Today, when there are millions of websites, and when hundreds or thousands are being brought online every day, you need to be distinctive. Two very important ways in which you can do this is to have a great design and well written texts. Although both of these points are equally important, this article will focus on the visual aspects of your website and how to improve it.
Many of popular sites run on WordPress. It is one of the most popular Content Management Systems, because it offers numerous ways to improve the functionality and appearance of your website. So, if you are in the process of making your website, you should seriously consider making it in WordPress. On the other hand, if you’re not using WordPress, you may wish to switch to it after you hear about its features.
Invest in Your Visual Identity
Before diving into possibilities offered by WordPress, we should discuss your visual identity. Your logo and everything to do with visual representation of your business are very important. The best possible solution would be to hire a professional designer that can transform your ideas and wishes into an eye-catching logo. Although this can be an expensive endeavour, you shouldn’t take it lightly. Don’t make your temporary solution a permanent one.
Try WordPress Themes
After you’ve solved the issue of your visual identity, you should start thinking about the layout of your website. Bear in mind, different types of businesses benefit from different types of websites. Before making your decision, you can always check how other people who work in your sector resolved this.
One of the advantages of WordPress is the abundance of themes with different layouts. WordPress website designs range from simple and elegant, to interactive and complex. Moreover, many of them are free. You can customise and tweak them with various plugins. So, even if you decide to use a popular theme, by the time you finish your adjustments it will be a completely unique visual experience. Making these adjustments, however, may require some knowledge of coding.
If you are not in the mood of learning how to change the code, or you don’t have anyone to do this for you, you can always pay for one of the premium themes. The price is usually not high, many of them are around 50$. With premium themes, you get access to a control panel with which you can easily change its features. These controls are usually very user-friendly, so even people who don’t have experience in making websites can manage them.
Whether you decide to tackle the website design yourself, hire a professional, or buy one of the premium themes, there are few things you should definitely pay attention to:
- Have an appealing homepage – it should be both visually pleasing and easy to navigate. The visual aspect will attract people to your site, but if they can’t manage it easily, they may decide to leave;
- Adjust colours to your visual identity – if you have designed your logo before you started making your website, make sure the colours match. Generally speaking, you shouldn’t go to either extreme. Too little colour may appear cold or boring, to many and people won’t take you seriously, or think you are too aggressive;
- Pick legible fonts – it is very important that the text on your website is easily readable. If you use fonts that require effort and time to decipher, you will definitely lose visitors and consequently potential customers.
Explore WordPress Plugins
Another brilliant WordPress feature that can do wonders to make your website stand out is great selection of plugins. All those adjustments that we’ve just discussed can easily been made just by finding the right plugin.
For example, when designing your home page, you can install one of the page builder plugins that allow you to incorporate various elements, such as sliders, menus and sidebars just by dragging and dropping them. This completely eliminates the need for learning code and allows you to quickly set the most important page of your website.
The best thing about plugins is that they are free. Furthermore, since WordPress is an open-source platform, new plugins and new ways to improve the appearance of your website are published daily.
Built-in Functions
WordPress also has built-in functions that can be used to make your website distinguishable. One of the examples is possibility to use sticky posts. With this simple solution you can place important news and announcements on your homepage that will stand-out from regular posts. If you feel up to it, there are even tricks for customising them with few lines of code.
Conclusion
In order for your website to stand out among others, you need to have both good content and good visual appearance. Visual aspect usually includes multiple features, ranging from layout and colours, to different widgets and elements you decide to incorporate. Although this is the place to be creative, be mindful of practical things, such as colour scheme that matches your logo and easy navigation through the website. No matter how visually appealing your site is, if it is confusing it will drive visitors away. So keep it simple, pick a layout that matches your type of business, and use widgets and visual elements purposefully.
