In an increasingly digital world, there is an ever-increasing number of websites. Visiting a new and unfamiliar website has become a chore for many internet users, so it is important to make the most of website design. Here are 5 principles of website design and why they are essential for retaining visitors to your website.
- Simplicity: If your website is difficult to understand and navigate then many internet users will opt to leave rather than figure it out. Clearly laying things out and making them intuitive and obvious to find will help engagement tremendously.
- Readability: If information is difficult to gather people will move on. Make sure the important information on your website is both easy to understand, as well as physically easy to read (no fancy fonts or hard to read color combos).
- Mobile: If your website is not optimized for mobile you will alienate a large percentage of potential visitors. If a website is not easily viewable on mobile, then many people would move on rather than go to a computer and check the website again.
- Links: A dead link signals a dead website to many internet users. Make sure every link on your website leads to the intended place and that every dead link has been removed or updated.
- Optimization: This is a difficult one but optimizing code to allow the website to run smoothly is essential. No one likes a slow-loading website, so make sure your website is optimized or use a website builder that is already optimized.
Running a website is not simple because there are so many rules to get the most out of your website. However, these principles should be considered at the start of the website design process to make a great website that users will be happy to visit.
