There may be nothing more critical to a business than its website in today’s digital-centric world. Making a great first impression to prospective customers or clients is crucial, and a brilliant website design will go a long way in doing just that. However, it is a big challenge to correctly develop your “virtual front door” that truly reflects what your business is all about. 

 

To help your business get started, we put together this list of website design ideas and some great examples from across the web. Let’s make that fantastic first impression and optimize your business with these website design ideas. 

 

Staying true to the brand

This one may sound obvious, but staying true to the brand is a focal point of any great website. Brand focus really boils down to two components. One, is being consistent in creating your brand identity. It should be absolutely clear from the homepage what exactly your business is. Everything from the logo down to your tagline should all be transparent to what product or service you are providing. 

 

The second prong in staying true to the brand is knowing your target audience. If you completely understand who will be flocking to your website, you can perfectly craft the space to showcase what your customers are looking for. Using the appropriate copy and images is very important when speaking to your audience. 

 

Copy and content are crucial

 

 

Speaking of which, the copy and content on your website are crucial to nail perfectly. How much or how little copy is on your website is dependent on the purpose behind your site.

 

If you are an e-commerce business selling products directly on the site, you won’t need much detailed written copy. The products should be the focal point, and simply using headlines and small blurbs to guide your customers along is the way to go. 

 

If you are providing a service, such as a law firm, you should be utilizing more detail in the copy on the website. Providing enough information about the different types of legal services, the areas you serve, and details about the firm members are all ways to keep those potential clients on the page.

 

Having a blog page for your website is another way to engage your visitors. A great blog with entertaining and informative content is a fantastic way to reel in and keep people on your website. A mixture of higher-level content (entertaining, light reads) and lower-level content (directly about business) is an excellent strategy for attracting new and returning visitors. 

 

Stand out with the right Color Scheme

You have all this great content on your website. Now you must make it look appealing with a solid color scheme. The easier the site is to look at, the longer visitors will stay on the site. 

 

Using neutral colors is a way to create a relaxing virtual space naturally. Different tones of colors like gray, cream, and beige as the background would allow the brighter foreground aspects of the site to stand out. Of course, if your business has a distinct color scheme, you should be incorporating those colors as much as you can. 

 

Tell a Story with Visuals  

Continuing on the visual aspect of the website design, the images, graphics, and animations should be a main storyteller for your site. Using the visuals that really grab people’s attention can turn an ordinary website into an extraordinary one. Professional photography, digital graphics, hand-drawn illustrations, vibrant animations, and abstract artwork are all types of imagery to utilize. 

 

If you are an e-commerce brand selling a product, getting professionally done photos and videos of your products to showcase on your website is a great place to start. These images will create an overall brand confirmation for the site viewer, showing that your business is the real deal. 

 

User Experience 

The user experience on any great website combines everything mentioned above. Can people find your blog efficiently? Does the light color of a headline make sense on the neutral background? Does your site have all these pop-ups that trigger and get in the way of navigating around? These are the types of things that create a great user experience. If all these pieces fit together seamlessly, your website will keep people on it and have more to follow in the process.

 

Mobile capability 

An important point to hit on regarding websites is not forgetting about mobile devices. Last year, mobile devices accounted for approximately half of all website traffic. That means the mobile user experience should be just as smooth as the desktop version of your site. Make sure aspects like images and content scale correctly on the mobile version of the website. 

 

Now, you know where to get started in the online space for your business. Take these website design ideas and begin to map out your virtual storefront. Remember, stay here with Pepper Gang for more ways to optimize your business!