Technology is becoming increasingly complex and playing a crucial role in our world. Consequently, web engineers and developers are taking over increasingly important roles. In this rapidly evolving digital and technological environment, it’s essential to adhere to web design and development best practices to increase traffic.
Irrespective of the type or size of the project you’re working on, following best practices can reduce errors, conserve time & resources, and ensure that all of your work is delivered to a high standard. This article outlines some web design and development best practices to help your website attract more traffic and retain loyal customers.
What Is Web Design And Development?
Web design and development is an umbrella term used to describe the process of creating a website. A website’s appearance and feel are determined by web design, while its functionality is determined by web development.
While web designers concentrate on the website’s overall aesthetics, web developers work on the operation of those graphics. Since there isn’t a clear distinction between web design and development, the two terms are frequently used interchangeably.
Why Is Web Design And Development Important?
Web design and development play a major role in a website’s SERP rankings. However, their significance extends beyond aiding an SEO strategy. A website is often the face of a business, and its appearance and functioning can have a huge impact on your sales and conversions. Here are some reasons why web design and development are important:
- Your website serves as the initial impression of your company to your users. Based on its layout and design, they’ll make an instant judgment of your company. You will want to leave a positive first impression on your audience when they visit your website.
- Various web design principles and practices influence how you publish content on your website and how search engines crawl and index your website.
- Your website functions similarly to a customer support agent. Your viewers will feel more at home on your page if your website is welcoming, bright, and contemporary.
- People don’t trust websites with poor design. They won’t trust your site if it has a poor design or if the information appears outdated. If you don’t have an up-to-date website, they might think your business is sketchy. As a result, a great way to use web design and development best practices and increase traffic.
Web Design and Development Best Practices:
Best practices refer to a set of industry-accepted standards that provide a framework or a logical course of action to get the intended result. With the use of a framework, web designers and developers can create applications and layouts of high quality and minimize mistakes. Additionally, following best practices can help save significant time since you’ll know what mistakes to avoid and which elements would give the best results.
If you are planning to re-design or launch a new website, hiring experienced designers and developers is the best course of action. Experts and professionals in the field would have the knowledge and industry experience to appropriately implement the best practices. You can also consult a web design company or agency for help. For a general overview, here are some basic best practices to implement:
Focus On Coding: Web Design And Development Best Practices To Increase Traffic
Every line of code you create should serve a specific and necessary function. Keep your writing simple so that future editing and understanding of your code isn’t complicated. Additionally, each code should offer a crucial function to a website or address a particular issue.
It’s also important to understand the benefits of code commenting, which is the practice of adding brief, one-line annotations throughout your code. These annotations simplify why a piece of code functions a certain way or what it is meant to do.
Clear CTAs
Your calls-to-action (CTAs) encourage your visitors to convert, whether by making a purchase, signing up for your newsletters, or scheduling a call or appointment. Your website’s layout should be designed with a focus on CTAs.
CTAs should be visually distinct from the rest of the page by using color, typography, design, and an image. This makes it easy for users to instantly recognize the CTA and perform the desired action.
Easy Navigation
Navigation is a crucial element of well-designed websites. A primary navigation bar (menu bar) that clearly describes what the user will find when they click on a page is the mark of a good website. These checkpoints must be obvious, straightforward, and pertinent to your website. They should also be visually comprehensible.
Additionally, it’s useful to have breadcrumbs on each page that follow the user’s path across the website. This allows users to readily identify where they are and retrace their steps if necessary. A navigation map in the website’s footer where users can browse for keywords and a search bar on the site are also important elements of a good website design and development best practices.
Multi-device Compatibility
Most people use multiple devices to access websites. Mobile devices especially account for the bulk traffic to your website. The screen resolutions and dimensions of devices like smartphones, laptops, and tablets vary. Ensure your data is properly displayed on all devices to guarantee a good user experience.
This is especially crucial for the main features of the website and its control components. To increase the number of users who visit your website, you must have a responsive design.
Simple and Consistent Layout
Large blocks of text frequently make viewers turn away from digital screens. Images are crucial for every website since they visually engage visitors and help balance text. Visuals can also be more powerful because people are frequently moved more by seeing things than reading them.
Any strong visual brand identity includes a consistent color palette. A website must display a consistent color palette to create a clear brand identity. However, a lack of color is just as crucial to the design process as using a consistent color scheme in web design. White space is essential in the margins and spaces between graphics.
Be Careful Integrating social Media Buttons
One of the best ways to effectively promote your business is to use social media marketing as nearly 4 billion people actively use these platforms. Therefore, it is very important to integrate social media buttons on your website so that your visitors can easily follow you on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.
These social media buttons can be quickly integrated into your page layout. You can place them in your header, navigation, footer or anywhere you like. Although this button can drive traffic away from your website, it can still help boost your business because they can follow you on these platforms where you can interact. Leveraging social media can also extend your brand reach to a wider audience through likes, shares, and comments.
On top of that, if they like what they see in your social media profile updates, they are more likely to come back to your website.
Add Email Marketing Elements: Web Design And Development Best Practices To Increase Traffic
Email marketing is just one of the most traditional ways to stay connected in this digital age. It plays an important and interesting role in keeping existing and potential customers engaged. You can provide different types of content, such as promotions, informative posts about your products, how-to articles, and more.
Our map marketing experts can design an effective email marketing plan for your website. This is a useful tool for engaging with your target audience. Research shows that 81% of SMBs use email as their primary method of acquiring customers, while 80% use it to grab the attention of existing customers.
This data proves that email is a powerful counterweight, so you must rely on it to grow and grow your business. To do this effectively, start by updating your website’s email campaign strategy.
Final Thoughts
Your website needs continuous optimization and improvement to benefit both your clients and your business. It is, therefore, essential to conduct regular website audits and implement updates for an enhanced user experience.
