Feeling like your old website needs a little bit of an adjustment?

Creating a new website for the first time, and aren’t sure the kind of design aesthetic that’s right for your brand?

The way your website looks can have a huge impact on user experience, and reinforce the message of your brand at the same time.

In this post, we’ll share with you just a few of the most important elements that you need to keep in mind when creating a new design for your website.

Read on to learn how to create a site with a higher conversion ratio, a better Google ranking, and with a high rate of user engagement.

1. Consider Your Target Market

When you’re dreaming up a new design for your website, the first thing that you need to consider is your target market.

This means that you’re going to need to do a serious deep dive when it comes to the visual marketing techniques and design aesthetics that appeal to them.

A great place to start?

Social media.

See the kinds of accounts they follow, the design that they respond to, and even the way they set up and “style” their own posts. For example, have you noticed that there seems to be a consistency in the kinds of colors and fonts they react to?

If so, make sure you include those same fonts and colors in your website design.

What about more specific design features like autoplay videos, endless scrolling, and slideshows? How does your target market feel about those elements?

Aren’t sure what your market likes when it comes to design?

Again, thanks to social media, it’s literally never been easier to ask them directly. Not only is this an awesome way to get the information you need straight from the source.

It also helps you to create an emotional connection between your brand and your target market.

2. Make Branding The Focus

Especially when you’re creating a new design for your website, you need to ensure that your branding doesn’t get muddled in the process.

If you’re updating the look of your site, the branded aspects should still be recognizable.

And if you’re creating a new site for the very first time? Your branding needs to take center stage.

In order to create a branded design, focus on using your company’s colors and font types. Also, heavily feature your best-selling products or most recognized services on the home page of your website.

Ensure that the aesthetic of your site design fits with the overall “look” of your brand.

For example, if you’re selling wall art or posters, put your bestselling Blue Horizon Prints Banksy prints on the homepage, or use the image as your background.

Even take branding into consideration when it comes to the actual word choices you use, the way your drop-down menus look, and the features you choose to include on your website.

3. Don’t Forget The Technical Stuff

When you’re in the process of creating a new design for your site, it can be easy to get so wrapped up in the visual elements that you end up forgetting all about the more technical side of things.

However, since over half of site visitors leave websites that take over even three seconds to fully load, these technical details have more of an impact than you think.

This means you’ll need to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly, loads quickly, and that you’ve chosen a hosting platform that can help to keep it online as close to 100% of the time as is possible.

To keep your site in good working order, remove large image files, do a site speed test, and consider working with a professional IT company.

4. Keep Navigation Intuitive

Poor website navigation is one of the most common reasons why so many visitors are leaving your site without making a purchase — or even going past the home page.

Are the buttons on your website too small, especially for mobile users? Is your contact information — including, if applicable, your store hours — on every internal page of your website? Is the virtual shopping cart easy to find? Are your menu options well thought out and organized?

These are the types of things you need to start considering when implementing your new design strategy.

5. Create A Visual Hierarchy

Our final tip for creating a successful new design for your website?

Always use images, words, banners, and even buttons to help create a visual hierarchy of your content, especially on the homepage.

For example, if you’re trying to increase your followers on social media, make sure the buttons linking to your platform pages are right at the top of your homepage.

Want people to buy your newest product? Have a new video in the middle of your homepage, and even consider temporarily removing all other texts and images so that the video is the only thing on the page.

Want to get subscribers to your newsletter? Consider a small pop-up ad that asks visitors to give you their email in exchange for 10% off their next purchase.

In short, put the most important things at the top of your site, and prioritize down from there.

Ready To Bring Your New Design To Life?

We hope that this post has encouraged you to start thinking about the new design elements for your website that you should focus on above anything else.

Remember, it’s all about functionality, branding, connecting with your target market, and putting the most important information up front.

Still have questions about site design? Looking for innovative content ideas?

Spend some time on our website to learn more about web design, photo effects, and much more.