Engage with visitors
These days, visitors expect to engage with you on your site and beyond. Including some of the following features when you design a website will keep your audience connected and informed. Connecting with your followers across multiple channels is a powerful way to build relationships with them—and will ultimately bring more eyes to your site.
- Live chat: Adding a live chat widget to your site makes a big difference in your visitors’ ability to interact with you. Whether it’s to provide fast customer support or to help undecided visitors make their way to the cart, this small window at the bottom of your users’ screen is a friendly addition.
Social media: Similar to your website, your social media channels are an important aspect of your online presence. As you design your website, add links to your social accounts to build your social following and provide another outlet for visitors to connect with you. These should be located somewhere visible, such as under the menu, on the right or left side of your page, or in the footer.- Newsletter: Email marketing is a great way to maintain a connection with your audience. You can use email newsletters to update visitors about the latest sales on your online store, promote new blog articles, or celebrate your achievements with subscribers. Invite visitors to subscribe to your newsletter by placing a lightbox on your website.
- Forms: One powerful way to build long-lasting relationships with your customers is to ask for their feedback. Creating an online form for your website makes sure that visitors have a safe place to share their thoughts about your products, services, website or customer support.
13. Ask for feedback, test and edit
At this point, you may know how to design a website successfully, but there’s still room for growth. Being impartial is especially difficult when it comes to your own creation, which is why designing a website involves asking for honest feedback from individuals you trust.
Be receptive to their critique and remember that you may not always like what you hear. To ensure a flawless final result, ask a friend or colleague to double check the following elements:
- Is the text correct? Spelling mistakes can ruin the professional reputation that you’ve worked so hard to build.
- Are the pages easy to navigate? If it takes too long to find a strategic page of your site, it means that you may need to rethink your site architecture or improve the visibility of your menu.
- Is your web design optimized for mobile? Over 50% of internet users browse websites using a mobile device. You certainly don’t want to leave half of the world’s population frustrated.
- Are all the links working? Click on every link to make sure none of them return a 404 page (this indicates that the page doesn’t exist anymore). Check to make sure your call-to-actions (CTA’s) are working with the correct links too.
- Are the SEO elements filled out correctly? From alt text to title tags, there are some items to verify so you can rank higher and grow your search engine visibility.
14. Publish and update
Having a website is a necessity. But having a website that is up-to-date is what really makes the difference. A site that looks like it’s been lying dormant for too long is uninviting and unreliable. Make sure to be alert, stay in-the-know and update or redesign your website’s content as often as you can.
As you learn how to design a website that constantly grows and evolves, you’ll need to know how to update your site. There’s always room for improvement, and you want to make sure that you keep your website design fresh.
Stay savvy by keeping up with web design trends and UX design trends—use that knowledge to update your site’s design overtime. Don’t forget to keep your content up-to-date, too. Make sure it’s always relevant and proves to visitors that you’re on top of the latest developments in your industry.
What you need to design a website
To design a website, you’ll need the following:
- A domain name: This is the address of your website on the internet, such as example.com. You can register a domain name through a domain registrar.
- Web hosting: This is the service that stores your website’s files and makes them accessible to visitors. You can purchase web hosting from a web hosting provider.
- A website builder or content management system (CMS): This is a software tool that helps you to create and manage your website’s content. Using Wix as a CMS for web design offers you a wide range of templates, ease of use and affordability.
- Design assets: This includes images, videos and fonts that you will use to design your website. You can find design assets for free or purchase them from stock photo websites and other online resources.
What to keep in mind when you design a website
When it comes to designing a website, it’s worth keeping the following in mind:
Who are you designing the website for? What are their needs and interests? What kind of information are they looking for? This is all part of setting your goals for your website. What do you want visitors to do on your website? Do you want them to learn about your company, buy your products or contact you?
Learn more: Why is web design important?
Decide what your brand values are and what kind of image you want to project when you are designing your website. What colors, fonts and images will represent your brand? This is what your audience will come to associate with you, so choose carefully.
Deciding how your website will be structured involves answering important questions, from figuring out how many pages it will have to how visitors will navigate from one page to another.
Your website should be mobile-friendly, meaning that it looks good and functions properly on all devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Make sure your website is accessible to people with disabilities, too. This means using high-contrast colors, large fonts and clear navigation.
UX (user experience) is the overall experience of using a website. A good UX makes it easy for visitors to find what they’re looking for and complete their desired tasks. On top of that, it’s important that the design of your website be eye-catching and easy to use. Use colors, fonts and images that complement your brand and make the website easy to navigate.
Make sure that your website is secure from hackers and malware. This means using secure passwords, encrypting sensitive data and keeping your software up to date.
When to design a website yourself or hire a web designer
Whether you should design a website yourself or hire a web designer depends on a number of factors, including the following.
Budget
Hiring a web designer can be expensive, so it’s important to consider your budget before making a decision. If you’re on a tight budget, you may want to consider designing your own website using a website builder or CMS platform.
Time commitment
Designing a website can be a time-consuming process, especially if you’re not familiar with web design. If you don’t have the time to commit to designing your own website, then hiring a web designer may be the best option.
Skills and experience
If you have no experience with web design, then it may be difficult to create a website that is both visually appealing and functional. If you’re not confident in your ability to design a website, hiring a web designer could be the best option. However, website builders like Wix offers easy-to-use templates for beginners, so it’s not a necessity.
How to design a website with AI
When it comes to designing a website, AI can enhance various aspects of the design process, from user experience (UX) to visual design and even content creation.
The simplest way to get started is by firing up a platform like Wix’s AI maker. A solution like this can connect you with advanced AI tools that take care of the back-end and front-end development of your site, so you can focus on the vision for your brand and business. Meanwhile, AI will suggest the best layout and design for your site based on business goals.
Platforms like Wix will go a step further and set you up with the right pages and business applications. For example, if you run a gym that hosts events and also sells its own apparel, Wix will automatically connect your site with its Bookings and Stores apps. This ensures that you not only have a professional-looking website, but also a fully functional workspace for managing all aspects of your business online.
Sign up for Wix and test drive its AI website maker for free today.
How to design a website FAQ
How much does it cost to design a website?
The cost of designing a website varies. You can start designing a website for free, with a website builder like Wix or choose from a premium plan. Using a designer or expert to design your website could cost from several hundred to thousands of dollars.
