Creating Web Page Design PDF

CREATING WEB PAGE DESIGN  Set your goal Before you design a website, be crystal-clear about what you want to achieve. With so many types of websites out there, you should start by deciding which kind will help you m...

CREATING WEB PAGE DESIGN  Set your goal Before you design a website, be crystal-clear about what you want to achieve. With so many types of websites out there, you should start by deciding which kind will help you meet your goals and meet your target audience and market where they are: An online store or eCommerce website to sell your products A blog to share your knowledge with the world An online portfolio to showcase your art An event website for weddings, parties and company events A business website to manage and grow your business A photography website to display and sell prints A resume website to grab the attention of potential A fitness website to book new clients employers A restaurant website to help with online orders, delivery and payment  Choose your website builder Now that you’ve identified your goal, your next step is to choose the right website builder to accomplish it. A website builder (also known as a CMS) is a platform on which you can design, personalize and publish a website without any knowledge of coding.  Define your layout Once you’re logged into your platform of choice, it’s time to conceptualize your website layout. If you want to start from scratch, you may want to plan map out your website’s design (and structure) on paper before you start to use the drag and drop website builder. However, another option is to use a template, which is a pre-designed layout created by a professional designer. Wix offers an extensive library of free website templates. You’ll find designs for every kind of website, whether you’re looking to create a business website, a blog or a personal website. Start by browsing through the hundreds of options until you find a layout that you love. Then, you can make it your own by fully customizing all its elements and removing, adding or changing details like text, images and color.  Claim your domain name To put it in simple terms, your domain name is your address on the internet. It’s what your visitors will see in the bar of their browser, right after the “www.” Registering your domain name is critical for online success. Websites with a customized domain are automatically perceived by internet users as more professional and trustworthy. Short: The longer it is, the higher the chances of visitors misspelling it. Simple: Avoid symbols, special characters and numbers. Professional: Your domain name should incorporate your own name or your business name, to avoid confusion. Evocative: Hint about what you do into your domain name by incorporating words that are related to your business.  Gather your content Now that you’ve set the foundations for your digital design, it’s time to get practical and prepare the content that will be featured on your website. This includes all of your web content —images, text, logo, videos and more. Use your own material as much as possible to ensure you’re offering unique and branded content. If you’re not using original content, just make sure to acquire your resources legally. Wix comes with a wide selection of media features, including a library of over one million free photos from our partners at Unsplash, Vector illustrations and interactive videos that are exclusive to Wix. There’s also endless stock photo and image reservoirs you can check out. Or, Wix's AI image tool.  Add the right pages Every business is unique, and so is every website. Nevertheless, there are some traditional sections that your site visitors will expect to see. If you’re going for a multi-page website design, here are some must- have web pages: Homepage: You have one chance to make a good first impression, and your homepage is it. Since it’s likely to be the first thing visitors will see, aim for a homepage that’s clean, organized and eye-catching. It should clarify who you are and what you do and serve as a starting point for visitors to navigate through your site.  About Us page: Tell your story and share your values, methods and any other information that defines your brand with an About Us page. Welcome new visitors by using the first person (“I” or “We”), since it adds a friendly touch of friendliness and warmth. Also, don’t forget to include a picture of yourself or your team members, since clients always like to see the face behind a business. Contact page: When visitors want to reach out, they should be able to get hold of you easily. That’s where a contact page comes in. Make sure to include your phone number, postal address, business email address and social media accounts. You can also consider adding a live chat widget that gives visitors the chance to reach out and get an immediate response, or a contact form where they can write their message directly through your site.  Your product or service page: The product page (or service page, depending on your industry) is where your visitors discover what you have to offer, and if they’re convinced, take out their credit card and make a purchase. A blog: Starting a blog with a blog creator boosts your reputation as an expert, helps you foster a loyal community, and is an effective way to drive traffic to your website. Testimonials: An honest testimonials page is a wonderfully effective addition to your website design.  Splash page: A splash page acts as a preview to your site, greeting visitors before they reach your homepage. This is a great way to engage with visitors using high quality visuals or interesting text, or to promote a special offer or event. FAQ page: An FAQ page is a dedicated page on your website that provides visitors with quick and simple answers to common questions in an organized and structured manner. It can save time by providing automated answers and provide a great experience for users. Privacy page: This may be necessary for legal compliance, so be sure to check in your own country. A privacy policy helps you establish yourself as a transparent brand, whom customers can trust.  Design your website elements You’ve got your content ready, claimed your domain name and set up your website’s pages. It’s officially time to design the elements of your website. In this section, we’ll talk about all the details that will bring your website together and how to arrange them to form one cohesive design - whether that's inspired by minimalist, modernism, brutalism or something else completely.  Here are some elements to work on when learning how to design a website: Website architecture: In order to provide the best website navigation experience for visitors, your pages need to be properly connected to one another. Menu: This central element of your design will display the different items featured on your website, ensuring that visitors can easily find and navigate from one page to another. Colors: Color psychology proves that different hues have different impacts on human behavior, which is what makes it such an important aspect of website design.  Fonts: When you choose fonts for your website, pick typefaces that are legible (both on desktop and mobile) and consistent with your brand identity. Header and footer: Your website’s header and footer are found at the very top and bottom of your website, respectively. Motion: This refers to all of the non-static, multimedia elements of your website, which can be very handy when you’re trying to catch the eye of visitors. Motion can come in many shapes, sizes and locations across your website design: implementing hover effects to encourage interaction, using VideoBox to add stunning effects or even uploading a full video background.  Scroll effects: As the name suggests, scroll effects appear when the visitors scroll up or down your site. Their sophistication has the potential to draw attention, but most importantly, they help create a smooth transition between the different layers of a website page. Favicon: A favicon is a small icon that will be used in a website browser to “represent” your website. Responsive design: Responsive design enables your visitors to have a seamless browsing experience, regardless of whether they are using a desktop computer, tablet or mobile device.  Pick the professional tools you need The internet is becoming one of the most important marketplaces in the world. It’s estimated that in 2022, over 2.14 billion people worldwide will purchase goods and services online. For the creative and professionally minded alike, adding some of the following tools to your website can help facilitate efficient and secure transactions. It can also help ensure the scalability of your business through your website.  Scheduling software: If you run a service business, your website needs to be able to receive online reservations and payments, 24/7. Online store: Want to sell your goods online and generate a continuous stream of revenue? An online store is the way to go. Social posts: Raise brand awareness and drive traffic to your site by creating eye-catching social media graphics and sharing your posts directly to Facebook and Instagram. Music: Wix Music is a cutting-edge platform for musicians who want to expand their audience while maintaining total creative freedom.  Video Maker: Did you know videos can boost organic search traffic to your website by 157%? With the Wix Video maker you can enhance your website design with customized videos in order to engage with your audience and improve traffic Wix app: The Wix app conveniently allows you to run your site from anywhere, whether this means live chatting with visitors, or designing your website on-the-go. You’ll even have a mobile space where your regular followers and clients can join.  Make it accessible to everyone These days, a truly great website design should be accessible to everyone. Web accessibility ensures that all people, regardless of their abilities, can comfortably experience and interact with your website. This includes people with vision impairment, temporary injuries, hearing loss and more. With over one billion people living with some form of disability, catering to everyone’s needs is crucial. It also shows that you and your business value inclusivity and diversity.  Optimize for mobile Smaller screens do not equal smaller impact. With an increase in smartphone and tablet usage, it’s crucial that you ensure a seamless browsing experience across all devices by optimizing your mobile website design. When creating a site with Wix, a mobile version of your site is automatically generated with the Mobile Editor. This means that you won’t have to worry about building a new structure from scratch. However, it’s still up to you to make sure you’re optimizing your content to fit this smaller piece of real estate.  Engage with visitors These days, visitors expect to engage with you on your site and beyond. Including some of the following features when you design a website will keep your audience connected and informed. Connecting with your followers across multiple channels is a powerful way to build relationships with them—and will ultimately bring more eyes to your site. Live chat: Adding a live chat widget to your site makes a big difference in your visitors’ ability to interact with you.  Social media: Similar to your website, your social media channels are an important aspect of your online presence. Newsletter: Email marketing is a great way to maintain a connection with your audience. You can use email newsletters to update visitors about the latest sales on your online store, promote new blog articles, or celebrate your achievements with subscribers. Forms: One powerful way to build long-lasting relationships with your customers is to ask for their feedback.  Ask for feedback, test and edit At this point, you may know how to design a website successfully, but there’s still room for growth. Being impartial is especially difficult when it comes to your own creation, which is why designing a website involves asking for honest feedback from individuals you trust. Is the text correct? Spelling mistakes can ruin the professional reputation that you’ve worked so hard to build. Are the pages easy to navigate? If it takes too long to find a strategic page of your site, it means that you may need to rethink your site architecture or improve the visibility of your menu.  Is your web design optimized for mobile? Over 50% of internet users browse websites using a mobile device. You certainly don’t want to leave half of the world’s population frustrated. Are all the links working? Click on every link to make sure none of them return a 404 page (this indicates that the page doesn’t exist anymore). Check to make sure your call-to-actions (CTA's) are working with the correct links too. Are the SEO elements filled out correctly? From alt text to title tags, there are some items to verify so you can rank higher and grow your search engine visibility.  Publish and update Having a website is a necessity. But having a website that is up-to- date is what really makes the difference. A site that looks like it’s been lying dormant for too long is uninviting and unreliable. Make sure to be alert, stay in-the-know and update or redesign your website's content as often as you can. Stay savvy by keeping up with web design trends and UX design trends—use that knowledge to update your site’s design overtime. Don’t forget to keep your content up-to-date, too. Make sure it’s always relevant and proves to visitors that you’re on top of the latest developments in your industry.  What you need to design a website A domain name: This is the address of your website on the internet, such as example.com. You can register a domain name through a domain registrar. Web hosting: This is the service that stores your website's files and makes them accessible to visitors. You can purchase web hosting from a web hosting provider.  A website builder or content management system (CMS): This is a software tool that helps you to create and manage your website's content. Using Wix as a CMS for web design offers you a wide range of templates, ease of use and affordability. Design assets: This includes images, videos and fonts that you will use to design your website. You can find design assets for free or purchase them from stock photo websites and other online resources.