When creating a website, there are certain structural elements you have to think about before a website is a fully customer-centric experience. A properly designed layout should be able to convey all of these elements together. There are multiple popular areas that are found in most websites online today. Let’s take a look at some of these structures and how to apply them to your web design.
Structural Elements
There are various buttons that should lead to different pages, at the heart of this should be the menu for navigation. These links should be clickable and centrally located as well. This is an important first step for easy access all the way around. A website header that lists your business or site name should be prevalent on almost every page. It usually comes with a high quality image or logo that contains the main design feature. Taking time on making or hiring a graphic designer to make the logo as well as using a nice font will go a long way.
This should be a given, but content is king when creating a website. It is the information that everyone is there to see and should be focused around one central topic. Content is spread out through the different pages of the website and will include a description of the company, contact information, FAQ and details about products.
Other elements of a website include sidebar columns that provide other navigational links. Sometimes they can be filled with non-intrusive advertisements for revenue or search boxes to go through the indexed website. This is also a good place to put social media links outwards. Finally, the bottom should have the website footer that provides a link to the privacy policy, terms of use, and copyright. Sometimes this can include social media as well.
Curated Design
Over the years, developers and designers have created layouts and design practices that have become an industry standard. Most people think of website design as synonymous with graphic layout. There’s a lot more to design than to just how it looks. That is a fundamental first element of designing a website, but is only the first foray into web design.
There are sources and companies out there that specialize in demand and what constitutes a healthy website after it’s been created. For example, thinking about things like SEO and more customer engagement is often a topic that comes up after a website has been developed.
Instead of going it alone in web design or optimization, which is foreign to many, it’s best to look into getting a dedicated resource. Look online from Poet.co/poet-media where they offer a wide range of digital marketing tools. Adding another tool like this can free up some time on worrying about the small details and instead growing the business so that the website can shine even more and offer better interaction and growth.
Looking at Design Differently
Looking back at the website as more than just a graphic layout is a great first step. Currently, it’s intelligent to think about the website in a more constructive manner that includes thinking about its architecture. Designing the website from the ground up and looking at how everything is interconnected and supports each other is a sound design principle.
The fundamental elements of design are just the base for a strong user interface. While websites that might have been more free form can have some success in the past, this baseline should be thought of as the foundation. External sources that can help you are the builders as you watch from above as the chief architect. You’ll employ all kinds of professionals whilst creating this online building, block by block.
Additional Tools
On top of a strong structure comes the added aspects of a website that make it more fulfilling and interactive. Individual registration and subscription based initiatives helps you know your website’s customers. This could be in the form of a member based website, e-newsletter, and comments on a blog page.
Being able to display your products is an essential step in offering more about your business. If it’s possible to and likely to gain some traction then offer an ecommerce-dedicated page for the customer. Always update a website, as no one likes the idea of stagnancy and it will limit your credibility as a site and business. Running promotions and various optimization tweaks will keep the website updated and relevant. Using all of these elements and tools your website will glow and cater to the customer.
Madeleine Law is a website designer who also has graphic design and coding skills up her sleeve meaning she rarely has to outsource any work. She is still sometimes shocked at the poor sites which are online with that very 1995 feel and wants to educate business owners on what a good website should have, and should not have!
