with Hero Marketing Agency, Joanna collaborates with brands, content makers, and storytellers to formulate and bring to life the creative vision through compelling human-centered, results-driven user experiences.

Joanna has worked with various startups to global giants, including J.P. Morgan Chase, Google, Unilever, and Norwegian Cruise Line.

Heather Short-Davis

Client Strategist

Imagine it’s 2001, and you have a new, yet heavy, phone in your hand with the latest technology— get ready to be in awe — it has a single-color display! Instead of black text on a gray background, you get to look at black text on a blue background.

Yes, it sounds underwhelming, but that’s what level of tech we were excited about. It’s the same year wireless phone providers began to connect networks for text messaging. And it’s the same year Heather entered the marketing workforce.

She has had the benefit of experiencing first-hand the evolution and digitization of marketing tactics. From oil & gas to technology transfer, no industry has been left untouched from the vast increase in data now available at our business fingertips. As a data-driven marketer, Heather has not only an appreciation for, but also a solid understanding of tracking and analyzing data to devise strategies and evaluate performance.

At Hero Marketing Agency Heather collaborates with clients to help them achieve a sound strategy for marketing. First to define and distill their goals. Then to develop strategies for goal achievement, articulating objectives, tactics, and success metrics. Great strategists are dynamic storytellers who have the ability to make the incredibly complex feel simple.

A native Texan, Heather has recently moved back to Texas after 14 years in Northern Indiana. She graduated with a double major in marketing and advertising from Indiana University South Bend with scholarship awards. Her collegiate career began at the University of Texas at Austin, but life and her husband took their adventure north.

She is happy to be back in central Texas where they are close to family and do not need a snow blower in the garage. She enjoys emerging technologies and new consumer electronics. An avid runner, some of her best creative ideas have happened mid-run.

Bob Cates

Chief Financial Officer & Co-Founding Principal

Bob has always been an entrepreneur. He will tell you he has lived the American dream, starting and running his own businesses, which have included oil and natural gas exploration, healthcare, publishing, consumer electronics, e-commerce, franchise operations and marketing agency.

Graduating from the University of North Texas with an accounting degree, Bob received his CPA while an Audit Supervisor for the State of Texas. In 1983 Bob started his first business, an independent oil and gas exploration company, which he operated until 2007.

As the Co-Founder of Hero Marketing Agency, Bob is an invaluable part of the brand, and his talents expand beyond his dynamic abilities with projections and figures. Bob sits on the board and counsels on all matters relating to the brand’s financial well-being, in addition to consulting and handling the business management side for clients of Hero Marketing Agency.

In 2018 Bob added the title Director of Digital Strategy to his name, where his background in auditing and time as a CPA migrate perfectly to crunching data and making clear sense of the ever-changing world of digital strategy for Hero Marketing Agency clients.

Splitting time between Colorado and the Texas Hill Country, Bob is married to his high-school sweetheart of 51 years and loves volunteering in his hometown, where he serves on Boerne’s Planning and Zoning Commission. He also loves exploring the outdoors, bow hunting, cycling, and hiking.

Bob Cates

CFO & Vision Behind Hero Marketing Agency

Bob has always been an entrepreneur. He will tell you he has lived the American dream, starting and running his own businesses, which have included oil and natural gas exploration, healthcare, publishing, consumer electronics, e-commerce, franchise operations and marketing agency.

Graduating from the University of North Texas with an accounting degree, Bob received his CPA while an Audit Supervisor for the State of Texas. In 1983 Bob started his first business, an independent oil and gas exploration company, which he operated until 2007.

As the Co-Founder of Hero Marketing Agency, Bob is an invaluable part of the brand, and his talents expand beyond his dynamic abilities with projections and figures. Bob sits on the board and counsels on all matters relating to the brand’s financial well-being, in addition to consulting and handling the business management side for clients of Hero Marketing Agency.

In 2018 Bob added the title Director of Digital Strategy to his name, where his background in auditing and time as a CPA migrate perfectly to crunching data and making clear sense of the ever-changing world of digital strategy for Hero Marketing Agency clients.

Splitting time between Colorado and the Texas Hill Country, Bob is married to his high-school sweetheart of 51 years and loves volunteering in his hometown, where he serves on Boerne’s Planning and Zoning Commission. He also loves exploring the outdoors, bow hunting, cycling, and hiking.