Are you looking to build your own website? And are you interested in web design? Then read along here, as we have collected a list of information about the most important aspects of web design for 2020. We will also touch upon some of the pitfalls we often observe when analyzing websites.
What Is Web Design?
Building a website requires a vast set of skills within several different disciplines. The list of skills include:
The communicative aspect. That is text creation and copywriting etc.
- Interface design
- UX design also called user experience
- SEO, which stands for search engine optimization
Web design is, therefore, the production and maintenance of a new website, requiring an understanding and use of all of the disciplines mentioned above.
Consider Hiring Talented Professionals
You may be able to perfect all of the above-mentioned web design disciplines. That’s not very often the case, though. As such, you may want to hire a team of professionals to take care of the various disciplines.
Imagine, for instance, that you are a pro when it comes to getting the message across via high-quality textual content. But what about the graphics on the page? If you know very little about that, consider hiring a graphics designer. By doing that, you can take the page to the next level.
The same goes for SEO. Although you may be able to create an excellent website, you still want it to rank well on Google. For it to do that, nowadays, SEO is crucial. Finding and hiring an SEO-specialist is money well spent.
Keep It Simple
One of the pitfalls that are often observed about websites is that they are too complicated to browse. They often also contain way too much content for their own good. Our advice is clear; “keep it simple!”. recommended
Minimalism is trendy, and well-known mega-brands such as Apple and Microsoft have minimalistic, simple websites. How about taking some inspiration from those sites? Of course, we don’t encourage you to copy any website. Clearly, you should never do that. But there’s probably a reason websites such as those are as popular as they are. Take advantage of that.
Increase Your Website’s Loading Speed
One thing that you or your team should be focusing on right from the get-go is the website’s loading times. Did you know that the speed at which your page loads is an essential aspect for Google on how they rank your site? It’s true, and you should always aim to have a website that loads as fast as possible.
Well then, how can you increase the loading times on your page? One way of securing fast loading times is by optimizing the page code. Using simple code is one way of achieving that. If you use Content Management Systems (CMS) such as WordPress, you should aim at using as few plugins as possible. Also, finding the best plugins is naturally crucial.
You can also increase your loading speeds by compressing your pictures. People often can’t see much of a difference between an 800*600 image in 100% quality, compared to one in 90% quality. The difference is marginal, but it will make the picture be of a much smaller file size, thereby loading much faster.
Security, Security, Security
This can’t be stated enough; always optimize your page security! We often come across websites that lack something as simple as a valid SSL certificate. That’s simply inexcusable in 2020! It’s reasonably simple to install one on your page, so that’s one of the first things you should always do.
In general, always remember to encrypt everything on the site. Remember, users often judge the trustworthiness of a site within their first five to 10 seconds on the landing page. Having an unencrypted website screams unprofessionalism. Don’t even go there.
Make Your Website Stand Out on Both Laptop and Mobile
An increasing amount of traffic is mobile. As such, make sure that your website is mobile responsive. Making a website compatible across various platforms is a worthwhile investment. If you design your website using a CMS such as WordPress, most premium themes are by standard responsive, but never just assume that they are. Always check it out at the start of the process.
Create Natural User Journeys
Hiring a good UX designer is rarely a bad idea. You want to create a natural user journey on your site. Users should always be able to find whatever they are looking for on your website. A good UX designer can “manipulate” the user’s behavior by improving site usability. It may sound bad, but that kind of manipulation is the type everybody wants.
Building a good website in 2020, therefore, requires an overall approach. Good luck!
