Web Design for 2021: Is Your Website Effective?

Every year, you hear about new web design trends growing in popularity, promising to make your site more engaging and innovative. Each year these trends shift and change as technology advances. Web development styles that were once innovative last year may feel overused and tired today.

No longer can you toss a few webpages on the internet and call it a day. Your website plays an integral role in your business. It’s often the first connection prospective customers make with your business. They'll also learn whether your products and services are the right fit for their needs.

A slow website with outdated web design styles and layouts will deter prospective clients regardless of how great your products and services may be. A well-designed website shows the credibility and quality of your business.

Is your website effective? Here are the web design secrets you need to know for 2021.

Effective Websites are Fast

The average site visitor expects a website to load in less than 2 seconds. The load time of your website affects the user experience and your site’s SEO (search engine optimization).

Do you want to boost your ranking and make more conversions on your site? Then you must include optimizing your website for speed to your web design plan.

There are many ways to optimize your website for faster loading. A few tried and true methods include compressing images and videos, adding optimization plugins, and minimizing HTML requests. A web design and development agency has the skills to ensure your website loads as fast as possible.

Mobile-Friendly Design

Have you checked to see if your website is really mobile friendly? Pick up your mobile phone or tablet, navigate to your website, and look. Pay attention to how the elements, type, and aesthetics look and feel on the smaller screen.

If any elements feel too big, too small, awkward, or cramped, your website isn’t mobile-friendly. A big part of 2021 is creating an accessible and mobile-friendly web design.

Today, about 51% of web traffic comes from smart phone users. You can potentially double your website’s traffic simply by making it mobile-friendly!

To make your website mobile-friendly you can create a mobile version based on your current site or redo your entire site for responsive design. Some companies are creating mobile-friendly apps for their businesses. Design agencies offering web design services for small businesses will be able to help you.

Make Navigation Intuitive

Having a unique style for your web design is a great way to improve user engagement and make your site stand out from your competitors'. When it comes to navigation, however, it’s best to stick to what’s familiar.

When site visitors arrive at a website they already have an expectation as to where navigation tools should be. Good web design means a visitor can instinctively navigate from page-to-page to find quickly what they’re looking for. Websites that use navigation that’s too different and unique can confuse and frustrate site visitors.

As you redesign your website, follow existing navigation trends and rules. Doing so will make your site more user friendly and help boost your SEO rankings.

Follow a Grid Structure

The look of a clean, balanced, and well-organized website makes it feel credible and trustworthy. Viewers will get the sense that your company takes pride in how it presents itself and cares about its products.

Using a defined grid structure when designing your site will offer balance and even spacing between elements. A grid structure doesn’t mean your web design needs to feel conservative or unoriginal. Think of them as a way to keep a sense of order and balance with your creative designs.

The most popular grid structures are the 12-column and 4-column grids. Both grids work equally well but your web designer may have a preference for one over the other.

Minimalist Web Design

What web design styles are driving engagement with site visitors? When it comes to the looks of your website, a minimalist layout is trending for 2021.

In the recent past, websites would be feature-rich and full of include complex imagery. Designers and businesses believed this was what caught visitors’ attention.

A clean minimalist layout, however, improves user experience and navigation while also engaging the user. Other benefits include faster site loading times, less maintenance, and more focus on the important aspects of your site.

Abstract Aesthetics

Complement your site’s minimalist layout with abstract imagery. This style of design is making websites feel alive with energy and emotion.

Combining simple abstract shapes such as geometric circles, squares, and lines into larger compositions, creates a sense of feeling. These compositions are replacing classic stock photos on websites as they are more engaging and emotional.

Comfortable Colors

The use of color plays a huge role in how a website feels. Today, businesses in all industries are striving to create sites that exude a feeling. For some that may be warm and welcoming while others may prefer clean and futuristic.

Regardless of the emotion you want to relay, you must use comfortable colors. This means using color schemes that are easier on the viewers’ eyes.

Consider using softer color palettes such as pastel blues, warm greens, pale pinks, and light browns. These colors offer a feeling of calmness and comfort. As with any color palette, make sure there’s enough contrast between the background and text to maintain content legibility.

Keep Your Brand Consistent

Your website is a branch of your business. Therefore it needs to reflect that by having the same branding as your business and other marketing materials. Brand consistency gives your business identity and helps site visitors recognize your brand when they see it.

Consistent branding typically starts by using the same logo. From there, you should also use the same colors, graphics, and typography that you use in your company’s branding and marketing collateral. Check your website and make sure it matches the branding found in the rest of your business.

Web Development that Works

2021 is all about creating user-friendly web design and following web development best-practices. Following these tips will allow your website to offer a positive user experience that’s engaging and unique. From there, it will improve SEO and grow conversions.

Do you have questions on how to improve your website? Let’s connect! We’ll help your with any of your website, branding, and marketing needs.

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