Following best website design practices help you create high-performing websites. All the professionals stick to the best web design practices to create websites that outperform.

Getting your website up and running has become incredibly easy. It takes just a few minutes to create a website. However, there is a huge difference between creation and optimization.

Since it takes only 0.05 seconds for an individual to form an opinion about your website, you need to make sure that your website leaves an immediate positive impression.

With such a short time to blow the site visitors away, you must ensure that your website design is simply impeccable. It affects your credibility, conversions, and whether your website succeeds in the online world. Although no website is perfect, you must optimize your website to get the most out of it.

If potential customers have a bad experience, they are unlikely to return to your website. Hence, you have to make it count. In the majority of instances, a poor website design is to blame. This is why you need to optimize your web design for user experience.

This post takes a close look at the best website design practices for 2021. So, what are you waiting for?

Let’s get started.

Best Website Design Practices for 2021

1. Minimize Text

One of the top website design practices that you need to follow is to minimize text. Rather than filling out the web pages with massive blocks of text, you need to tone it down. Keeping the text to a minimum can help boost retention by improving the user experience.

Although you can add a ton of information to your blog posts, you should keep your landing pages and homepage to a minimum. You need to master how to tell the story within just a few sentences.

2. Use Visuals

Humans are visual creatures. They are drawn to visuals. If you want to attract them, you need to show them rather than telling them. Bring your website design to life with the right visuals. They can help elevate the look and feel of your website. The fact is that visuals provide a deeper explanation.

Show potential customers what your product or service can do for them. It will ensure that they understand what you have to offer within a short period.

Place high-quality, professional pictures on the website to show what your offering can do for customers. It will ensure that you get your message across without having to rely on words. There is no need to place a detailed description. Instead, you should stick to pictures as they can do all the talking.

3. Focus on Readability

Readability is vital to getting people to read. This is possible with shorter sentences. Lengthy sentences tend to be difficult to read. Nobody has the time to read a lengthy most that consist of long paragraphs. You should opt for short sentences to encourage visitors to read what you have to say.

Besides, big chunks of text tempt people to skip the content altogether. They would struggle with the text and would be unable to digest the content. Do mix things up as variety helps. As for the CTA, it should stand out on its own.

4. Use the Right Color Scheme to Incorporate Your Branding Strategy

Every element of the website provides you with an opportunity to incorporate your branding strategy. This is why it makes sense to use the right color scheme. The truth is that the color choices you make have a huge impact on the success of your website. Since visitors barely take any time to judge your website, you need to take advantage of colors to convey the desired message.

Look at your branding and logo to determine which colors to use for the website design. McDonald’s, Starbucks, Twitter, and YouTube are just some of the websites that truly embrace the color scheme of their brand in every way possible. Besides, colors can help make potential customers feel a certain way.

5. Have a Clear and Obvious CTA

If you want a website that converts, your CTAs should never be buried. You have to make sure that they are powerful, big, and bold. They must stand out. Most websites lack an obvious CTA button that can be easily spotted in as little as 3 seconds.

An effective CTA button is necessary for driving conversions. Minimal text paired with a clear CTA can work wonders for you. You can place the CTA button at different parts of the website to ensure that your objectives are achieved.

Here’s a good example by Consult Strategia.

6. Turn to Familiarity to Reinforce Actions

In addition to the above, you need to bear in mind that your CTA has to be the same everywhere if your message is the same. Just think about how someone would navigate the website. Not everyone would land at the page and instantly convert. They would first browse the page or check out different pages before converting. Therefore, everything counts.

Your goal should be to keep the messaging and style as consistent as possible to get the message across. The same CTA on each page would help with reinforcement. Similar elements in terms of consistency in design, messaging, and language should be used.

7. Simplify Navigation

Nobody has a ton of time on their hands to understand your website navigation. You must make sure that you provide simple navigation to visitors. They should have no trouble finding what they are looking for. Think about how customers would navigate your website when designing it.

With competition at an all-time high, you have no excuse to create a website that has lousy navigation. Users have no reason to understand how to navigate your website if it is too difficult to understand. They would simply leave your website and opt for a competitor.

Stick with a simple format. The navigation menu should be horizontal and easy to navigate. There should be minimal options as humans struggle when there are too many options. Limiting choices is known for increasing conversions. A super clean design, limited menu options, and minimal text are just perfect.

8. Optimize the Website Design for Mobile Devices

As the majority of internet traffic is mobile-based, you need to optimize the website design for mobile devices. Otherwise, you would miss out on a ton of traffic. Search engines value websites that are mobile-friendly and reward them. Mobile SEO should be on the top of your mind. It can help you rank better on Google.

9. Focus on SEO

Every single thing you do on your website should be in terms of SEO. You cannot just dump keywords and call it a day. SEO requires you to focus on a variety of elements as mentioned below.

• Headline: It is the largest piece of text on the web page. It can do all the heavy lifting for you when you do it right.
• Internal Links: Including internal links can help boost overall traffic and keep visitors on your website.
• Keyword Optimization: Research the keywords and phrases that you should be using to rank better.
• Mobile-Friendly: Focus on how your website appears and performs on mobile devices.
• Usability: Make sure that visitors have an easy time using and navigating your website.

Create an XML sitemap as it makes it a lot easier for search engine crawlers to analyze your website content. It shows the search engine bots the location of each webpage. A proper sitemap assures Google that there is no duplicate content.

10. Monitor Page Loading Speed

Everyone is super busy these days. They do not have the time to wait around for a website to load. You might be wondering why page loading speed is included in website design. The answer to the question is that website design affects page loading speed considerably. Page loading time might be related to traffic, the hosting plan, server, and other similar things. However, design choices also impact loading time.

Every time a new element is added to the website such as a video, image, or any complex media file, it affects loading time. Thus, it can slow down HTTP requests. The longer it takes for a website to load the higher its abandonment rate. You need to follow the tips mentioned below to improve page loading time.

• Reduce the image file sizes.
• Utilize browser caching tools.
• Improve your TTFB.
• Reduce HTTP requests.
• Minify and combine files.

11. Run A/B Tests Continuously

Finally, you cannot just sit back and relax after you have designed the website. You need to continuously test it and improve it to stay at the top. There is always some way you can improve the website design. Running A/B tests will allow you to make regular improvements. You should test every element of the website design to take your website design game to the next level.

For reference to some good website design, check out our portfolio here.

Now that you have finished reading this post, you have the manual for best website design practices. From minimal text to running A/B tests continuously, each practice will help you improve your website design.