In the digital age, any business that wants to do well must have an online business website. Your business website is like an online store open around the clock and worldwide. Besides that, Whether your goal is to make more people aware of your brand or to sell a product or service, a business website gives potential customers faith in your brand. It shows that you are a legitimate and trustworthy business.
But you need to follow a few essential rules if you want your website to look good and work well.
So, what makes a website’s design suitable? Here are the five key principles for functional business websites that will help you make a site that is easy to use, well-structured, and sure to keep people interested.
Design with the user in mind
User-centered design is a fundamental principle that puts the wants and preferences of your website’s target audience at the center of the design process. To make sure your website is user-friendly, you should:
Understand Your Audience
Start by doing a lot of study on your target audience to learn more about them. This includes who they are, what they like, how they act, and what hurts them. When you know who your website is for, you can make it fit their wants.
User Personas
Based on what you’ve learned, make user profiles. Personas are made-up versions of the people you want to visit your website. They help you understand what users are going through and create with their needs in mind.
User Stories
Make user stories that describe how people usually use your website. These stories show how people move around your site, what they look for, and what they do. This helps make a website’s layout easy to understand.
Easy to Use Navigation
The navigational structure should be clear and easy to understand to make your website more user-friendly:
How a menu works
Set up the menu on your website in a way that makes sense, with sections and labels that are easy to understand. Users should be able to find what they want quickly and without much trouble.
The same layout
Keep the style of each web page the same. Common parts of a website, like headers, footers, and navigation buttons, should always be in the same place so that users know what to expect.
Testing on users
Usability testing should be done regularly with real users to find any problems. Use user input to make changes and improve the user experience.
Mobile Responsiveness
With so many mobile devices on the market, your website must be responsive:
Seamless Layout
Make a layout that flows and adjusts to different screen sizes, from phones to tablets to computers. This ensures your material is easy to find and looks good on any device.
Mobile-Friendly Features
User interface features should be better for touchscreens and screens that are smaller. It should be easy to tap buttons and links, and you shouldn’t have to zoom in to read words.
Testing on different gadgets
Test your website on various devices and browsers to ensure it works well on all of them and gives people a pleasant experience. This can be done with the help of tools like flexible design testing tools and browser emulators.
Content Quality
Providing Value and Being Useful For a website to draw and keep visitors, it must have high-quality, relevant content:
Useful information
Give your viewers content that meets their needs and interests. This can include product details, helpful blog posts, customer reviews, and how to get in touch.
Updates often
Update your material often to keep it fresh and exciting. Your website’s reputation can be hurt by having information that needs to be updated.
Appeal to the eye
Use pictures, videos, and infographics to make your material more interesting. Ensure the images are clear and add something to the user’s experience.
Fast Loading
Users may get frustrated and leave when a website loads too long. Make sure your site loads fast by:
Compressing an image
Compressing pictures without losing quality is an excellent way to optimize them. Smaller picture files load faster and help make the user experience more pleasant.
Code That Works
Write precise and efficient code to reduce unnecessary server requests and reduce the time it takes to show. Using methods like minification and compression can help you clean up your codebase.
The Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)
Use CDNs to spread website information across many servers around the world. CDNs store material closer to where users are, which cuts down on latency and speeds up page loads.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Using SEO best practices, Your website will position itself higher in search engine results, bringing in more organic traffic and making it more visible on search engines.
Research on Keywords
Find keywords and phrases that are important to your content and business. Use these keywords in your material’s titles, headings, and body text.
Good backlinks
Build a network of backlinks from good websites that are of high quality.
Regular Content Updates
Update your website often with new, helpful information. This interests people and shows search engines that your site is active and essential.
One more thing…
Follow the five principles of a functional business website design listed above. You can make a good-looking website that also works well.
What if you want to make a website that looks good and gets people’s attention, but you need to know how? That’s where we come in. At Elior, we help people make websites. Now is the time to tell us about your project or set up a call with us if you want to make a great website.