In the online world, design matters. It’s not enough to have a beautiful website, though; the website must deliver on its stated goals and objectives. We have helped local businesses throughout Las Vegas who, though they had beautiful websites, failed to deliver in terms of traffic numbers. This means less leads and, more importantly, fewer conversions. In contrast, non-aesthetic websites can, however paradoxical it may seem, deliver more leads and more conversions. But this needn’t be the case. When done right, web designs can outperform both our expectations and the competition.

The questions are, then – how and why?

These are the questions we’re exploring in today’s blog. We’re going to teach you about the 7 most essential elements of a successful website design.

We’ll dissect and differentiate between essential and non-essential elements. But to understand why these elements are important, we must first ask a broader question – what is the broad strategy of your existing web design and has your website, to date, delivered on its intended aims and objectives?

In other words, you need to have a firm hand on the direction of your online design presence.

Getting Your Strategy Right

To create a successful website design, you must first have a strategy.

Have you sat down and asked yourself the following ten questions:

1. What is the stated purpose of your website?
2. What do you intend to achieve?
3. Have you assessed your direct competition and what flaws they have?
4. Who is your target audience?
5. What do your prospective customers want and what do they expect to see?
6. Is your web design structure and content relevant?
7. Does your web design promote a solution in a sufficiently robust way?
8. Have you incorporated local SEO into your web design?
9. How persuasive is your marketing copy?
10. Are you targeting the right keywords?

Knowing these details is important; they define the look, the marketing content and the structure of your web design. They sketch out the broad contours of your website design; creating a solution that answers the problem your target audiences face. Every element of your website design must have a purpose. Nothing should exist on any webpage that does not directly or indirectly further the cause of your business. This extends to written content, too. Every word must have a strategic purpose. These differences, though they seem small, matter a great deal. They can make all the difference.

Another essential element of a successful website design is branding. Branding isn’t about what’s popular. Again, you need to think about the intended goal of your web design. Your design shouldn’t just inform your audience; it should dictate how they feel. You need to impart an emotional response that tells your audience your solution is not only the right solution for them, but the best solution for their needs. This means using the right styling, colors and font, imagery and overall structural placement – a total approach.

Think like your Consumers

The purpose of your website matters, too. Many of the points we’ve raised thus far are applicable to local businesses. However, you may have a different intention. For example, many blogs and websites want to increase their subscriber base. This can be achieved in two main ways – through the website itself or using landing pages. The web design structure must be clear. If you want to collect email addresses for a specific function, the email address function should be what takes priority, not design itself.

Try to make things as easy as possible for web users; the design must be user-friendly. Nobody wants to be confused about where to go and what to do on your website. While your website may appear to be easy to use for you, this may not be the case for everyone else. Ask friends and family to review your website, offering robustly critical reviews on what you might need to improve. Experiments such as this are not atypical; in fact, they’re quite the norm. Landing pages are routinely adjusted to find the best design needed to increase conversion value.

You need to know whether your website design is performing as it should. Never assume that you have, by some serendipitous miracle, arrived at the perfect web design solution on your very first attempt. Chances are that you haven’t. The only way to find out is to experiment – a lot! It’s only by experimenting in this way – by moving elements, by adjusting content and by manipulating the theme and anticipated emotional response of your design – that you can effectively monitor results and arrive at the best possible web design.

Last thoughts

The 7 best elements of a successful web design can be summarized as:

• The design must be part of an overarching strategy
• The design must have a stated purpose, goal and intention
• The design should convey the right emotional response
• Every part of the web design should have a purpose
• SEO marketing content must be optimized for the right keywords
• The design should be user-friendly; offering the best solution
• The very best design is one that has been found through experiment

By taking these comprehensive and robust steps, you go a considerable way toward achieving the results you want.

Fusionvegas is the leading web development and SEO company in Las Vegas. We have helped leading businesses throughout the city attract the relevant traffic, leads and conversions they need. Contact us today for a FREE web design quote.