13 Website Design Best Practices For 2021

Nowadays, you can get a website up and running in a few minutes. But there’s a difference between a website being live and it being optimized.

Why does design matter? It only takes 0.05 seconds for people to form an opinion about your website. Yes, you read that correctly—50 milliseconds for someone to be blown away or repulsed by your website. Most of that opinion is formed from the design.

Website design also impacts your conversions, credibility, and, ultimately, makes or breaks the success of your site. No website is perfect, but you should optimize it as much as possible.

Here’s something to take into consideration as well: After a bad experience, 88% of consumers are unlikely to return to a website. On top of that, a recent study found that 77% of agencies say that a poor website design is the most significant weakness of their clients.

Bottom line: If your web design isn’t optimized for user experience (UX), it’s going to be detrimental to your success. That’s why I wrote this guide.

Bottom line: If your web design isn’t optimized for user experience (UX), it’s going to be detrimental to your success. That’s why I wrote this guide.

Use this checklist to ensure you have a winning design

1. Minimize text
2. Show, don’t tell
3. Use short sentences
4. Try shorter paragraphs
5. Choose a color scheme that fits
6. Make your CTA clear
7. Reinforce actions with familiarity
8. Simplify the navigation
9. Optimize your design for mobile
10. Prioritize SEO
11. Monitor your page loading speed
12. Continuously run A/B tests

1. Minimize text

Don’t fill your pages with massive blocks of text.

I’m not talking about blog posts, which sometimes need to go in-depth (like this one!). I’m talking about your web pages (e.g. homepage, landing page). Keep the text to a minimum here.

You want to tell your website visitors all about you, your company, your brand, and your products. But you need to learn how to tell that story in just a few sentences or—even better— a few words.

2. Show, don’t tell

Visuals not only help you break up the written content, but they can also provide deeper explanation. Show your visitors what you’re about. They’ll understand more in a shorter amount of time.

Harry’s product page embodies both of these first two design principles:

For example, let’s say your website sells razors, blades, shaving cream, and other shaving products for men.

You operate on a subscription business model and deliver these products to your customers on a monthly basis. The design of your razors is very handsome — they’re made of carved hardwood and are nice enough to give as a gift.

Rather than going into all of this detail on your homepage, you can simply have a photo of these products with text saying something like, “delivered to your door.” You get your message across in just four words.

Sure, you can go into greater detail the deeper the visitor gets into your pages, but a lengthy text description isn’t required.

3. Use short sentences

Short sentences are easier to read.

Don’t bombard visitors with big chunks of text. They won’t know where to start reading and won’t be able to digest your content.

Mix it up. If you need a long sentence, follow it with a short one. Variety helps.

4. Try shorter paragraphs

Use paragraph breaks to your advantage. It’s okay to write longer paragraphs, but I like to keep my homepage paragraphs to a few sentences.

It’s also important not to overdo it. Too much of a good thing, is actually a bad thing.

Start each paragraph with new information, so if someone is scrolling they can quickly tell if they need to read that paragraph.

Eliminating unnecessary text on your pages reduces clutter AND puts more emphasis on your call-to-action.

Having the CTA stand out alone in its own paragraph is more impactful than burying it in a bunch of text.

A very useful tool in this situation are bullets. Instead of adding paragraphs and long-form writing, consider using lists. In those lists, use bullet points.

Studies show that more people will look at lists with bullet points than other formats. That’s because they help improve a page’s scannability and allow you to highlight the most important points you want to make.

5. Choose a color scheme that fits your branding strategy

The color choices you make on your website are more important than you think.

Visitors judge your website in less than 90 seconds. Most of that is a result of the colors you choose.

The best way to choose your website color scheme is with branding. Refer to your logo. Do the colors on your website fit with your brand image?

Here’s an example. Think of Starbucks.

When you hear this brand name, I’m sure you have an image in your head. Maybe it’s the logo, a sign, or a store location.

Do you associate any colors with that name? Now let’s look at their website.

It’s no surprise that they went with a green color scheme.

This design choice matches their logo and brand image, which reinforces what consumers already associate with the brand. By keeping things consistent, there is no confusion. It would be odd if you visited this website and the colors were yellow and red. That has nothing to do with their brand.

We’ll talk more about reinforcement in greater depth as we continue.

6. Make your CTA clear and obvious

CTAs should not be buried. They need to be big, bold and powerful and they must clearly stand out as the action your visitors should take next.

Yet, most websites don’t have a CTA button that can be spotted in less than three seconds. There’s a good chance that you fall into the group that takes longer. That’s not the category you want to be in.

You can’t drive conversions without an effective CTA button.