Three Essentials Every Website NeedsWeb design should be a fairly straightforward process. There are a handful of essential design elements every website needs, yet many people seem to overlook them. A great website design is one that suits the needs of a user while still helping to develop the brand identity of the website. Here are three essentials every website needs.

Simple Layout (and forms)

Cluttered websites with many colors may look good to a designer, but they can be overwhelming for the user. A clean and simple layout that is easy to navigate is much more effective.

One or two accent colors, simple navigation, and easy to use forms for contact and registration are essential. A user who has to work to find what they need, sign up or buy is a user who is more likely to look elsewhere for a solution.

Mobile Friendly Design

More and more of our internet use is taking place on mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets. A mobile version of a website or a design that is responsive to the device used to access the site is a must.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Whether you choose a responsive design or a mobile version of your site, it is essential that you put one of these in place to better serve users who access your site with a mobile device.

Multimedia

There are many other elements that may be considered essential, but nothing compares to multimedia. By integrating pictures and video on your site, you give users a reason to stick around and hopefully continue browsing from page to page.

A large amount of online time is now being spent on images and video. Put them on your site and capture some of that traffic. By integrating multimedia in an engaging way, you are more likely to earn the loyalty of your visitors and become an authority destination in your market.

Search engines also integrate multimedia in the algorithms used to assess the quality of a page on a website.

It is best if you use your own images and video, but if there is nothing you can produce in a timely manner, there are places to go where you can make use of other’s content in a legal way.

For video, that is YouTube. The various stock image websites, as well as Google’s advanced image search can help you find images that are free to use

Think Like Your Visitors

The surefire way to ensure your design is a good one is to think like your users. Gaining insights into what they are looking for will help to guide the design process and show you which essentials you most need on your site.

 

Guest Author Annette Hazard is a freelance writer that has written about technology and business in the past. Currently she is promoting web resellers. You can visit a website hosting provider like Midphase.com to learn more about reseller website hosting

By Techwacky

Editor-in-Chef of TechWacky.com