As per Web Hosting/Website Statistics and Facts, there are approximately 1.94 billion websites globally. If you are planning to add to this number and start your own website, then you need to follow certain techniques and strategies to build brand recognition and stand out of the crowd.
To let you stay competitive, here are some of the latest trends which you can follow to build an effective online web presence.
Mobile-Friendly
Ensue that your site is optimally viewable on all devices.
As you know the market is flooded with various type of mobiles, tabs, and other handheld devices that people use to go online today. And they could be using any of these devices to access your website.
Therefore, it is no longer just enough to have your website display optimally on desktops. You need a way to ensure that your website is just as user-friendly on all those devices that people are using today with varied screen sizes and resolutions.
Why? Because more than 60 percent of the traffic comes from mobile devices. And if those people cannot access your website, then you are losing out on potential customers. And of course,you are providing a bad user experience for the majority of your online users.
It is important that your website is mobile-friendly and is accessible on all devices. The more user-friendly it is, the more the chances of people staying on your site longer. And that directly translates to more sales and money.
No to mention that this can further help in better ranking on Google too.
A responsive, mobile-friendly website is something that you don’t want to overlook. It is an absolute necessity.
Inclusive Website Design
According to this World Bank report on disability there are around 1 billion or 15% of the world’s population that experience some disability in one form or the other.
When we talk about Inclusive web design, what we really mean is designing the website in such a way that majority of the people are able to access your website with relative ease, which includes people with disabilities.
We should strive for an Inclusive website design from a moral and ethical standpoint.
Even if you looked at it purely from an economical point of view, it makes even more sense to include all those billion people, and not exclude them from accessing your site.
More people mean more business in the long run. Makes sense, right?
For example, the alt tag attribute that you see in your CMS when you include an image on your web page. Well you know that you need to include it with each image to make sure that your webpage is SEO friendly, right?
Well only partially. Because the primary reason why we include the alt tag description is so that the blind people using screen readers can understand what the image is all about. So that the non-textual part of the webpage can be better understood by the disabled.
And many of course stuff it with keywords to feed Google, thinking that it would improve their rankings! If you are serious about rankings start with Citation or local link building, then up to other strategies.
Well, so now you know that the alt tag attribute should be used to describe the image as best you can briefly.
A few other things you can do to make your website more inclusive would be to keep your design clean and clutter free. Provide captions and transcripts for your video and audio respectively.
Ensure that links look like links and buttons are large enough and are clickable. Using colors are enhance readability are just a few of the points to keep in mind when designing and inclusive website.
Alluring And Empowering
People are always looking into things that stand out of the crowd and looks magical. Creating a unique design is one of the most important elements when it comes to a good website design.
At the same time, implementation of video content, original pictures, graphics, animation, infographic and such relatable contents or features could help grab the attention of the audience.
Presenting with such user-friendly features available on all device screen will provide a personalized customer experience which is not only beneficial for your website but also for its growth, promotion and ranking.
Simple, Elegant Yet Stunning
However, don’t go overboard with cluttering your website with too many features or design elements as it tends to slow down the speed of the site. Not only this, too much of it can ruin the customer experience as it becomes harder to understand & comprehend a website that it too cluttered.
The eye wouldn’t flow logically from one section to the other and it could potentially confuse your online visitors as they won’t find what they are looking for.
A simple, elegant yet professional web design will hold the attention of the potential audience and direct it to the products and services that you want to stand out on your site. It is about surprising them with something creative and not confusing them with cluttered up design elements.
Whether it is industrial web design, tourism, corporate, or for that matter you could be designing for any niche and the rule of the thumb would be to keep it simple. Yes, keep your website, simple and sleek so that it is easily approachable, one that would hold the user’s attention, and direct their attention to the parts you want to highlight.
More Video
Internet & high-speed broadband today is accessible almost everywhere you go. No wonder people are increasingly creating and consuming more video content than ever.
And this trend can be seen not only on YouTube but also on almost all websites.
The cost of producing a decent video has gone down tremendously. YouTube, Vimeo and other video hosting & streaming platforms make it super easy to keep all your videos under one account. And it is even easier to embed them on your website.
If a picture is worth a thousand words than a video is worth much more. Therefore, we can be sure that in the time to come, video would be used much more extensively as part of a well-balanced website.
Videos not only will help attract more customers to your website through search but will also help them stay on your site longer.
Final Words –
These are just some of the trends that you could see in the coming years. Though the list could be a lot more.
The future is coming at us at a very fast pace. Things are changing every second as we speak. Technology is evolving at an exponential pace. Therefore, things will change a lot dramatically than we can currently envision.
The emergence of AI would make chatbots much more intelligent and efficient in understanding the requirements of the customer. This could automate the entire chat process. They could interact with the customer on their own in real time.
Of course, the prominence of the mobile is impacting the design of the mobile site too.
Did we leave out something? What are the trends that you think the hottest today? Let us know in the comments below.
