When it comes to web design, there are so many different styles in which your website can go: it can be anywhere from vibrant and colourful to sleek and modern, and everything in between. And while your final look-and-feel should reflect your brand and personal style, there are a few rules that you should follow. After all, great web design feeds directly into the user experience on your site. Please find below our top four simple website design tips to help make your website inviting and compelling for your audience.

Keep your homepage minimalistic

The homepage on your website should communicate your business' core message instantaneously. After all, we very rarely read every word on a website. Instead, we quickly scan the page, picking out the keywords and images along the way. With this in mind, it’s better to appeal to your audiences' emotions rather than a high word count. The less your visitors have to read, click on, or remember, the better! They’ll be able to process and evaluate your content in their own way, and are more likely to do what you intend them to do.

Here are our tips to help you break up your content and make for a more inviting homepage design that your audience will love:

• Keep the most important content above the fold (what they see before they have to scroll): Your web visitors should understand what your website is all about as soon as the click on the site, without having to scroll.
  

• Add imagery: Beautiful photographs, videos and icons do wonders as alternative ways to communicate your point over whilst also ensure your audience isn't overwhelmed by a page that is too text heavy.

• Include a call-to-action (CTA): From signing up to making a purchase, encourage your visitors to perform the action you intended by placing a call-to-action button on your homepage. To learn more about CTAs and how you can make the best ones for your website, click HERE.

• Space out your content: This is where whitespace comes in handy. By leaving some areas blank, you’ll give the design a much more spacious feel. And as for the text on your site, write in bite-sized paragraphs that are easy and enjoyable to read. For advice on writing and presenting the perfect text for your website, see the title below.

Create easy to read website content

When your website’s readability is high, visitors will be able to effortlessly scan through the and digest the key information they need. Achieving website readability is relatively easy if you follow these key rules:

• Type of fonts: In the grand world of typography, there are many types of fonts at our disposal.  Sans serif fonts are typically the best choice for text on a website – like the one you’re currently reading (we use Helvetica which is a widely used sans-serif typeface across the web). There are also many display fonts that are more on the decorative side, such as script fonts that look handwritten. If you’re going for one of those, make sure not to overuse it, to avoid overwhelming your audience.

• Limit the number of fonts: Don’t use more than three different typefaces throughout a single website. Too many varied typefaces usually appear cluttered and distracting for your audience which in turn indicates an unwelcoming feeling. To learn more about fonts and must do's when it comes to text on your site, visit our blog on the topic HERE.

• Large lettering: Most people will struggle to see the smaller fonts available so we recommend you go a bit bigger. A typical rule for web design is to keep your body text at least 16pt (the text you're reading now is 18pt). But keep in mind that this number of 16pt and above is completely depending on the fonts you choose for your website. Test what sizes work better for you and your audience.

• Utilise different text themes: To establish a clear hierarchy of importance, make sure that the text on your website varies in weight and size - from a large title, to smaller subheadings, to the even smaller paragraph or body text. This tip ensures that there’s always something drawing your readers’ attention to the key points you want them to read.

• And remember contrast is key: Contrast between your text colour and background colour is important for readability. While your website colour scheme is likely to be representative of your brand colours, make sure that there’s sufficient contrast between your elements. There are online tools out there that can help you achieve this. We recommend you check out Contrast Checker.

Make your site is easy to navigate

You want your audience to easily find what they’re looking for on your website, right? Well journey out their experience for them. With clickable links and buttons to the necessary pages your audience are interested in, you can ensure an enjoyable experience for everyone. In addition, a website with solid navigation helps search engines index your content while greatly improving the user experience. WIN, WIN! Here are our top tips for making your website easy to navigate:

• Link your logo to the homepage: This web design tip is a common practice that your visitors will be expecting. Make it as easy as possible to quickly return to the homepage.

• Have a clear menu on your site: Whether you go for a classical horizontal list or even a hamburger menu, your website menu should be easy to find. Be sure to structure the menu on your site according to the importance of each section.

• Work on the footer of your site: Your website footer is probably the last thing to be seen on your website yet should contain all of the important links there. This includes contact information, legal requirements such as privacy policies, social media icons and a shortened version of your site's menu.
  

Stay mobile friendly

Your audience should be able to enjoy your website at its very best, no matter the device they’re using. When designing a website, Avanty automatically creates a mobile-friendly version of your website, so that you can keep up with the mobile goings on in the tech world. Go over your website’s mobile version while you design the site and put yourself in the position of the user. Test out every page, action and button to see how it easy it is to move around the site as well as making sure the web design is sound. Your mobile website should be cleaner and less cluttered than your desktop version, so consider scaling down some assets, like the menu.