We all know this process - we do a search on Google, find the ideal website, navigate through their system and purchase a product or find the information we need. It is quick, full of useful information, user friendly and streamlined. But what is it that makes these sites really work, easy to find and so user friendly? We know the ones we like, so how do we ensure our own is as good if not better?
Below is a list of essential web design best practices which will help make the difference between a successful or a failing website:
SEO - Being found by the right people
Unfortunately this can be a bit of an afterthought in many web design projects when it should be right at the start of any project.
Every day there are thousands of people on the net searching for what you do. Using a very sophisticated algorithm, the search engines will rank your website for these different search phrases or 'keywords'. Understanding which key phrases to target and how much business they will generate is our job. We will conduct thorough research of these keywords and in conjunction with you, define the niche areas we will optimise your website for. This has the potential to bring a stream of new customers to your website.
We will be very honest and realistic with you about what phrases you will be able to compete, depending on your budget. Always at the centre of our thought process is how we will get the most bang for your buck.
Keyword Research
Choice of the search term to rank for is central to your success. If it is too competitive, it will take a long time to rank. Less competitive and you are more likely to reach the first page of the search engines easily. But will this bring you sufficient traffic? Selecting the right keywords to rank for is essential.
A company like ours could choose the word "web design" to rank for, but in reality that would not bring them the right profile of customers, and achieving a ranking on a national phrase might be difficult. A local phrase like "web design cornwall" might be a much better choice.
Content Creation / Content Marketing
Is your page better than your competitors? Are you keeping your website fresh with new content to tempt the google bot back regularly? Is your content easy to read and attractively laidout? These are essential factors for both users and search engines and will help maintain your page ranking. This content can then be used for your email markting and social media strategy through a comprehensive content marketing plan.
This content needs to be suitable for your audience, written by people (not AI) for people! Google’s recent ‘Helpful Content Update’ has rewarded exactly that, in their own words:
"Our "helpful content update".....will better surface original, helpful content made by people for people rather than content made primarily to gain search traffic. It's part of a broad effort to show more unique, authentic info in results"
There are a number of ways you can ensure your content is hitting the right spot, both for your audience and for Google. Google has created an acronym called E-E-A-T, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness which helps guide us content creators and SEO’s so we can really demonstrate all those key factors. We can show you how to do this regularly when we work with you on content marketing strategy.
Link Building
Links to your site act as votes of popularity, so the more you have (and the better quality they are), the higher your site will rank. Link building typically happens after the design phase, however we include it here for the sake of completeness. If your web design plan doesn't factor in link building then the site will never attract many visitors. But you must ensure they are relevant and of good quality, as these factors are both more important than quantity. Google is also likely to penalise your site if it has too many poor quality links from irrelevant sites.
There are a numerous other technical aspects to SEO that need to be implemented on your website to succeed. Typcially we work with clients ongoing during an SEO campaign to ensure their website succeeds and keeps up to date with all the latest Google algorithm changes.
CTAs - Converting Visitors into Customers
This is another huge subject, but if we were to look at a few of the key points they would be:
First Impressions
Take a step back and look at your site objectively (or ask a friend, or run an audit with Channel). You have about one second to be interesting enough to keep the visitor on the page. What do they see straight away? Is your headline instanly and clearly communicating your message? If you don't have a clear text headline, or it does not contain what the user wants in an attractive format, they will be gone. If the page takes too long to load they will be gone. First impression are so important.
Don't distract your visitors
Make the page easy to read with no bewildering backgrounds, fonts, moving messages, irrelevant links and so on. Keep everyone on the page!
Call to actions
Each page should have its own call to action, whether it is a "buy now" button, a sign up form, a "contact us for more information" or just a "read more" link. Make it clear and easy to follow and try and give an interesting and compelling reason to do so. The old salesman's adage is "don't be afraid to ask for the sale". Neither should your web page be.
Credibility
A million people on the web are trying to sell, scam and generally use any means to get hold of your cash. Why should you be any different? A good way to demonstrate your credibility is with the style and manner of your page, the quality of what you write. If it's really useful and interesting then you demonstrate your value to the visitor. If it's just a sales pitch, perhaps they'll run off pretty fast. Testimonials are another great way to establish your credibility - ideally you should use real people with real names and faces as stock photography can be off putting. This come back to Google's E-E-A-T acronym discussed in content creation above, a really good guide to ensure you create credibilty online.
A/B Testing
Whilst guidelines and best practice is the starting point, every industry and business is different. If you are not sure what works, then test, test and test more! A - B testing is the best way to go with this and will give you some really effective insights into what works in your market place.
Design Process
Good website design is much more than having an attractive website. It is important to have a customer centric approach, so before any design is started, you need ot understand your customer behaviour, what they want to do and where they want to go. How does this fit in with your business goals? This should all feed into the design process and with continual feedback to ensure you stay on track with your goals.
Alongside this you will need to consider your overal brand. Logos, images and a co-ordinated page that matches your brochure and other corporate documentation. Whilst this is extremely important, and if your intention is to build a brand that will be recognised then this must be pursued, but you should never lose sight of all of the other intentions behind building your website or the other priorities that make up any web design project.
Invite them back
Another old sales adage - "It takes 8-10 visits to close the typical sale"
Email Marketing
How then do you think your website will close a sale after only one visit? If you want to convert your visitors to customers you will have to engage with them at a much deeper level, which you can only do if you invite them back. So you need to capture their details, which they will be happy to hand over if you can offer them something sufficiently interesting and compelling. Traditionally, this would involve capturing the email address and adding it to your subscriber list for future high quality email marketing. Done well, you should continue to deliver quality information of the type they first came looking for, until you become their natural first port of call for information on the topic. Once you've achieved this you should have established a relationship of trust, perhaps without ever having spoken or met. The step to their buying from you is then only a small one.
Social Media
Another good way to engage with your existing and potential customers is through social media. Ensure your social media platforms are clearly visible on your website, inviting your visitor to follow you and join in on the conversation. It can be more difficult to target your message in the way with email marketing and can be time consuming to do it well, but still an important arsenal in your tool box or communicating to your audience.
While email marketing or social networking do not have to be part of the web design process in the strictest sense, if you have not factored them it is unlikely that you will achieve the best possible results from your site. It should be part of your overall web marketing strategy.
Other Areas
During the design process with Channel, we will talk you through and guide you on a number of other key areas including:
- Responsive and mobile friendly design
- Navigation best practice
- Use of recognisable icons eg. shopping carts, social media links
- Accessible design
- Website security
- Information hierarchy
To find out more about our web design process please contact us for a no obligation chat.
This article was first written in 2009 and updated in 2025
