Web design for beginners is an important first step for any business that wants to attract customers online. In this article, we’ll show you the key ingredients for making a professional-looking site for your business. Every beginner needs to know these points. So let’s dive in!
Get some inspiration
One of the biggest troubles that Web Design for beginners have is: “how do I want my website to look?”.
I’ve run into this with many clients and I always ask them to give me some references on sites they like or approve of. This gives you a great launching pad that you can start from.
You don’t need to worry about it looking perfect, especially in the beginning. You just need to start from somewhere. And try to get more than one reference, so you can get a good idea of some different design points or features they like.
Once you’ve got a few key design projects under your belt, you can get more advanced from there. But just get going on your first one!
Have a clean layout
Extra space is your friend. You want your message to get across. Below is a good example. It clearly lays out what they are talking about: different body procedures they perform. There are some useful links under the text, and it’s overall very clean and crisp.
Good example:
Now let’s look at a good contrasting example. You can’t have a clean layout if you have mixed messaging, with 20 things grabbing the attention of your users. Something like this will only create friction with your site.
Bad example:
This is a pretty dated layout. There are tons of links and mixed messaging in the first view of this website. The problem is that is the first impression they are giving to everyone. Where do you even start first? It might work for some, but the masses don’t respond well to the mixed chaotic messaging. Or overcrowded pages.
Having Good CTAs
Definition: CTA (Call To Action)
A call to action is a marketing term that refers to a callout that the marketer wants the consumer to take. This could be their next step, such as filling out a contact form. Or filling out a form to buy their product. Calls to action can be as simple as a button that says “Buy Now”. Or a whole sentence: “Interested? Find Out More Today” followed by some button they can click.
Take the above CTA example, what is the message they are trying to get across? Pretty obvious. And it looks great too. In contrast, a bad CTA would be a small button with no real attention-grabbing imagery or colors to bring attention to it. Something like this:
You might notice it, or you might not. That’s a huge missed opportunity. You need to make your CTA clear. Otherwise, people are going to bounce right off your site. Not accomplishing anything off your site.
A large percentage of people only scan your website, your posts, and your content. If you don’t have eye-catching CTAs, you are wasting your time.
Ideas for creating an Effective Call To Action
A call to action (CTA) is a callout, a button, or a link that encourages visitors to take a certain action. It’s one of the most effective ways to direct people to your website. You should use CTAs sparingly, though. If you put too much emphasis on them, users will ignore them. They can also make your site look subpar having them everywhere. You may have seen some examples of the overuse of this. They can be more irritating than they are useful.
Your site should be clear in what you want it to accomplish. Be it an email sign-up, a new subscriber, or a purchase. Whatever it is, you should optimize your site for this.
Fonts Matter
Here is another good example that is commonly missed and is a key point on web design for beginners. Fonts take a surprisingly large piece of your web design. Think of it. Besides images, the text is the only other thing your user will see. The way your content is shown to your customers will make them feel a certain way about your site. Take a look at this font example:
The above example shows two very different vibes to the fonts. The first one is rough and communicates a scary or more intense kind of view to it. The second is more elegant and flowy. They both communicate very different ideas when you read the same words. So fonts can play an important role in your web design and what you want to get across to your users.
Optimizing your site for SEO
Definition: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO stands for search engine optimization. Simply, it refers to techniques and methods that help your website rank higher in search engine results. Search engines are primarily Google, but also Bing, Yahoo, Duck Duck Go, etc.
Your site should always be optimized for SEO. No beautifully designed site will work unless it’s optimized for SEO. You need to have your business searchable on Google for anyone to find it. So if you aren’t optimizing for this at all, why have it be on the internet if no one can find it? Sure you can pay for your site to go to the top with ads. But at what cost? When SEO is much cheaper than any paid advertising you can do.
Great designs must keep SEO in mind to be fully effective.
Use Great Imagery
I mentioned this in another design post but I want to say it again as every beginner needs to know. Your images are everything. They can make or break a site from being subpar. But if it’s done good, it can really turn out to be of really high quality.
A good photoshoot pays off in more ways than one. But you can also find higher quality stock photos on the mega stock platforms of iStock and Shutterstock. There are even free stock photo sites, like Pexels and Unsplash that you can pick from. And there is such a thing as good stock photos and bad stock photos from all of those examples. So pick wisely and keep searching for them, because they exist.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this design blog on web design for beginners! I really want to help you guys improve your website designs and get some skin in the website game. Please feel free to check out my other design blogs for more help on design. Also, feel free to let me know in the comments below if you have any questions and if this helped you at all in your marketing efforts, thank you!
