Many website design elements come and go every year, meaning update after update of your website. A website full of animation may look really interesting from a design aspect, but be horrendous for users, while an extremely minimalist website is all the rage while your website visitors are left to find their answers elsewhere.
But some design elements aren’t just fads, they can legitimately contribute to your business success. These website design elements are our favorites of 2019. The ones that don’t just make your website look incredibly up-to-date and not stuck in 1998, but help your business reach its goals!
White Space
Often referred to as “white space” - this website design element is actually all about making your website text and content easier to comprehend by allowing for extra, empty space.
Purposefully designing your website with whitespace creates a clean design that is clearly organized and easy to digest.
Less has always been more, however, that's even more important in today's web design conventions. Recently, websites are looking to achieve a more simplified, clean look. Clearing out any elements that don't serve a purpose or help users navigate a site is essential- and makes for less design work in the end. In this case, whitespace is your friend.
Lizzie Dunn SEO Associate at
Fundera
Space isn’t just a web design trend, it’s important to dictate how easy your website can be comprehended. It also allows you to guide your visitors to specific calls-to-action and content you want them to see.
One way to gauge if you have enough white space on your website is to take a step back from your computer when viewing your website. Do you understand the purpose and goal of each element you see? Is anything distracting you from focusing solely on that goal? If so, add some space!
Clear Direction
Speaking of white space and clear focus, a simple navigation doesn’t let your website visitors get overwhelmed by options and leave!
Your navigation needs to be just that, clear direction to exactly what your website visitors need.
It’s really easy to have a navigation with 15 different options that overwhelm your website visitors who decide to not make a decision at all. Narrow down the options in your navigation to just the highlights that get website visitors to what they need, as well as what goal you need them to fulfill.
Social Proof
Elements on your site that build trust aren’t anything new, but their importance is only increasing in 2019.
Whether you are linking to Yelp, Better Business Bureau, or sharing testimonials, “these trust signals have become especially important with Google's push for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness over the past couple of years. When a user visits your site, featuring several independent sources that demonstrate your long and positive track record can make the difference between using your products/services vs. those of the next business.” according to Tony Mastri, the Digital Marketing Manager at
MARION Digital Marketing.
If you’re a local business, work to improve your Facebook or Yelp star rating. No matter what, go back to some of your previous customers and ask for reviews or make a point to ask for testimonials after purchases moving forward.
Facebook Instant Chat
An easy way to improve your website visitors experience on your site is to allow them to directly connect with you for answers to their questions.
You can do this with many different chat features, but I find using Facebook chat is the easiest to answer on the go and the best option for creating your own bot!
According to Balazs Hajde from
Authority Hacker “a simple chatbox function is an important addition. [You can] provide easy support access through chatboxes, drastically improving the user experience since you don't have to browse through the site to find the support pages or FAQs.”
It’s not just a trend that will fade, either, Ricky Wolff, Founder and Marketing Manager at
Markletic started using chat functionality and saw their conversation rate increase by 37%. Wolff says, “Chat functionality enables dialogue instead of just content consumption. Especially at small businesses, it is hard to generate website traffic. Chat functionality allows you to convert that hard-earned traffic into customers must faster and at a lower cost-per-acquisition.”
To install Facebook Chat functionality on your site, you need to add a few simple lines of code to your site (similar to adding a Facebook pixel).
Jargon Free
Jargon is an element of all of my marketing I've been trying to remove the past year. Jargon is specific words or phrases that are particular to a profession or industry.
Everybody knows jargon for their specific niche, but when you create a website and marketing to reach a new audience, jargon creates a barrier!
I love what Syed Ali Hasan, the Digital Marketing Manager at
Film Jackets says about jargon, “[There’s] no need to use difficult words to make your content look good. Focus on expressing rather than impressing your readers. Use short sentences, reduce unnecessary words, and grammatical mistakes.”
By removing industry-specific words or phrases, you make it easier for website visitors to relate to you and trust you!
Clear Brand
While not specific to 2019, a clearly defined brand is important no matter what year you’re in!
At
Badass Resume Company, Arthur Camara experienced the power of a defined brand, “Over the years, we've spoken with clients in a wide range of professions who have consistently raved about how refreshing it was to see a website with character and personality. There's just so much information out there, and a lot of it can get pretty repetitive. It's hard to tell which sources are trustworthy, and one thing that goes a long way toward establishing rapport with visitors is to create a memorable and unique brand that your audience will be happy to share.”
Every single one of these website elements is highly important in 2019, not because every advanced website is doing them, but because they will improve your website visitor’s experience.
Making your website easy to understand and navigate, means it’s easier to convert them to leads and future customers.
Which website element are you going to implement today? Let me know in the comments below!
At Wavoto we make it easy for you to have each of these website elements, whether you're looking to add white space or have a clear brand.
See for yourself for free, today!