Outstanding Website Design: A Straightforward Definition

If you’ve ever spent any time digging in the weeds of outstanding website design, you may have come to the conclusion that it’s much more complicated than you might think at first glance. It seems easy enough: the design of a website. The truth is, there’s much more to this topic than meets the eye.

That’s what we’ll be taking a look at today. We’ll get into the nitty-gritty of outstanding website design: what it means, how user experience comes into play, how this affects search engines and your ranking, and more. We’ll also discuss best practices that come along with website design that makes a difference.

What is Outstanding Website Design?

At Vervology, we group website design into what we call “creative services.” This is our definition:

Creativity expressed; impactful design; animation; imagery; code and functionality; focusing on the user experience and the positive outcomes to meet your online goals.

Outstanding website design means that a website is usable and useful for the largest audience possible. It is pleasing to look at, but also mapped out in a way that makes sense to users. It means taking your audience into account along every step of the way, considering what they would want to see and how to provide them with the most useful information, while also staying true to your brand.

Let’s break this down even further.

User Experience and Outstanding Website Design

When a designer begins putting a website together, much of their considerations will go toward the audience base that will be using the site daily. How can the site be laid out in such a way that people will be able to navigate and find what they want with ease? And, at the same time, what tactics can we employ to keep people engaged on the site and continuously coming back for more?

A huge aspect that also comes into play here is accessibility. Will someone who is using the website on a keyboard instead of a mouse be able to navigate as smoothly? What if someone is viewing the website outside where the glare of the sun is an issue? What color combinations will make text easiest to read for every person? It’s essential to devote significant time and consideration at the very beginning of a project toward answering these questions. Once a project gets to a certain point in development and launch, it can be hard to make the changes necessary to be WCAG compliant.

When designing for user experience, it’s also incredibly important to think about mobile optimization. About half of internet traffic is made up of people using smartphones and other mobile devices. Therefore, if your site is hard to view or use on a phone, many people will go to a competitor site instead.

The big takeaway with user experience and website design is that you have to anticipate your audience’s needs before it’s too late. Most people won’t file a complaint. They’ll simply take their business to a website that better suits what they’re looking for.

Search Engine Optimization and Ranking

Following along the same vein as the previous section, a good user experience is what helps make a design successful, and vice versa. Successful user experience (and, by extension, outstanding website design) is what helps boost your rankings in search engines.

The bots that determine how rankings should stack up take load times, outdated code, readable text, and great content into consideration when deciding how your site should rank. Therefore, these are all things you need to be paying attention to in order to help boost your scores.

The crawlers that index your site are trying to see if it is reliable and easy for people to use. So, if the site is hard for them to index, it most likely will not rank as well. Some ways that you can make it easier for them is to avoid using JavaScript and Flash, have plenty of high-quality images, and make sure your layout is intuitive.

For a more extensive guide of making your site better for bots to index, The Daily Egg is a great resource.

Aesthetics and Eye-Catching Design

Yes, having an outstanding website design matters in terms of technicalities. However, the shear aesthetics are also extremely important online, too. If a website looks like it’s been carefully and intentionally designed with colors, images, and content that properly reflect the business’s brand, a person is more likely to trust that site. It’s seen as more credible and, by extension, safe to use.

In fact, 38% of people will stop engaging with your website if they find the design unappealing. Without substantial knowledge of what a professional website should look like, you may be sending some clear messages to users that your business isn’t legitimate — even if it is.

Working With a Third Party to Achieve Outstanding Website Design

For this reason, it may be your best option to work with a third party in order to achieve the proper website design for your brand and audience. At Vervology, we know that deciding to partner with an outside source and trusting them with the brand you built can be intimidating. But, here’s what you can expect if you do decide to take that step.

Anyone designing your website for you should have a clear understanding of your brand, including assets (like colors and fonts), but also things like your business values and goals. A representative of the third party should have at least one conversation with you regarding what you hope to achieve with your new website in order to make sure everyone is on the same page.

As time goes on, you will be asked to share branding information, like fonts, colors, designs, images, and content. The designer will take these assets and use them in your new website so that they are properly reflecting your business, as well as following best practices.

You will then be taken on a site walk-through so that the designer can show you the new site, and you can raise any questions and concerns, as well as request edits.

To Conclude

Achieving an outstanding website design takes a great amount of skill, knowledge, and time. It’s not a one-off solution, but needs to be continuously revisited and redeveloped over time so that your content can stay relevant and updated.

At Vervology, we don’t just design you a website and leave you to handle the rest. We partner with you so that we’re there whenever you need an update, have an edit request, or require some site maintenance. If you’re interested in taking your site’s design to the next level, contact us. We’d love to help out.