Taking advantage of WordPress website design can help you effectively reach your audience in the best possible way. Several factors can influence it, from making one with a site builder to knowing the features of effective sites. By designing a high-quality, professional site, you’ll be setting the stage for better success with potential customers.
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What Are the Benefits of Website Design?
The first thing to consider when getting into website design on WordPress is the benefit of a great site design.
Stronger First Impressions
The best way to understand the benefits of a site’s design is to put yourself in the shoes of potential customers. If you’re visiting a company’s site to make a purchase, what is one of the first things you look for? You’ll probably prefer an easy-to-navigate, professional site with attractive features, right?
By focusing on site design, you can create stronger first impressions to establish authority in your customer’s minds. You’ll want to ensure your site is so attractive that your customers will visit your page and no one else’s. All of the information they need in your specific niche should be readily available.
Reduced Bounce Rates
One of the primary objectives for site owners is to engage and retain their audiences. The more time your customers spend on your site, the more likely they will explore the site in deeper detail. This process can help improve your site’s authority while also leading customers through your sales funnel.
With the perfect site design, you’ll reduce your bounce rate, leading to higher sales. It can also help establish better credibility with your target audience, which can affect other aspects. For example, credible sites are more likely to be shared on social media, attracting a larger audience.
Improved Search Engine Rankings
There are several factors that Google and other search engines take into consideration with their rankings. You’ll need to focus on your site’s design and the content within its pages.
If you want to stay at the top of SERPs (search engine result pages), it’s time to consider a better site design. The easier it is for crawlers to make their way through your site, the higher your ranking will be.
It’s also essential to ensure all of your content is regularly updated, offering new and valuable information to visitors. Site speed is another crucial factor of site design, as slower loading sites are likely to be ranked lower.
Creating Brand Consistency
Every company needs to establish consistency across its branding. You’ll want customers to attribute the color palette for your site to your brand, as well as the site font and general layout. Creating a website can showcase your brand’s identity, making it more identifiable across the internet.
The Best Design Practices for WordPress Sites
Before you get into designing your website, it’s important to note the key features that make your site more identifiable. With WordPress, designing a site is like using any other platform; you need to create something easy for customers to use. Let’s look at some of the best design practices you can follow when creating one.
Compelling Color Palettes
Back in the day, the bolder and brighter a website was, the more attractive it is. However, the truth is that the more attractive a website looks, the more likely people are to use it. It’s essential to find a compelling color palette that captures a reader’s attention without being too overwhelming.
Within your theme, be sure to use colors that can be attributed to your brand to make the site identifiable. Take advantage of highlighting colors to bring attention to the most critical aspects of your site. Limited color palettes are a significantly better option than using every color in the rainbow, especially for modernized companies.
High-Resolution Images
It’s important to give your site’s visitors something to look at other than blocks of text. High-resolution images are a sure-fire way to reduce bounce rates and keep visitors engaged.
Not only is it important to make sure you’re using high-quality imagery but related imagery as well. You’ll want to choose stock photos with a unique feel that can be attributed to your brand.
Another great idea is to consider taking photos yourself or hiring a professional for the job. The more unique your photos are, the easier it will be to establish a brand identity.
Wisely Picking Plugins
Plugins are one of the most remarkable aspects of WordPress that other blogging platforms don’t offer. With that said, when designing your first site, it can be tempting to overload your account with too many plugins.
As useful as they are, too many plugins can significantly reduce site performance and speed. Be sure to choose the items you need the most, such as those for security, search engine optimization, and navigation.
It’s also essential that you research individual plugins before installing them to ensure they do what you need them to do. Site owners should also ensure they’re installing plugins that are frequently updated or newly released and tested.
Can I Make a WordPress Site?
WordPress is a unique platform because it accommodates professional and novice site designers alike. It’s possible to hire a professional designer to create your dream site, but you might be able to do it yourself.
With the ample number of WordPress tools available, the platform has made it simpler for anyone to craft a site. You’ll find a couple of great features on WordPress that can help make designing your site simpler. Let’s take a look at some of the ones you should consider using.
Themes
WordPress themes are among the most-used features of the platform. With themes, you won’t have to worry about coding a site yourself as they’re pre-made, professionally designed layouts. Not to mention, there are hundreds of options you can browse through, many of which are free.
WordPress themes feature impressive designs with different color schemes, typography, module layouts, and more. You also have some control when it comes to the organization of your site, as you can edit and adjust them as needed.
While using pre-made themes, you won’t have to worry about the collaborative process of working with a professional designer. As mentioned, out of the 300 options on the platform, many are free, and the other half are premium.
Premium themes can often be preferred. After all, they take a step away from the standard layouts that most other businesses use. All you have to do is find an attractive theme, take a quick tour, and choose the one that best suits your brand.
CSS Customization
For beginners, the concept of CSS might sound daunting, but it can be a simple coding language for anyone to use. CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) allows you to enhance or adjust the visual elements of your webpage on WordPress.
When you download your desired theme, you’ll receive a style.css format with editable code for you to use. Interestingly, the majority of CSS coding doesn’t require much programming knowledge to put to good use.
There are thousands of lines of CSS that you can simply copy and paste into your site to make adjustments. With CSS, you can edit the colors of text, the font used within the theme, or even rearrange photos and videos.
It’s important to note that accessing the CSS editor requires a Premium or Business plan, but it’s worth purchasing. With it, you can take a more hands-on approach to customize your site to fit your brand’s image. Also, it can teach you some of the basics of website design without needing a professional.
WordPress Website Design: When to Hire a Professional
It can be tempting to try to take on the entirety of your site’s design on your own, mainly to save money. However, it’s a great idea to consider a professional designer or agency to create a site unique to your brand. With professionals, you can ensure the most important aspects of your site are included to make it effective from day one.
Your site isn’t as scalable as you hoped.
As your business grows, your website must evolve as well. The more customers you attract, the more products and information you’ll need to offer to achieve higher sales. You might also find that with more customer experience reviews, your site areas need updating.
Hiring a professional site designer ensures that your website remains scalable, growing with you over the years. The native benefits of WordPress make every blog scalable, offering no page limits and outstanding efficiency. However, you’ll need a website designer to ensure your content is regularly updated, keeping it fresh and engaging.
You’ve noticed your site is lacking accessibility.
Accessibility is one of the most important aspects of creating and owning a website. Not only should it be easy for the average browser to use but also for those with special needs.
Using a professional website designer helps you create an easily navigable website for those with and without disabilities. For example, adding closed captions to the videos on your site or integrating the option for enlarging font sizes.
Most modern web developers are aware of the best ways to optimize your site for disabled users. They’ll implement various assets, such as keyboard navigation, contrast sensitivity, alt text, and more.
Your site rankings aren’t as you expected.
Several facets work together and contribute to your site’s success and ranking on search engines. However, layout and navigability are two of the most prominent.
With a website designer, you can create an effective site that makes you far more competitive. The better your layout is, the easier it will be to use, which will make it more popular with crawlers and customers alike.
Like implementing features for disabled persons, designers know how to create compelling websites for better search engine rankings. If you’ve checked to ensure all other aspects are performing well, your rankings could be due to your site’s structure.
Final Thoughts
Maximizing the potential of WordPress website design can transform the quality of your site. With better quality comes higher customer satisfaction and better brand awareness, benefitting your bottom line. Whether you design it yourself or hire a professional to help, taking advantage of site design is essential.
