In today's age of constant visuals, it's important to ensure your website is not only useful and user-friendly but aesthetically pleasing. Take a trip back in time with us, if you will, and think about the early days of the internet and what websites looked like back in, say, 2001. Now, look at websites in 2022 – big change, right?
Not only have we come a long way in capabilities and website platforms, but they are just so much more fun to interact with and look at. Whether you are creating a brand-new site or simply rebranding/updating your current one, there are some important design elements to consider in achieving any goals you may have for this site, such as an improved user experience and instilling trust in your business and overall appeal. Some things that can make a big difference include:
- Colors – The color choice is a crucial decision when deciding on a website layout. Pick colors that flow together and assemble them in a way that pleases the eye. The good news? You probably already have a color palette in mind – your brand colors.
- High-Quality Images –We live in a visual world, and your website should be filled with high-quality shots that tell a story. Whether that be close-up and detailed shots of your products or staff headshots next to informative bios, the possibilities are endless – just make sure you don't include any grainy photos.
- Easy Navigation – How does your website connect between pages, and how easy is it for users to find individual items? That's all part of your navigation. What good is a website if no one can use it?
- Device Consistency – Since around half of the web traffic in the world is now coming from mobile devices, it's important that your website looks just as good on a phone as it does on a desktop. Say your website looks amazing on a computer (clean, organized, eye-catching) …but then you flip to a phone, and everything is squeezed together and jumbled around.
- That's a big no-no. Make sure your website design keeps device consistency in mind when creating your perfect site.
An Overall Clean Website Layout – Your content should be displayed in a clean, well-organized layout. This allows users to easily find and access everything they could possibly need and helps guarantee a repeat visit to your site.
Are you updating your website enough?
You spend countless hours building and designing the perfect website. It goes live, and you think, "I'll try to remember to update this semi-frequently. Life gets hectic, you focus marketing efforts elsewhere and forget about your site until months go by. It's a common enough story, but it's important to keep your site updated and current. It gives your business credibility and keeps users in the know about what is going on with your brand.
One big way to keep your website updated - blogs! Having a blog on your site can allow you to update your site frequently by talking about what's going on with your company. Just like you would with social media, create a blog post calendar that ensures you are staying on top of updates. Don't have time to manage this? Our Pen & Petal team is here to help create custom content for any blog needs. The best part? You can repurpose your blog posts for social media. Now that's an easy way to keep things current.
Some very common items to consider when prioritizing what is updated…what aspect of your site changes the most frequently? Are you constantly coming out with new products, or do you want to just keep your company news section updated? Whatever your goals, it's important to add this to your marketing plan like any other aspect of your brand and follow it.
For more information: 
Pen & Petal
1345 Encinitas Blvd. #241
Encinitas, CA 92024
(760) 944-7889
info@penandpetal.com
www.penandpetal.com