How do I decide on the design of my website?

Ten tips as a guide for getting good website design for you

1. Choosing a Graphic Designer or a cheap Design Theme? We recommend you use a competent commercial ‘website designer’ who is very much experienced in designing specifically for web rather than for print or social media. This is a small number of graphic designers. Ask to see samples of past web design work. Talk to three of their references – ask them for advice on how you should work with this designer on the design of your website

2. Determine a ballpark or affordable budget at this point in your business. You need to be realistic, by allocating a decent budget. Do not engage someone you cannot afford, but again be careful about engaging someone who seems very low cost. Do stretch yourself on this somewhat, because good design shows, as does bad design. If design is charged on a per page basis and the budget is limited, you would be be better with 5 well designed pages, rather than have 10 pages without decent design. Is it design lite as in a small amount of design input or is it proper website design, is it just focused on the home page or is it to be on all pages? You can always get more work done later, as your income increases because of having the new website.

3. Do a wireframe or layout like an architects plan, for a mobile view first and then for a desktop view – approve that as a guideline. Always start with mobile first, because this is where most of your visitors will start their journey, even if they end up viewing on a desktop view later, especially true for B2B.

4. Do full graphic design mockups of your website homepage or important pages to approve before you let a developer start any work. This will avoid surprises and revisions and time. It also allows you make any changes on paper/screen, before any development starts. And it will save both time and costs.

5. If you plan to use a cheap web design theme as a base for your own design, check out its reviews, see if previous users were happy with it. Check to see if its own developers are constantly doing required updates to see if they will be there for you, if you need help and you will need some. Avoid FREE themes, as they are free for a reason. Cheap themes are also cheap for a reason, usually because thousands of other companies are using the same one. Every theme also comes packed full of bits or elements that may slow up your website if used.

6. Then get some of your own customers input at the design stage, before doing any developing. You do not have to take on all suggestions, but you might be surprised at some of the useful suggestions you get. Plus it is a good opportunity to engage with some of your clients, by asking for their opinion. After all who is this website for anyway?

7. Keep asking for feedback, but use your gut instinct to make decisions. Make them fast and iterate over and over, by doing A/B testing to tweak everything constantly as long as it improves results

8. Unless you are Coca Cola or Starbucks, you can afford to look at other websites for ideas and inspiration. There is nothing new under the sun, so find ideas you like and bundle them together to get your own version of a design.

9. Just do it – get on with it. A live site is generally better than an idea on paper – you can always improvise and improve after you go live.

10. Design will always be evolving, so expect to keep tweaking. Keep using your graphic designer to create new content for your website and Social feeds, that is in keeping with your new look or brand. Just like a bricks and mortar shop window you will be tweaking your website every day or week. Get comfortable with that fact, so you can constantly improve. This will all make sense when you see new leads coming through from your website.

Once you get your website designed and developed and live, do NOT walk away from it and think that you have ticked a box, so you can simply move on. This is live and evolving, it is your shop window, your roadside hoarding or sign, your web based advertisement. If it does not generate enquiries, get to work on optimising the website and its UX or user experience/interface. Having a decent website is just ‘table stakes’ then you need to really get to work on it.

Website Design Decision-Making Checklist

Use this checklist as a quick reference when planning your website design.

✅ Choose the Right Web Designer

✅ Set a Realistic Budget

✅ Plan with a Wireframe

✅ Approve a Design Mockup Before Development

✅ Ensure Mobile Responsiveness

✅ Make Your Website Accessible

✅ Optimise Website Performance

✅ Implement Strong SEO Strategies

✅ Seek Feedback and Continuously Improve

Following these steps ensures your website is well-designed, functional and optimised for growth.

Extra Advanced Tips when Deciding for the Design of Your Website 

Responsive Design Ensures a Seamless Experience Across Devices

A responsive website adjusts to different screen sizes, making it easy to use on desktops, tablets and mobiles. With over 60% of web traffic coming from mobile users, a site that is not mobile friendly risks losing clients. Google ranks mobile-friendly sites higher, making responsiveness key for SEO.

Good design uses fluid grids, flexible images and CSS media queries to ensure adaptability. Tools like Google’s Mobile Friendly Test help check compatibility. A mobile-first approach improves engagement and credibility, especially in finance, legal and construction, where trust matters.

Web Accessibility Makes Your Website Inclusive

A website should be accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. Following Web Content Accessibility Guidelines ensures compliance with legal standards and improves usability.

Enhance accessibility with alt text, structured headings, proper colour contrast and keyboard navigation. Screen reader compatibility and captions for multimedia improve user experience. Tools like WAVE and Lighthouse help identify issues. An accessible website increases audience reach, improves SEO and reflects positively on businesses in finance, legal and construction, showing commitment to inclusivity.

Performance Optimisation Speeds Up Load Times

A slow website increases bounce rates and lowers conversions. A one-second delay can reduce conversions by 7%, making speed crucial for business success.

Improve performance by compressing images, enabling lazy loading and using browser caching. Minifying CSS, JavaScript and HTML removes unnecessary code. A Content Delivery Network speeds up global access. Google’s Core Web Vitals measure site speed and ranking performance. A fast website enhances user experience, keeps visitors engaged and increases conversions, making it essential for finance, legal and construction firms.

SEO Strategies Keep Your Website Visible

Search engines frequently update their algorithms, so SEO must evolve. Google ranks mobile-friendly pages higher, so mobile optimisation is essential.

Best practices include high-quality content, optimised meta descriptions, alt text and internal linking. Page speed and Core Web Vitals affect rankings, while voice search optimisation and regular content updates improve visibility. A well-optimised site attracts organic traffic, helping finance, legal and construction firms stay competitive and reach more potential clients.

Website design themes explained.

Themes are simply designs that have been created by someone who wants to sell many iterations of it, so they usually sell for less than US$100. Many theme designers offer a basic version for free and promote a premium or paid version of the same thing. You could therefore start with the free version initially and upgrade later to the paid supported version. Each theme comes with its own styling and colours, headers, icons and fonts, plus some recommended page layouts. Modern themes are all mobile responsive and most can be reconfigured to a point where they are hard to recognise, once you add your own content. Nowadays they are so versatile that all the available options add great flexibility, but also add to the confusion. We recommend you invest in proper custom web design by an experienced graphic designer.

When designing a website should you use a theme or create a bespoke custom graphic design?

The best design is original custom graphic design for you, which is the most expensive to design and develop. But your graphic designer could design for a theme, so that you start with a basic framework and design on top of it. It is akin to buying an IKEA kitchen and then adding to it with colour or other embellishments. There may be thousands of that particular kitchen in houses across the world, but after some personal design yours could look very different. Just do not overdo the tweaking of a theme, as it adds to the development costs. Much like getting that IKEA kitchen and trying to convert it to being a bathroom. There are so many themes, so find one you can use.

If you pay for the premium version the actual theme developer will allow you apply any updates, so that your website keeps up with trends. Recent examples include being responsive or allowing you add compatible plugins or allowing add web forms or even adding downloadable web fonts. Read the information on any theme and ensure it is comprehensive. Likewise read the reviews on the theme to see what previous users said about it. Only use a theme that has plenty of good reviews. Also check that the developers have been continually updating the theme recently. Some themes, like the Genesis theme, from StudioPress, are evergreens and get used a lot because they are continually kept updated and offer good support. Again, we recommend you avoid design themes if you are a serious business. They can work for small start ups.

For more information contact us.