6 Website Design Guidelines To Increase Your Website Conversions

It’s time we say goodbye to outdated & boring websites… Here’s the thing, your work is way too good to have a website that doesn’t reflect your genius. That’s why I have provided 5 website design guidelines so you can turn your website into a conversion machine in 2024.

Why is it important to have a well designed website in 2024? 

There are currently around 1.14 billion websites in the World. Which means, your website has to be one that not only looks impressive, but works exceptionally well. Your website needs to appeal to your ideal audience whilst taking into consideration user experience. We’ll save the in’s and outs of UX design for another day, but for now, let’s just say, your website has to be more than just a pretty face. 

Whilst you could study the best practices for a highly converting custom website design for hours on end, for times sake, I’ve created a list of design guidelines so you can build a website design that represents your business in a way that your ideal clients don’t blink twice to work with. 

6 Website Design Guidelines To Increase Your Website Conversions

What to expect:

1. Branding first. 
2. Simplicity is a powerful thing. 
3. Clear navigation.
4. Images & Videos.
5. Responsive design.
6. Clear & persuasive CTA’s.

(1) Don’t underestimate the importance of a great brand. 

Yep, I said it. Build your brand before you build your website. And when I mean brand, I mean your brand strategy as well as your visual identity. Your visual identity is what most of us think of when we think of branding. You know, the design elements such as your logo, colour palette and font types, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to brand. 

Brand strategy is essentially a plan to actively influence how people perceive your brand. An effective brand strategy will inform all other activities in the development of your business, and support you in staying focused on your business vision. 

“Your brand is so much more than your name and logo.”

(Here are 3 of my favourite brand books if branding peaks your interest. Or if you’re looking for a custom brand, book a call here. I can help with that.)

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(2) Simplicity. Simplicity. Simplicity.

No one likes a complicated website. Fact.

Picture this, you land on a website and there’s no clear navigation, there are images dotted around the place and there’s about as much text as the Lord of the Rings books all on the home page. Without a doubt, you’re bouncing right off of that website. 

57% of consumers are willing to pay MORE for simpler experiences. 

Here’s exactly how you can achieve simplicity on your website.

• Colour. I recommend using three colours for your palette. Choose a primary, secondary, and an accent colour to achieve the best outcome for your website. 
• Cut the unnecessary text. Keep your copy to an average of 600-700 words per page. This is the optimal amount for SEO. 
• White space. Positioning and spacing is an important principle of website design. When you use these, you leverage user psychology to create user journeys that are easy to understand and follow.

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(3) Clear Navigation is essential.

You don’t want your website visitors to burn a tonne of brain calories just to find your contact form. Building a website that your visitors can easily navigate is key to a great user experience. 

Optimise your websites navigation by:

1. Using minimal navigation options per page. Back to point number two… keep it simple. 
2. Having a navigation menu on your footer. 
3. Keeping your navigation menu the same on each page. Switching up where people can find the home button can get confusing. 

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(4) Don’t forget about the right imagery + videos. 

Use images that are relevant to your ideal clients. When you use random or irrelevant images that your ideal clients can’t resonate with, there’s more chance of them bouncing off of your website. 

Using aligned imagery helps engage visitors and convey your brand message (remember the importance of looking at your brand first? Brand strategy helps inform your brand imagery too). Plus, avoid using low-quality or generic images that can distract from your content.

To say video can take your website design to the next level, is an understatement. In a survey, 86% of marketing professionals said that videos helped to boost traffic to their website. Yes please! 

Check out a more in-depth dive at the 5 benefits of using video on your website. 

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Here are some best practices for using video on your website. 

• Make sure the video content is high quality, with good lighting and audio.
• Keep videos short and to the point: Long videos can be overwhelming and may cause visitors to leave your website.
• Use captions to make your video more accessible and to help visitors understand the content.
• Optimise your videos for search engines: Use relevant keywords in the title, description, and tags of your video to help it rank higher in search engine results.
• Use calls to action within your videos to guide visitors to take the next step on your website.

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(5) Responsive design. 

Responsive design is more important than ever. Ensure that your website looks great and is easy to use on all devices.

A significant portion of your internet traffic will likely come from mobile devices. It’s actually estimated that over half of all internet traffic will come from mobile devices by 2023.

If your website is not mobile-friendly, it can be difficult for users to read and interact with your content, which can lead to a poor user experience and may cause them to leave your website. (Boo 👎)

Plus, you might have heard this once or twice before, but remember that SEO is important to your website's success, and Google and other search engines may penalise websites that are not mobile-friendly by ranking them lower in search results. This can make it more difficult for potential customers to find your website, which can negatively impact your business.

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(6) Use clear and persuasive calls to action. 

If you don’t use call to actions (CTAs) on your website, you risk visitors browsing your website without taking any action, meaning you can wave goodbye to them becoming customers… Well, the chance of them converting is much slimmer than if you tell them how you want them to take action. 

Here’s why CTA’s are important: 

1. They help guide your website visitors in taking the next step on your website.
2. They help convert visitors into leads or customers.
3. They can help you track the effectiveness of your website and marketing efforts. By analysing the clicks and conversions on your CTAs, you can determine which actions are most effective at converting visitors and adjust your website and marketing strategy accordingly.

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Having a website design that hits all 6 of these guidelines is sure to increase the chances of a high converting website. Want a little more? Read the 5 best practices for service provider websites.