Having a website operate smoothly and making sure you have a healthy flow of visitors is no easy task. There are key design elements that take a website from being plain and deserted to being successful and visited. If you incorporate just a few (or all) of these design elements, you will see your audience grow from just the usual flow of mom and grandma checking on your business.
Logo
Regardless of the website you are running, having a logo is a must. Logos are very important because they stay on your viewer’s mind and allow them to recognize your business or brand if it appears elsewhere. Design an original logo that represents the vibe and service you aim to provide and make that the theme for your website. The logo should appear on all pages, especially the home page. The color scheme of the site should complement the logo/header to make it seem like it really belongs.
Call to Action
Everybody has been a part of some “call to action” scheme, even if you don’t realize it. When you use a call to action phrase, you are encouraging your audience to do something or click somewhere. It is basically subliminally bossing people around. But everyone falls victim to it at one point or another. If you would like for people to visit a specific part of your website, having a link there is simply not enough. Using nice color schemes, fonts, and an exclamation point here and there will make your call to actions appealing to the reader.
Menu
Navigating through a homepage can only keep someone busy for so long. People who go to your website with a purpose and are looking for something specific will need a compatible menu. It is important that your menu makes it easy for your readers to get to where they want to go. Having extensive menus with endless drop-down menus inside other menus is frustrating and wrong. Also make sure you place your menu somewhere familiar and easy to find.
Links
It is guaranteed that if none of your links work, no one will visit the page they lead to. This isn’t much of a design element, but make sure they work! Creating links helps readers navigate all through your website, a pretty desired thing.
Search
If you have frustrated someone beyond using your links, they will resort to using a search box to reach their desired place. Make sure your search box is easy to find and gets the job done.
Error Page
We are all too familiar with that obnoxious 404 error page. In the event that one of your readers reaches this page, make it fun for them! Seeing “404 Error” on a page will often cause people to just leave your site. But having a silly picture or some sort of ‘404 joke/pun’ (they DO exist) in place of boring text will boost morale.
Calendar
An interactive calendar will save you plenty of phone calls/emails from information-thirsty readers. Provide all the information you have and place it on calendars that are nice, organized, and have links leading to even more information.
Social Media
Integrating Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. to your website will help create a network of viewers and greatly boost your statistics.
