27 website layout tips
27 website layout tips
27 website layout tips Here are 27 tips to design a well-structured website that can boost traffic and engage users:
1. Think about the site’s purpose
Before you design a website, consider what you want the site to do, such as inform, entertain, advertise or sell.
The site’s purpose dictates the best type of design for it.
For example, a site made to sell products requires a different layout than a blog.
Once you know the purpose of the site, you can make design and layout choices based on this purpose.
2. Create a framework
Create a framework for your website before you build it and consider what the most useful layout might be for your visitors.
Some sites organize content into categories and subcategories, allowing users to work through a site logically based on its theme.
Others structure it into a sequence, such as chronological or alphabetical, to let users proceed in a specific order.
Choose a structure that suits users’ needs and allows you to add content easily.
Related: Benefits of Mobile friendly website
3. Design a simple homepage
Designing an effective, visually appealing homepage is essential for retaining visitors and encouraging a higher click-through rate.
The homepage is the first page people visit, so try to welcome visitors to the site.
You might tell them a little about the company or brand through a homepage that’s easy to navigate.
Related: 14 Website-Building Tools for Creating an Effective Website
4. Keep key content above the fold
Newspapers get folded in half during production, so journalists began placing the most important headlines above the fold so it’s the first thing readers see.
This strategy still works in website design.
On a website, “the fold” refers to all content that’s visible on a webpage before a user scrolls down.
Try to keep important content above the fold to show your audience your site has the information they’re looking for without them having to search too hard for it.
5. Include white space
On a website, white space refers to gaps between each element on the screen. Including white space can reduce the appearance of clutter and make the content on the page easy to read. This can also make the website look more professional, which may encourage visitors to spend more time viewing content.
6. Add images
Include images where appropriate to illustrate your content.
This can make your site more visually appealing to visitors.
Ensure all images you use are relevant to the rest of the content and are reasonably sized.
Use high-quality photos that relate directly to your topic.
These photos can complement the topic and better engage visitors.
If you want to use images of people, consider hiring a professional photographer to ensure the photos are high quality.
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7. Break up the text
Make your website easy to read by breaking up the text to prevent users from simply skimming your content.
Write in shorter paragraphs and use images, bulleted lists and subheadings to add variety. This makes your content easier to read quickly, allowing visitors to find exactly what they want.
8. Highlight important content
Another way to engage visitors is to highlight important content.
Do this by using bold or italics, putting relevant information in quotations or by featuring text in a different color.
This allows readers to find the main takeaway of a page easily.
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9. Add “back to top” buttons
Consider adding a “back to top” button to give visitors quicker and easier access to the navigation bar.
This button appears when users scroll to the bottom of the webpage, and clicking it brings them back to the top of the site.
This is a simple way to make your site more user-friendly.
10. Format all webpages properly
Format all the text on every page of your site properly.
Remember to mark all headings and subheadings clearly with a larger font to aid reader comprehension, and try to write in well-structured paragraphs.
Proper formatting gives websites a more professional appearance.
11. Choose simply fonts
Try to choose easily legible fonts for the website.
Opt for sans-serif fonts for text because they can be easier for users to read.
There are many common fonts that work well for webpages due to the readability.
Choosing familiar fonts can help users feel more comfortable using the website.
12. Use fonts consistently
Once you choose a few fonts, remember to use them consistently across your website.
You can use different fonts for unique elements, such as headings, paragraphs and image captions, but make sure each element uses the same font everywhere on your site.
If the company or brand uses a specific font in other places, consider using that font throughout the website to increase brand consistency.
Related: Benefits of Website Redesign
13. Select a color scheme
Choose a color scheme and use it consistently across your site.
Websites that have complementary tones or a site-wide color scheme can be more visually appealing to visitors. This can encourage them to spend more time on your site.
14. Consider the visual hierarchy
Think about the visual hierarchy of each page on your site.
Place the most important content at the top in an accessible location.
Then, guide your users toward what you want them to look at next by using attention-grabbing headlines or images.
15. Include call-to-action content
A call to action (CTA) is a sentence, button, link or phrase that prompts users to take action, like buy a product or sign up for a newsletter. Try to include CTAs on every page that aims to persuade the readers to do something. This can increase the conversion rate of website visitors to customers.
Related: Custom Website Design
16. Give every page one goal
Try to design each webpage on your site with a clear goal in mind.
Think about whether you’re trying to inform, convince, advertise or sell something to your visitors, then build the page to reach that goal.
By limiting each webpage to one specific topic, you can reduce clutter and improve user engagement.
17. Choose the right layout for each page
Design each page on your site with the best layout for its goal or purpose.
There are multiple layout options to choose from, including single column, split screen, multiple columns, featured image and grid of cards.
Each page layout serves a different purpose, and you can use multiple page layouts across the site.
It’s helpful to use standard layouts so users feel comfortable navigating the site.Related: Website design in Egypt
18. Include visual clues
A great way to guide readers around your page layout is to include visual clues.
Even something simple, like a graphic arrow pointing to the content you want to draw attention to, can be effective at drawing your visitors’ eyes to something you want them to notice.
Including visual clues is a great way to show users the most relevant content right away.
27 website layout tips
19. Design an eye-catching logo
Every website benefits from having a simple, eye-catching logo.
This gives the company or brand an identity people can remember.
There are many free design tools available online, so you can create an effective logo for the website on your own.
Try to place the logo in the top-left corner of the site so it’s clearly visible on every page.Related: Benefits of SEO
27 website layout tips
20. Link your logo to the homepage
Add a hyperlink to your logo on every webpage that links back to the homepage to make site navigation easier for users. A lot of websites have this feature, and it has become a standard practice that visitors expect while browsing a site.
Similar to the “back to top” button, linking the logo to the homepage simplifies the users’ experience.
21. Create a user-friendly navigation menu
The navigation menu is the primary way users get around a website, so design it carefully based on the site structure you chose.
If you organize your pages into categories and subcategories, use these same groupings to arrange your menu.
Since user experience is key to creating an effective website, a user-friendly navigation menu can boost user engagement and encourage visitors to look at more than one webpage.
22. Include a site map
To make navigation of your site even easier, consider including a site map. Site maps allow visitors to view the structure of a website and provide links to every page on the site. They’re also a good way to increase links to pages on your site, which is important for search engine optimization.
23. Incorporate a footer
The footer of a website usually includes links to the most important pages on the site. It’s a more concise navigation menu to help users find their way around the site. You can provide contact information here to make the company more accessible to visitors.
24. Optimize content for mobile use
Each time you add a page to your site, optimize the content for use on desktop, tablet and smartphone screens. It’s best if the mobile version of the site is more streamlined than the desktop version. Consider using a single-column page layout for mobile-friendly content.
25. Prioritize site speed
Every element you add to the site, such as videos, images, advertisements and plugins, can slow down the loading time of that page.
Internet users can be more likely to return to a site with a fast loading time, so check the site speed of each page on the website.
If a page runs slowly, try removing any unnecessary features.
26. Use social icons sparingly
Anytime you encourage your site’s visitors to visit the company’s social media page, you’re also be tempting them to look at their own social media feeds instead of your content.
To keep visitors on the company website, link to social media only where necessary.
For example, you might only include linked social icons in the footer of your site.
27. Fix all 404 errors
404s are the error messages that appear when a developer changes the URL of the website without redirecting it.
Set up a proper redirect any time you remove or rename a page, or when you change its URL. This can make it easier for visitors to find what they’re looking for on the site.