How to Design a Website Like a Digital Ninja
Websites are one of the most important assets of a business. Having a credible, professional and engaging online presence requires work and patience. There are literally millions of websites out there, so you might be wondering where to start. Having done the research to answer this question our team at Go Ninja has come to realise that good websites literally require users to think less. They achieve this by understanding and meeting their users’ needs in a clear, easy and functional way.
A good website commands attention, stirs up emotion, and simplistically gives the visitor what they are looking for. As digital ninjas we are well aware of the importance of a brilliantly executed website and we would like to share this knowledge. There are no clear cut rules when designing a website however, following the principles below will help as a guide.
Clear Purpose
It’s absolutely essential that when you’re building your website, you understand exactly what your site is going to do. For example, if you’re looking to create a site that sells products, selling products should be your absolute priority and is a your clear purpose. With every decision you make, you should ask yourself – is this going to help users buy my products?
Know your Target Audience
Identifying who is going to be using your site is also crucial to building a good website. If you can understand what sort of people are going to be visiting your site, reading your blog posts, buying your products, or taking a look through your previous work, then you can build the site to suit them.
Simple Navigation
Once you’ve established the purpose of your site and your target audience, you can create a site structure and navigation to make it as easy as possible for this audience to get around. Successful websites offer simple and user friendly navigation. Visitors must find everything they need quickly and easily. If users have to wonder around the site trying to find what they are looking for they will get frustrated and bounce from your site, remember there are thousands of websites offering the same thing as you are so you need to stand out. Remember that the best websites shouldn’t require users to think. Site structure plays a huge role in reducing the cognitive effort needed to get from page A to page B.
Original Content
High quality websites focus on their audience’s needs, not just on what they’re selling. Consistently fresh content builds the visitor’s interest, inviting them to engage and return to your site. Furthermore, Google values content that is relevant and interesting, so creating original content is a great way of increasing your Google ranking. Some businesses achieve this by writing interesting blog posts about their brand, while others may create a page addressing FAQ’s. Nonetheless, many websites already have original content, but it is just a matter of optimising and advertising it.
Great Design
Keeping abreast of current trends accompanied by contemporary design makes for a memorable site. Outstanding design encompasses a business’ brand and takes into account the user’s experience. Hence, it is highly important to design a website for both desktop and mobile devices.
Choose the right font
A typeface might seem relatively inconsequential. However, users spend most of their time on a website reading, or at least scanning text, meaning it’s an essential part of the website you want to create.
When building your site, you should try out different font styles to find the right one. Remember to always keep your site’s purpose and users in mind. Opting for unusual, heavily stylised fonts is fine for brand names, but you don’t want long paragraphs of text in cursive style fonts.
Copy is Key
So, you’ve picked your design, you’ve got your images sorted, and you’ve found the right fonts. Now you need to fill your site with the right words. Again, users and purpose are at the forefront of any copy you craft for your site. You’ll want to make sure it’s engaging, easy to read, and has a consistent tone.
Make sure your copy is to-the-point and clear. If you’re selling products, give your users the information they need to know about the product. If you’re trying to drum up customers for your business, consider getting testimonials from other customers, and being clear about the service your business provides. Whatever you’re doing, your copy should point users to an action without overdoing it, whether that’s buying a product, making an appointment, or enquiring about a service.
Speed
The reality is that every single second counts when it comes to page speeds and retaining visitors. There are literally dozens of stats out there that show customers will leave and never come back to your site for even just a few seconds of delay. Optimised graphics, video and audio give a website the necessary speed it needs to load fast.
Mobile Optimisation
It's 2022, and smartphones are used for everything from payment to entertainment. Subsequently, your website absolutely needs to be accessible and well-designed for mobile usage, otherwise you're going to have some serious trouble getting visitors, let alone making conversions.
SEO
A great website with no visitors is an invisible one. SEO or search engine optimisation will help bring an audience to the site. It is also important to consider that bringing relevant users plays a key role in the growth of a website. It is not just about establishing a generic audience, it is about bringing potential customers that will appreciate and pay for your services.
Efficient SEO takes time and effort to see results, but it will strengthen your site and deliver ROI (return on investment). This is usually accomplished by implementing strategies such as: creating advertising campaigns, optimising and promoting quality content frequently, back-linking, conducting keyword research to determine what your audience is looking for.
If all of the above sounds complicated and intimidating, don’t fear your digital ninjas are here. At Go Ninja our preferred website builders are Squarespace and Shopify. We use Squarespace as it makes managing a site structure super easy and offers some of the best professional-looking website templates on the market. Shopify offers great third-party integration with google and Facebook shopping, it has an app store available for additional functionality if required, there is a mobile app to view your store on the go and gives small businesses a platform to host their own online store without the drudgery of coding. Contact us as we are the ninjas you need to create the website your consumers deserve.
