15 Website Design Tips in London: How to Create an Effective, Growth-Driving Business Website

Once upon a time, businesses could survive (and frequently thrive) solely on foot traffic to their physical location. Even more received the majority of their clients through referrals. It may not have been sufficient to land them on the cover of Forbes, but it was sufficient for a comfortable existence.

Then the Internet appeared, and website design became commonplace. Nothing special. A few images with basic information about what you do and how to contact you.

Then, a well-known global pandemic altered the situation even further. What was once possible only from an office is now possible from anywhere with an internet connection. Meetings were replaced by Zoom calls. Grocery shopping was replaced by online orders with expedited delivery. What was once done out of necessity is now a way of life.

With the sole goal to deliver original and quality services, Markustudio has grown rapidly, a website design manchester providing web design, logo branding, print, SEO and digital design services. If you need help creating a style guide or staying consistent with your branding, our team of experts is here to assist you.

In this context, your website serves as your business card. It is typically your opportunity to make a first impression. Your marketing campaign’s pièce de résistance. Therefore, you cannot simply throw together some content and place it on a pretty background, especially in an age where so much business is conducted online.

Why Your Business Should Have a Website

You should have a business website for the same reason that you use Amazon, Uber, and AirBnB for your personal needs. People now interact in person only rarely. They seek answers online, arrange meetings online, and purchase goods online.

In addition, people conduct research online prior to making a purchase in order to find solutions for whatever ailment they are experiencing. And when your target audience searches Google for your products or services, you absolutely must appear in the search engine results pages (SERPs). And the only way this is possible is if you have a high-quality business website that provides valuable content and adheres to search engine optimization (SEO) best practices.

Why Web Design Strategies Matter

In today’s digital world, designing a successful website requires extensive brainstorming, planning, and testing. This is essential, as competition is intense. Instead of writing solely about what your company does, you must conduct market research. Customize content to the preferences of your buyer persona. Also consider whether you are designing a B2B or B2C website.

Additionally, you should direct visitors through their buyer’s journey. They are beginning to conduct preliminary research. You desire to be the go-to industry expert. Are they weighing their options? You wish to make this as simple as possible for them. Are they prepared to purchase? By golly! You must be foremost in their minds when they pull out their credit card. And for this to occur, you must be extremely strategic.

However, what is the best course of action? Should you build it internally or hire a design firm? What are the best design practices and recommendations? Furthermore, do you actually require one in the first place? What if you’re one of those individuals who believes that attending weekly networking events is enough to make the phone ring?

Common Errors in Website Design

With the advent of website builders, website creation has become easier, and more businesses are opting to create their own sites. However, designing an effective website is not as simple as it may appear, and it can be a costly endeavor when you factor in the cost of website redesigns if it fails to achieve the desired results.

There are numerous factors that will determine the success or failure of your website in generating leads, resolving issues, boosting revenue, and enhancing your bottom line.

Here are several website design errors you must avoid at all costs:

Employing a Website Template That Does Not Fit Your Organization’s Image.

Don’t choose a website design based solely on the website template you find to be the most aesthetically pleasing. It is important to choose one that not only complements your design style and color scheme, but also complements your company’s image.

Using a template that makes your website look like a funeral home, for instance, is probably not an appropriate website design if you offer event planning services and promise customers fun, unforgettable parties. Alternatively, if you’re selling digital products such as e-books or video tutorials, templates with an artistic bent will likely serve your business better.

No Clear Understanding of Who Visits Your Website

You must have a solid understanding of your website’s visitors in order to design the site to meet their needs and desires. You should have some background information on these website visitors, such as their age range, level of education, income range, the website pages that interest them, their social media usage, their purchasing habits, etc. Only then can you design web pages that appeal to them effectively.

Including Images Without Value on Website Pages

Many website owners make the error of uploading low-resolution images because they believe it is irrelevant. In reality, this can be detrimental to the performance of your website if it causes it to load more slowly. In fact, it can cause users to become impatient and instead visit a competitor’s website.

Compress images to ensure quick page loads. Nothing should exceed 1MB in size. Additionally, save them in JPEG format, which is quicker to load than PNG. And do not add images for the sake of adding them. Choose them with a specific objective in mind, such as showcasing product features, company culture, or anything else pertinent to your business.

In addition to avoiding these common pitfalls, you should also implement best practices for website design.

15 Best Practices and Web Design Tips for Business Websites

While most businesses attempt to distinguish themselves from the competition by developing a unique website, there are a few elements that should be implemented universally.

1. Determine Your Budget

A wide range of costs are associated with designing a business website. It will depend entirely on your needs: Will you use templates or build a site from scratch? Other factors to consider include the number of pages, the interactivity of the content, the functionality of the site, and whether or not eCommerce is desired.

Create a comprehensive list of all the features your website should have, and then determine whether your budget is adequate. If you do, that’s fantastic. If you do not, you should still discuss your needs with web designers and developers in order to identify viable alternatives. Regardless of your budget, you should not avoid designing a website. Utilize what you have.

2. Purchase a Domain Name

Domain names are the names of websites (aka your web address). Whether this is an exact match for your business name or you’ve gotten creative, purchasing it will prevent others from using it. It is available for purchase from any domain name registrar (GoDaddy, BlueHost, Network Solutions, DreamHost, HostGator, and Domain are some popular ones). Take the time to investigate all costs (including upsells and hidden fees) and the registrar’s ease of use and customer service before selecting one.

3. Acquire an SSL Certificate.

Your website’s security should inspire confidence in all of its visitors. This is especially true for landing pages and forms that request full names and contact information, as well as eCommerce pages that require credit card numbers and mailing addresses.

A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate protects online transactions by encrypting data at rest and in motion. This prevents third parties from intercepting or gaining access to user data.

4. Develop Wireframes

There are numerous web designers who do not use wireframes. However, they typically waste a great deal of time communicating between the design, content, and development teams. Investing in a wireframing tool (or simply sketching them in a notebook) will help everyone working on the website visualize each page’s layout, thereby accelerating the development process.

5. Plan Layout for Optimal User Experience

User experience (UX) is of paramount importance. This refers to the experience a website visitor has while interacting with your site. This could range from elation at having discovered a solution to their pain points to annoyance at the navigation. Each page of your website should be created with the intention of retaining visitors as they progress through the sales funnel.

6. Select a Website Creator

If you’re a startup with a very small (or nonexistent) budget, or if you want a simple website with few features, you can get by with the majority of website builders. However, if you want an attractive website that allows you to design it based on a long list of specifications, WordPress and HubSpot are likely your only options. Even within these two categories, you’ll need to consider additional factors, such as whether you’ll need to install third-party plugins to accomplish your goals or whether the majority of these tools are already included in the platform.

7. Select a Template

Using pre-built website templates makes it much simpler to create a website. Typically, website builder platforms include a template library from which you can select a design that matches your brand identity. Some content management systems (CMS), such as our favorite, HubSpot, include user-friendly features, such as drag-and-drop and call-to-action generators.

8. Optimize for Mobile Devices

Most people access the Internet through their smartphones. Occasionally, they will use tablets, but smartphones are where it’s at. They are practical and always within reach. Therefore, it is essential that your website looks good and functions well on smaller screens. Failure to do so will only irritate folks. They won’t put their phones back in their pockets and wait until they’re near a desktop computer to visit your website. They will simply purchase from your competition.

9. Conduct Research on Keywords

I will elaborate on keyword research in the section on SEO best practices that follows. However, regardless of how great your content is, you should always include the keywords and phrases that your target audience enters into search engines. If not, they will never find you.

10. Incorporate Powerful Calls to Action

The purpose of calls to action is to persuade website visitors to take the desired action. Although this may sound Machiavellian, it is actually a simple exchange. Ultimately, you offer something that web users desire and would benefit from. Because of this, they are on your website.

When designing your CTA buttons, use action-oriented language (for example,). Download Free Ebook or Join Our Webinar is much more effective than Submit. You should also specify what will occur when the user clicks the button.

11. Editing Content

If your audience is educated, they will notice grammatical errors. And listen, we all make errors, forget things occasionally, and make the occasional typo. This is exactly why you should proofread your content before publishing it. It’s even better to have a second pair of eyes review it to catch any errors you may have overlooked. When attempting to convey your professionalism, you should avoid appearing careless.

12. Implement SEO Best Practices

SEO is concerned with a great deal more than just keywords. There are on-page and off-page factors that influence your likelihood of ranking well in search engine results pages. Specific items to include are described in greater detail further down this blog post; however, no list of web design best practices would be complete without this component.

13. Website Functionality Evaluation

Before launching your website, you must ensure (and double-check) that everything functions as intended. This includes, among other things, ensuring that every video plays, every call-to-action button directs users to where you intended, that click-to-call phone numbers function, and that form submissions arrive in your inbox. Examine everything.

14. Perform Post-Launch Evaluations

You’ll also need to guarantee that everything functions properly after your website goes online. In addition, you should test several versions of site elements to determine which ones generate the most engagement (e.g. A/B testing of homepage hero images, CTA buttons, and landing page formats). Focus on one aspect at a time (e.g., color, text, size, format, etc.) so that you can determine precisely what is generating the greatest results.

15. Advertise Your Site

Once your website is live, shout it from the rooftops! Promote it on your social media channels, marketing emails, newsletters, and business cards, as well as anyplace else prospective customers may encounter you. You may also propose creating a guest blog post to other firms in order to obtain backlinks to your site. This broadens your audience reach and improves your SEO.