Bad web design is one of the biggest reasons that customers click away from your website.

When they leave your site after only a few seconds, and without taking any kind of action, what’s known as your site’s “dwell time” decreases.

This means that Google and search engines don’t think that your website has any useful information.

As a result, you’ll fall in the search engine rankings.

As you can see, bad design can cost you.

In this post, we’ll tell you about seven of the web design best practices that your brand can’t afford to live without.

Then, we’ll let you know where you can connect with the latest website design news and professional design services.

1. Try a Chat Bot

Something that all cool interactive websites have in common?

Robots.

No, we’re not talking about taking your website into the space age.

Instead, we mean the recent rise in chatbot technology.

This helps to more quickly guide your website visitors through your natural sales funnel. It also helps them to find exactly what they’re looking for on your site.

You should think of these chatbots as something like digital assistants. They can offer advice, connect them to products, and even collect their contact information.

It’s important that you think of them as the digital version of an in-store assistant. Instead of telling your customers which aisle of your store to visit, these bots guide them to the perfect internal pages of your website.

It’s efficient, fun, and allows customers to find discover new products on your website.

You might be surprised by just how much installing a chatbot on your website improves your overall rates of conversion. Plus, they’re just neat!

2. Keep Things Simple

It might sound counter-intuitive, but sometimes, basic website design is your best bet.

First of all, it’s easier to read and make sense of. But it also suggests to site visitors that your brand is strong enough to stand on its own. You don’t need things like animation or pop-up ads to do the work for you.

Instead, you already have a reputation.

3. Focus on Branded Design

Whether you’re choosing a background color or coming up with images to include on your site, make sure that branding is the central focus of your website design.

This means that your site’s design should include things like your company colors, your logo, and even links to your social media profiles.

Even the content and the language you use should be a reflection of your brand. Choose pictures, videos, and even blog content that all directly relates to your brand.

4. Have your own Typography

Are you looking for basic website design tips that can help you to increase your brand recognition?

If so, you need to consider the font that you use on your website.

First of all, the right font can help you to make a quick connection with your target market. It can appeal to a millennial market or a senior one based on color, design, and even size.

You should always make legibility your priority, of course.

If you really want to stand out, however, consider having your own font created for you. This way, you can set yourself apart from the competition. Use it on all your promotional materials, whether online or in print, to create a unique and recognizable brand.

5. Don’t Neglect Site Security

Did you know that over 30,000 websites are hacked every single day?

Bad web design can actually make it easier for hackers.

This is why you need to use web design best practices that put security at the forefront. Use HTTPS, frequently change your site administration practices, and always ensure that you crawl through your visitors to look for suspicious activity.

You may even consider getting professional cloud security and IT assistance to help to keep your clients’ sensitive data and information safe.

6. Make it Easy to Navigate

If your site visitors can’t find what they need quickly on your site, they’ll likely just head over to your competitors.

This means that you’ll fall in the search engine rankings because Google takes this to mean your website doesn’t offer helpful and relevant information to searchers.

To increase your ease of navigation, ensure that you have clear menu options — don’t opt for endless scrolling design. Also, include your contact information on every internal page of your website.

Finally, categorize your blog posts by topic, so that users can quickly find a specific post or learn more about a subject.

7. Is it Mobile-Friendly?

So far in this post, we’ve focused mainly on the visual web design best practices you need to pay attention to.

However, there are a few more technical things you need to keep in mind.

One of the most crucial?

Mobile-friendliness — especially since now, Google’s indexing strategy is mobile-first.

Get rid of autoplay features, oversized image files, and pop-up ads. Also, consider creating a separate mobile version of your site. Ensure that it loads quickly using this speed checker tool.

Finally, make sure that your buttons and menu options are easy to click on smaller screens. Yes, sometimes good web design really is that simple!

Which of These Web Design Best Practices will you Try?

We hope that this post has helped you to understand more about how these web design best practices can help you to take your branding to the next level.

If you want to make a better connection with your target market, increase your brand recognition, and just make more sales in general?

Then we strongly suggest that you give a few of these tips a try.

Of course, you may need the help of a professional to make it happen.

That’s where we come in.

Spend some time on our website to learn more about how we can help. Then, reach out to us to get started on making your website better than ever.