If you’re running a predominantly online business, or even looking to create a new website for yourself, then having an attention grabbing, easy to navigate website is key. However, you can’t always compete with the ‘Apples’ and ‘Googles’ of this world when it comes to budget so how can you design an up-to-date website whilst being mindful of costs? We’ve broken down our top tips for designing a modern website.
Look at competitors
A good place to start is by looking at competitors. This is where not only can you see what they’re doing well, but also what they’re not doing so well and therefore you can improve upon. This could be a key method of gaining competitive advantage against others in your industry.
You shouldn’t just stop at competitors either.Have a look at other website examples where there’s elements of their website that you like and see if you can base your designs on this.
Wireframes and mock-ups
Next you should start looking at wireframes. This is to get the initial structure in place in terms of which pages you’ll be adding and to give a general idea of what information you’d like within these pages. At this stage it should only be a basic layout with little detail to give you an initial viewing of how the pages could work.
Once you’re happy with the wireframes, it would be worth mocking-up some of the key pages to look as close to the final website as possible. You can use design software such as Photoshop or a website builder for this.
Use a template or a website builder
The days of having to learn extensive code in order to build a website are long gone. Now there are some great platforms out there which can either provide you with an ideal template, or even build the entire website for you. Whatever the nature of your business is, be it from stylish face masks to payday loans, you’re bound to find your ideal template.
For a start, there are some great WordPress templates which you can download for free and some even better ones on websites such as Envato which charge a small monthly subscription. However, to edit these may be tricky for a newcomer.
In that case, a website builder such as Wix, SquareSpace or even Shopify could be ideal for you. Not only do they have dozens of templates to choose from, but they also have a handy drag and drop tool so you can build a modern looking website consisting of the latest features with minimal experience.
Add the final touches – Responsive/SEO friendly
After you have the look and feel sorted for the overall website on a desktop or mobile, you’ll certainly need to think about the reverse. With most industries now finding that the vast majority of their traffic is via a mobile device, many choose to design a mobile-first experience with the bulk of the designs suitable for mobile as a priority, and then adapting to desktop. Lastly, if SEO is important to you, you should also think about optimising your websiteduring the design stage such as ensuring there is rich, meaningful content and that keywords are used appropriately.
Conclusion
Creating a modern-looking website doesn’t need to break the bank these days. The times of always requiring a web developer are now gone with the handy tools available for anyone to create a website from the comfort of their home.
