Did you know you have less than a second to capture someone’s attention on your website? Knowing how to design a website will help you make the most of that first impression for any business in North Carolina. That way, you’ll be able to keep customers and get them to come back for more. And you won’t have to spend as much on customer acquisition.
Outline the Purpose
Before you even start working on your website design, you should determine your website’s purpose. Of course, the purpose will be to help grow your North Carolina business, but you can get more specific.
Perhaps you want to use your website to collect email addresses for marketing. Or maybe you want to focus more on eCommerce website development so that you can sell things online.
Whatever it is, knowing the purpose will help guide you as you work on your website. Then, you can make sure your website helps you reach your goals.
Review Your Brand Elements
Next, you should review any existing brand elements you have, such as fonts, colors, and your logo. If these things are no longer a good fit for your target customers, you may want to redesign your brand.
Doing so now means you can use the new logo and branding on your new website. You can make sure that the design reflects your brand colors and voice.
If you don’t have any branding, you should also create something now. That way, you’ll have a brand to work with as you create your website.
Look for Inspiration
Next, spend some time browsing the web and looking at other website designs. If possible, look at some of the industry leaders to see what templates or designs those companies use.
While you don’t want to copy another site’s design, you can use the design to inspire your own ideas. You can figure out what looks good and how you can make something better.
Then, you can work with a website designer to make those ideas come to life. And you can use successful designs to get an idea of how you can make your site successful.
Compare Website Platforms
Another important step in how to design a website is choosing a website platform. The platform is where you will build and edit your site now and later on. Popular platforms include:
- WordPress
- Squarespace
- Wix
You can compare the features and functions of the various website builders. Even if you work with a website designer, you should choose a platform that allows you to make small changes when necessary.
But you may also want to consider what you need or want in a website. That way, you can choose the website platform with those capabilities.
List Out the Pages You Need
Now, you’re getting closer to the website development process. Before you start building a website, you should create an outline for it, and you can start with the pages.
A good North Carolina business website should have a homepage where visitors can learn the basics. You should also create pages like:
- About
- Contact
- Services or products
- Testimonials or reviews
- Scheduling
- FAQs
- Blog
You don’t need to have tons of pages to make your website great. Look back at the website that inspired you and see what pages they include. Then, you can start with a few and add more as you go.
Develop the Visuals
Another crucial step when building a website is to create visual elements, such as photos, videos, and graphics. If you don’t already have some, now’s the time to create them.
Use a program like Canva or Adobe InDesign to create graphics with your logo or to promote certain offers. Take photos of you and your team and of any products you sell.
If you want to demonstrate how a product or service works, you can even film a video. Videos are also great for introducing yourself and your team.
Create the Content
While you can wait to write your website content, you can write it as your web designer works on your site. Use a document program to write the content and copy for each of the pages you want to add.
Take any photos and videos and upload them to your computer. Edit any of the writing or visuals so that they can be the best possible before you publish your website.
You can edit the content yourself, have a friend or coworker do it, or hire an editor. That way, you won’t miss any small spelling mistakes or fuzzy images.
Work With Your Web Designer
If you want to make your website design the best it can be, you need to hire a professional website designer. They can help turn your website vision into a reality.
Make sure you hire someone who understands your idea and can execute it. Consider how easy they are to work with and how often you can receive updates on the project.
You need to hire the best person for your website. That way, you won’t have to worry about receiving a sub par website or having your web designer take your money without doing any work.
Focus on User Experience
As you work on your website, make sure you prioritize user experience. If people struggle to use your website, they won’t want to come back, so you could lose out on sales or bookings.
Your website should be easy to navigate on both a desktop and a mobile device. The text and images should flow well together, and neither should go off the page.
Test your website for usability throughout the design process. Then, you can fix any problems as they come up, and you can keep your visitors and customers from having issues.
Reviewing How to Design a Website
Knowing how to design a website is crucial for any North Carolina marketing company or business. If your website is hard to use or looks bad, you won’t be able to retain customers.
Then, you may need to spend more money and time to get sales. And that can keep you from growing your company.
Do you need help building a new website? View our web design service and see how we can help.
