There's no question: everyone wants creative web design. However, if the web designer is determined to realize their artistic vision, this can quickly become a problem from an SEO perspective. At ReachX, we therefore have a very simple rule that guides our website design development: Creativity is always allowed as long as it doesn't compromise the website's usability.
For example, the menu should be located exactly where most visitors expect it to be. The most important content should be as high up as possible and immediately visible without scrolling. Bright or clashing colors should be avoided, cayman islands phone number data as should tiny or oversized images. For the sake of legibility, the font size and line spacing should not be too small, and the font should not be too playful. No matter how great colorful typography may look, the contrast between a white background and black characters is usually the best choice for the eye.
Designing a website with all these important guidelines and rules that is still appealing enough to receive relevant backlinks is not easy – but it is certainly possible, as you can see from our web design projects.
Rule 2: Simple structure, simple navigation
For us, web design always begins with the structural conception of the website. Ideally, the old-school way, starting with a blank sheet of paper. The more extensive and complex a website, the more important this planning becomes. Ultimately, visitors should reach their destination as quickly as possible, starting from the homepage and clicking through to the lowest subpage in the hierarchy. Our rule for this: no more than three clicks!
The flat hierarchy should also be evident in the URL. Above all, the navigation must be intuitively structured. Expandable navigation is a good way to navigate even within large websites in just a few steps, without overly large menus dominating the design. At the same time, the navigation should be so well-tested that it doesn't cause problems even for the most inexperienced user. Additional breadcrumb navigation (a line of text that shows the user which branch they are on within an application) always clearly shows the visitor their position and also allows them to quickly navigate back. Another advantage of these so-called breadcrumbs: they can be perfectly integrated into the snippet.
Rule 3: Content Management System
At ReachX, the decision for a content management system (CMS) also falls into the initial planning phase. Especially for online shops, this system significantly influences the design and structure of the website. We generally decide which CMS is best for a project based on the specific needs of the project. TYPO3, for example, is significantly oversized and complex for blogs or lean company websites. WordPress is more suitable for these. However, WordPress should not be unnecessarily bloated with themes and plugins, as this will affect the website's loading time (see Rule 5).
Rule 4: Responsive web design
Another important aspect for us as web designers is the aforementioned mobile compatibility. In many industries, the number of page views via smartphones and tablets has long exceeded those via desktop computers or laptops. Google recently rolled out the Mobile First Index for this reason. With this, the search engine clearly demonstrates the importance of websites that can also be easily used on mobile devices.
Mobile First not only means that Google prefers mobile-optimized websites, but also that we always develop the smallest version of a website first and then gradually expand it as needed. Whatever the approach, responsive web design is a must today. Not only because it improves rankings, but also because it significantly increases conversion rates.
Rule 5: Loading times
Page speed, or loading time, already plays an important role on desktop devices. However, on smartphones and tablets, it's even more crucial to a website's success. Users are in a hurry, especially when they're on the move, where the strongest mobile network isn't always available and they expect fast information. If a website doesn't load quickly enough because it's been meticulously designed but not optimized, many search engine users will click back to the search results after just two or three seconds. The result is poor user signals. Our rule, therefore, is: Be quick – users' patience is limited.
As web designers, we have a massive influence on page speed. For example, we can omit graphics (where possible) and work with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) instead. Nevertheless, images are naturally part of good design and an appealing presentation, and shouldn't be completely omitted. However, if images are used, they should also be optimized for SEO. This starts with lossless file size reduction, continues with the use of tags, and ends with the image caption. Image SEO not only improves loading times, it can also generate additional traffic via Google Image Search.
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