Creating a website is about more than making a site that looks nice. Nowadays, a website needs to be:
Accessible (to all types of users)
Easy to Navigate
Functional
An effective website should convey its message to your target audience through consistent:
Colors
Typography
Imagery
Compelling Copy
Functionality
When done right, your website should help to build trust and guide a visitor to take action. A visitor should land on your website and be able to understand your offer and who it's for.
What's the Purpose of Your Website?
A website can have many different purposes, but there are core purposes to a website:
Highlighting Your Expertise
Building Awareness About Your Brand
Generating Leads
Sales & Long-Term Relationship
This core purpose is the why behind your efforts of building the website. What is your main goal for your website?
Once you have a goal in mind, keep it simple. By not providing too many options to choose from, you'll limit the chances that someone will feel overwhelmed and leave.
What to Include In Your Header
In your header, make sure to include your logo (which should link to your homepage), links to key pages (this can be done in a menu or with buttons), and if you have a specific action you would like someone to take next, make this a button that you link to wherever you want them to go.
You can also include important contact information (email, phone, and social icons), and any special promotions you want to highlight.
Your header is a valuable area of your website because it is going to be the first section someone looks at on every page of your website.
F-Shaped Pattern for Content & Visual Hierarchy
Now that you know what to include in your header, you'll want to focus on the body sections of your website.
The key information we recommend including on your homepage is:
What you do
Who it's for
Why they need it
Why trust you
What to do next
With a builder like Wix, you don't have to know code to build a website that answers these key questions!
If you've noticed a pattern when it comes to how content is laid out on most websites, this is for a reason.
Eye-tracking studies have shown that most people will look at the top and left areas of the screen. This layout mimics our natural reading pattern - left to right and top to bottom.
Visual hierarchy is another way of drawing the eye to key information. The focal point of your website tells the visitor that this is the most important info. This can be done by color, imagery, size, typography, contrast, use of whitespace, and overall style.
What to Include in Your Footer
The footer navigation should guide visitors to learn more or take next steps.
Within footers you'll usually see links to key pages, contact information, newsletter signup, social icons, terms, accessibility statement, privacy policy links, and copyright information.
This is the last section of your website a visitor will see before they decide to take another action. A back to top button is another good option to include as it encourages a visitor to continue browsing.
Organization is Important
How your content and pages are organized throughout your site matters. It's important to make finding information easy for people and bots.
SEO (search engine optimization) is a way to make your website easier to find in search results. By organizing your content well and optimizing it for search engines (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, etc.), you can help improve your rankings.
For more tips on Wix SEO, click here.
Nested categories allows you to come up with different keyword groups per page. This will help you rank for different keyword groups for each url.
Titles should be clear, concise and help guide your visitor, so they know what page they're on at all times.
Site Speed & Mobile Friendly
Site speed is a measurement used to determine how quickly your site loads after a visitor has requested access.
People are impatient and won't wait longer than 3 seconds for a website to load. Minimize your load time by optimizing your images, prioritizing content on a page, limiting the amount of 3rd party code.
To learn more about how to speed up your Wix website, click here.
How your website looks and functions on mobile devices is also incredibly important. Make sure to use Wix's mobile optimization tool to update your site so it looks good on smaller screen sizes.
Accessibility Matters
You want to account for all visitors, so it's important that you design for every limitation. This could be visual, auditory, motor limitations, or cognitive disabilities.
Wix offers templates that are already accessibility ready, and they also provide an Accessibility Wizard, so you can audit your site and make the necessary changes so it is is accessible.
To learn more about how to build a Wix Accessible website, click here.
Create with Your Target Audience in Mind
When creating a website for your brand, think about how you can best accomodate your target audience. You want your target audience to see your website and think, "Wow, it's like they're talking to me specifically!"
This shows them that you understand their pain points, and that you can provide a solution. Doing this will help increase your chances of engagement, and make your site more memorable to them.
For more guidance on identifying your target audience, click here.
Web Design Basics - Get Started!
Don't let the pursuit of perfection hold you back from taking action. Start by creating a website that's easy to use, get online, and worry about adding the extra stuff later!
You can then start gathering data, which will help you make important, data-driven decisions.
