Website design has changed significantly over the years and is constantly evolving as our use of the web via different devices increases.

A web designer will consider a number of factors that will determine the navigation, layout and placement of content on a website to get the desired action from the user.

You may have noticed that modern web designs generally follow a similar theme these days. There is a good reason for this. From studies on user interface and the use of eye tracking software, we now understand what attracts a viewer’s eyes and where they tend to look first. We can then make sure the important information such as menu and calls to action are placed within these areas.

There are other factors to consider, such as how search engines will rank your web pages from the content and keywords on the page. The headings and where they are placed will influence which keywords search engines will prioritise and rank your page for.

These are the stages a designer will go through when developing your new website:

Research

• Competitors.
• Keywords (software is available to help with this).
• What makes your business unique in your market?
• Visitor analysis if you have an existing website (use Google Analytics, if installed).

Site map, navigation and wireframe

• What do you want to communicate?
• Plan the navigation and pages needed.
• Consider content for each page, text and images.
• It is more efficient to design around your content than fit your content into a design.
• Create a wireframe for your website.

Copywriting and keywords

• Identify best performing keywords.
• Include keywords in your headers and your content.
• Break down information into bite sized chunks with sub headings.
• Write a new page for each subject and set of keywords.
• Select suitable images to complement and break up large areas of text.

Engage and convert

• What are your main messages?
• What do you do, how do you do it?
• Required call to action: sign up, telephone call, gather information or email?
• Testimonials, reviews or case studies to back up your content.

Search Engine Optimisation

• Build your site to the latest web standards.
• Develop the site to ensure search engines can crawl all of your pages.
• Check for errors and site issues before going live.
• Continuous research and improvements to pages and content.
• Measure and monitor keywords and site rankings.

Your input is valuable at every stage to of the design process. Whether you decide to write the content yourself and supply images or hire a copywriter and photographer, you should always have the final approval on how your business is presented on the World Wide Web.

Mark Langston