You have a lot of work ahead of you if you haven’t gotten your website up to date with the current times. What looks good now is different than what did ten years ago. When 38% of people stop engaging with a site that looks bad, you can’t afford to stay in the past.
Keep reading to learn seven tips that will help you learn how to make a website look professional.
1. Don’t Ignore Mobile Users
You aren’t finished when you have a site design ready for desktop users. Today, you’re only targeting around half of the total traffic that you will see on your site when you only have a desktop design. If you don’t have a mobile-optimized website, your mobile users aren’t going to have a great experience.
You’ll need to invest in a responsive design if you want your website to look great for everybody. A responsive design will change the look of your website based on the screen size of your visitor. You won’t have anybody that needs to scroll left and right just to read the content on your page.
2. Keep Things Simple
Nobody wants to go to a website and get information overload.
They are visiting your site to solve a problem that they have or get information. You need to present your solution to that problem as simply as you can.
Your visitor should be able to understand your page as soon as they land there. That means presenting the most relevant information at the top. It should only take a few seconds to figure out if your site can solve their problem.
The other essential element to your page is a call to action. If you’re building your website to get new business, you need to push your visitors to take the next step in your sales funnel.
3. Reduce Load Time
People are more impatient than ever on the internet. Studies show that you have up to 20 seconds to get someone’s attention. If a visitor spends this time waiting for your website to load, you’re going to lose a lot of visitors.
Start by using a page speed test tool to figure out if there is anything on your site that’s slowing things down. The most likely culprit will be your images.
You’ll need to run your images through an optimization process to reduce the file sizes. The good news is that with lossless compression, you don’t have to worry about losing any quality.
Once you finish your image optimization, focus on implementing lazy loading on your site. This feature will delay loading images further down the page. Your images won’t load for your visitors until they need to see them.
4. Create Simple Navigation
Making a page look great isn’t only about your main content. It’s also about making sure your visitors can find all the information they need with a few clicks of a button.
This starts with your navigation. You should add the critical parts of your website to your website header. Your visitors will be frustrated if they have to hunt for what they need on your site.
You might not be able to put all your main features in the header. After all, you have limited space to work with.
You can use drop-down menus to add sub-sections. You can use a mega-menu or vertical drop-down menus to handle this.
5. Make Use of Color
Your color selection is one of the most vital parts of your design. Your colors will help set the mood for your visitors.
Use your color selection to put your visitors in the right frame of mind. If you want somebody to take action, try bright and vibrant colors. If you need to build trust, using calm and neutral colors will be your best option.
Don’t add too many colors in your design. Ideally, your design should focus on two primary colors. You can add more in there, but try to keep them as similar as you can to your primary colors.
6. Focus on Good Copy
The aesthetics of your website isn’t the only thing that contributes to your site design. The content on each of your pages contributes to making your website stand out.
Make sure to spend enough time going over your content to make sure it’s written to connect to your visitors. Ask yourself if it covers the problem or questions your visitor is visiting to get answers to.
If web copy isn’t your strong suit, you might need to invest in the services of a professional copywriter. It will cost more upfront, but it will increase your conversions and make you more money in the long run.
7. Find a Great Template
Not all businesses have the budget to hire a professional designer to handle their site design. They need to save their money for the other essential parts of their business.
The good news is that you aren’t out of luck. Depending on the technology you use to run your site, you have a wide variety of themes available that can make things look great.
Take WordPress, for instance. If you’re looking for WordPress templates, there are several sites out there that have hundreds of themes available to you.
All you need to do is find a website theme that matches the design you want and upload it to your website.
Many website themes also offer advanced configuration options to change the look of the site yourself. You don’t need a designer to make the basic changes you need to be done.
Learning How to Make a Website Look Professional Is Worth It
You’re going to face a lot of competition when you put a website on the internet. If you don’t know how to make a website look professional, you’re going to have a hard time convincing people that you have a trustworthy brand. Use the tips above to make your site’s design to the next level.
Of course, getting a great looking website is only the first step to establishing a brand. Keep reading our blog to learn what else is involved in promoting your site on the internet.