Web Design, Usability, and User Experience Best Practices 12 Guidelines

A client’s unrealistic expectations can doom a website to fail before the design process even begins.

Unfortunately, many clients have limited knowledge of what a website should be, and more importantly, what a functional, intentional website can deliver. They underestimate the value of going beyond aesthetics with their sites, assuming that build success relies solely on an appealing interface. Clients believe that, as long as their site “looks good,” it will float in cyberspace, effectively extending brand reach while magically attracting millions of interested users and converting them into customers.

The truth is, that’s not how website magic works.

To deliver digital results, a website must offer an engaging, dynamic user experience. Yes, Content is King that is graphics are critical to the design process. However, to optimize success, your site must provide more than compelling graphics. Your developer is or, at least should be working hard behind the scenes for you, creating a sophisticated infrastructure of both site and SEO functionality that must be developed and tested before going live. That is where the website magic truly begins.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A client’s budget expectations can also play a major role in launching an inferior website. When it comes to promoting your brand, it’s important to remember that you ultimately get what you pay for. An effective, intuitive website design is complicated. But the return is well worth the investment. So, clients, invest already. And trust your developer ’s insight, talent, and experience as you navigate through the process to a final design that doesn’t just look great, but also achieves all of your critical online…

Of course, clients aren’t the only ones to bad websites. Developers themselves can also contribute to the slew of poorly designed, ineffective sites plaguing the Internet. How? It often starts by treating must-have digital marketing features as “extras” when offering site packages to clients.

Developers, 2021 is the year you up to your game and raise the bar on acceptable industry standards.

No more static, one-dimensional tactics that render a site into a mere Powerpoint presentation (aka a static and boring data deluge). Going forward, refuse to work on a design that isn’t multidimensional and fully functional. Every project you take on should have all the necessary digital marketing functions to elevate both owner and user experience.

Yes, some of your clients will express a bit of sticker shock. Stand firm. Rather than dilute design features, enlighten them on the many benefits offered by a highly functioning website. If they insist on a cheap and crummy website? Don’t take on the project. It’s far better to refuse one client than to lose countless prospects who notice you have a knack for churning out poor products.

Ready to put an actionable plan in place to redefine the new normal for 2021 sites? Non-negotiable standards to implement on your site

(Always Ask Us Did you implement the following)

No one wants to wait (and wait and wait) for your site to load. Design sites with prompt loading times for all users on all devices (even the ones with slower Internet connections). You can use Pingdom or Pagespeed I nsights by Google to check your website speed and see how you can improve .

Virtually everyone uses smart devices daily. Create an engaging, mobile-friendly design that your audience can access whenever they want, wherever they roam.

Analytics matter – it’s the best way to determine that your website is actually doing its job. The final design should include functionality to gauge key indicators such as traffic, goals, and conversions.

Don’t underestimate the power of optimizing your site for both browsers and humans. Develop compelling, readable content for your followers. For the search engines, always include all important on-page SEO tags and elements, including schema and XML sitemaps. At Trophy Developers we sometimes separate SEO from Website Development but we usually insist on developing while applying SEO Strategies to your website.

We aren’t quite done with the power of the written word just yet. Consistently publishing fresh, original content not only captivates your audience but can also deliver invaluable, long-term digital marketing momentum. Include a back-end Content Management System (e.g. WordPress , Joomla , drupal in the design so clients can post and edit content as needed.

Have a conversion-centric client? Implement tools for creating campaign landing pages into your design. These designated pages can keep your readers moving through your site and direct them to schedule an appointment, request a product demonstration, and even make a purchase.

Yes, email marketing is still a thing – and a highly effective thing at that. A site’s email capture forms should sync with the client’s email marketing system for seamless access and connection. We prefer mailchimp.com

Never miss an opportunity to leverage the power of social media( Facebook , Twitter , Snapchat, LinkedIn ). Integrate all relevant social media platforms within your design. Allowing users to quickly access social media pages from the website instantly broadens a brand’s reach and helps increase visibility and traffic.