5 Crucial Steps To Choosing Your Website Design
Feeling overwhelmed by your options?
Discover the 5 crucial steps you need to take before choose a website design you love -
and your customers love even more.
You’re ready to put your business online.
You’ve been browsing your favourite websites for inspo.
And this isn’t the first article you’ve Googled for tips.
There’s just one problem..
There’s too many website design options to choose from!
94% of first impressions relate to your website’s design, so nailing your design choices from the start is crucial. With so much riding on your decision, it’s easy to feel paralysed. What colour should your background be? Where should your images go? What font do people prefer?
You’ve got complete freedom to design your website any way you like - minimalist to vibrant, modern to playful. And all that freedom feels overwhelming, doesn’t it?
Here’s the simple truth - your website should reflect your style and personality, while factoring in the goals of your business and your expected costs. When you cover those bases you’ll have a site that’s easy to browse, able to grow with your business, and puts your audience first.
If you’re ready to move forward with confidence, read on for my 5 crucial steps before choosing a website design you love (and your customers love) in 2021.
STEP #1 - Think about the future
It’s not easy to picture where your business will be 5 years from now, but failing to consult the crystal ball can leave you with a website that can’t grow when your business does.
One of the biggest mistakes you’re at risk of making is focusing on the ‘now’ and not looking at the end goal. If you choose a theme for your blog or business website, make sure it’s able to scale to handle more content or design changes - and I know how crucial this is, because I’ve made this mistake myself!
Although it’s tough to predict your future, keep things simple by asking yourself where you want to be 5 years from now. If you’ve started a side hustle, ask yourself if the dream outcome would be to grow your side-hustle into a full-time job. Once you have the answer you can choose a website design that’s able to handle more traffic, or grow into an online store.
If you fail to think about the commercial potential of your site, you run the risk of starting from scratch down the line when your vision has outgrown your website design.
STEP #2 - Factor in your costs
Websites can be free. And websites can also cost $10,000.
When launching your own site and choosing the design, you’ve got complete freedom to spend as much or as little as you like. That means you can opt for a free template on a popular website builder like WordPress, or purchase a theme and customise the design yourself.
It’s always sensible to keep costs low where possible, but choosing a free website design does come with drawbacks. For a start, free is popular. That’s why anything left on the footpath with a ‘FREE’ sign ends up gone in 10 minutes. If you choose a free website template you run the risk of using the same template that thousands of other people are using.
In this case, a free template - like this example - can leave your website blending in with the crowd, when you’d rather be standing out. If you’re setting up a blog you may not worry about sharing your website design with others, but for a business website this should always be taken into consideration.
Your next option is to purchase a theme that comes with advanced customisation options. In this case, a customisable template - like the one I’m using for my own website - offers you a clear aesthetic with the ability to make changes down the line.
You’ll also need to factor in costs that come with:
Your own URL
Website hosting
Security features (e.g. SSL certificate)
Spam protection
Don’t worry if these add-ons are starting to get a little technical. Most hosting providers will bundle these features together so you can focus on getting your business online without stressing over the small stuff.
Can’t decide on a website host? Check out Bluehost for a competitive price and excellent customer support.
STEP #3 - Be wary of steep learning curves
There are two directions you can take when choosing your website design: simple or complex.
Plenty of website builders offer simple drag-and-drop features that make designing a site interactive and fun. Platforms like WIX allow you to choose colours, place pictures, and tell your story in your own words. The downside of these simple website building platforms is the risk of over-simplification. Without any sophisticated design features or advanced customisation, the simple approach can become a double-edged sword.
On the flipside, certain website designs can be extremely complex. Templates with a stunning design aesthetic, multiple menu designs, and an array of online shopping formats can make your head spin (speaking from experience again).
If you’re a beginner you can spend all weekend tinkering with an advanced site design and still be stuck trying to move your navigation menu or figure out how to add a ‘cart’ functionality to your e-commerce store.
If you’re not keen on making huge changes to your design, I recommend choosing a design that fits your aesthetic, that way you won’t need to make wholesale changes down the line. Specific designs are available so you can even start with a ready-made look and feel, whether that’s travel, lifestyle, food or another niche.
At the end of the day, your choice in website design will impact your investment of time. A simpler design means less time making changes but fewer options to choose from; a complex design requires a much bigger investment of your time but you’ve got more control.
STEP #4 - Consider where your audience lives
I don’t mean what suburb your audience lives in - but on what device.
Plenty of people live in their smartphones in 2021. From messaging to social media, online banking to entertainment, you can practically live your life through your phone.
When choosing your website design, it’s crucial your site looks great on mobile devices. As of 2015 more searches are made on smartphones than desktop, so it’s not enough for your site to look awesome on a laptop or PC.
Most website themes in 2021 are mobile responsive - meaning their design changes to suit any device - but there are exceptions, so keep your eye out for designs that become a nightmare on small screens.
Website design features that frustrate people on small screens include:
Being forced to pinch to zoom
Tiny text that’s impossible to read
Navigational menus that disappear
Links so small they’re hard to click on
Clickable elements way too close together
No phone numbers (it’s rare, but people DO still use phones for phone calls)
There’s a good chance you’ll build your site on a laptop or desktop PC, but keep the small screen in mind to avoid a design disaster.
STEP #5 - Remember there’ll always be maintenance
All websites need some form of maintenance to keep them working properly and putting their best foot forward.
These tweaks might be design related, like changing your colours to reflect new branding or adding a new page for your latest product. Or, these changes may relate to your marketing efforts, for example adding a pixel tag (like Facebook Pixel) to track how people interact with your site.
If you’ve opted for a simple website design theme you may be able to take care of the maintenance yourself. But if your website is more complex, you’ll need to factor in the potential need for a little expert help from time to time to make sure your website looks the way it should, and is working towards your marketing goals too.