Things to know about Web Design in 2021

Home
Blog

Importance of having a website in 2021, website types & stats

- - Web Design in 2021, why do you need a website for your business?
  - Types of Websites
  - Understanding Business Website
  - Statistics of website user experience
  - Website priorities
  - Final Thoughts

Do you need a Website? YES, YES and YES, regardless of the industry, niche or service you provide, even the smallest “mom and pop joint” would benefit from online presence. There is a lot of PROS of having website and cost of web design is relatively low. You can even get one for free, not the most advanced one, but still better than not having one at all.

Before we go into website types, please allow me to share internet statistics of 2020, amounts of users, websites and time spent online:

There are 1.74 billion websites on the internet
4.5 billion internet users in the world
They spend over 6.5 hours a day on average browsing internet

Considering there are around 7 billion people in the world, every 4th person owns a website and more and more people are using web for work, entertainment and business, number of users will be getting closer to the number of total population every year, it is just a matter of time when 99% of the population will be online.

The reason why we wanted to give you those statistics before discussing web site type you need, you need understand two things,

FIRST of all, it is a must for a business to have a site and be available to their customers online at all times
SECOND because there are so many websites around and many more are coming you need to make sure your website stands out; you need to make sure your site is fast, mobile friendly and Google search optimized, which is more important than any design features you could possibly imagine.

Yes, the reality of Online Marketing – your site’s SEO (search engine optimization), site speed and site Google rankings are more important than actual web design in delivering end results. Please keep that in mind when planning your site.

What type of website do I need?

It depends on the type of business or activity you are planning your site for. There are 20+ different types of websites, but we would like to go over 10 most popular ones in this article:

Business Website, where customer and clients are going to find out/request more information about a business online
Brochure or Business Card Website, a simple informational site, usually 2-3 pages, to give basic information about your company/ services and also to provide a way to get in touch. Apt for small businesses.
Blog Websites, is another form of informational website, but it has a stream of content which is regularly updated. Usually is ran by one person and written in somewhat “laid back” style.
Ecommerce website, this site will allow you to sell products and services directly online from your website.
Personal Website, is a website about you. Can be more professional with CV and career highlights described in detail and work examples, or more of a personal life, where you post your thoughts and ideas.
Portfolio Website, is a website to showcase your work. It is perfect for artists, artists, photographers, filmmakers, furniture builders, you name it.
Crowdfunding website, is a fundraiser site to help finance your ideas or raise funds for a shared purpose.
Media or Entertainment Websites, site for news, videos, regularly updated with highlights of current news and events.
Nonprofit website, a specific site which is not aimed to sell any products or services. But still needs to deliver the message and encourage people to support their cause. Widely used by charitable organizations.
Educational website, helps people learn new things, delivers courses, Masterclasses, dictionaries, explanations, kids’ education, etc.

Without any doubt the most common and popular site option is a business website, which is a “perfect combination” of several other site types. As you can stage your company and introduce your team, as well as feature your products and services, provide price lists and packages, add FAQ (frequently asked questions) and Contact pages. Usually consists of 10 – 20 pages, depending on business structure, number of services offered and complexity of web design.

Understanding Business Website

Great, you realized that your company needs a Business website. But where to start? Should you do it yourself using one of the online web builder platforms or hire professional Web Designer? What colors, logo, pictures, videos, information do you need for a website to look good? All valid questions, and it may seem overwhelming, but before we go into breaking it down step by step, let’s look at few statistics on how web users are actually viewing and ranking sites based on their user experience:

It takes about 50 milliseconds (that’s 0.05 seconds) for users to form an opinion about your website that determines whether they like your site or not, whether they’ll stay or leave. Needless to say, your landing page must be catchy, must get their attention in 0.05 seconds.
57% of internet users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website on mobile. Plus, if your website is not Mobile friendly (this site feature is called responsiveness, meaning site responds to the device you are using to view it and adjust its picture, menu, layouts, fonts, etc in order to provide best user experience) it will be ranked poorly on Google search results and low rankings will keep you on the last pages of organic search.
Mobile accounts for approximately half of web traffic worldwide. In the third quarter of 2020, mobile devices (excluding tablets) generated 50.81% of global website traffic, consistently hovering around the 50 % mark since the beginning of 2017. And for US in particular this number is closer to 65%.
38% of people will stop engaging with a website if the content or layout are unattractive
88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience
39% of people will stop engaging with a website if images won’t load or take too long to load
47% of Users expect a maximum of 2 seconds loading time for an average website. Meaning if your website doesn’t load in less than 2 seconds, your potential client will just go to competitor’s site. Regardless of how amazing your landing page is, you would lose 50% of clints, because site was loading too long.
Slow-loading websites cost retailers $2.6 billion in lost sales each year.
75% of consumers admit to making judgements on a company’s credibility based on the company’s website design
Users spend an average of 5.94 seconds looking at a website’s main image
Users spend an average of 5.59 seconds looking at a website’s written content
70% of small business websites lack a Call to Action (CTA) on their homepage
A study found that 94% of negative website feedback was design related.

We can clearly see that while building a site, one needs to consider more factors than just website looks. It is also very important to work on loading speed, navigation, intuitiveness, responsiveness, etc.

Priorities of Web Design

- Attractive web design (colors, effects, fonts, spacing, images, videos)
- Site speed for both desktop and mobile devices
- Mobile Friendliness (responsive design)
- Quality content
- Interactive with easy navigation

All the features listed above are interconnected and equally valuable. It is important to be aware how they impact each other’s performance beforehand. Let’s say you would like to have Home Page slider with 10 images, but it will slow your site’s speed down by 2 seconds, does it worth it? or would you better be with a 3-page slider which would only have .5 second impact?

Let’s imagine, you spent lots of hours describing outstanding services you provide and their advantages over competition. But did not get a chance to get high resolution images to match your words. Since you ran out of time, therefore ended up using pictures you snapped on your phone. As a result, users are leaving your site thinking your site is boring or has “poor quality” services based on the “Poor” images used in descriptions. Visitors only start reading content after visually liking and approving your site. On a flip side – quality of your written content is the best way to rank high for your SEO. Therefore your quality content must be backed up with high professional images.

Web design market is ever evolving and developing field, and as long as you understand your business, your target audience and what you are trying to accomplish; you can always start small with a basic website, monitor its performance, optimize and upgrade based on its analytics. If you are developed business and need to take your site to the next level you would be better of hiring professionals, who can make a custom-made site, to best fit your business’s needs. They will not just custom develop your site, but also add site extensions, triggers and cookies to track conversions, customers and manage Google Ads and remarketing campaigns.

Huge part of any web site is search engine optimization (SEO). It includes comprehensive keyword research, onsite, offsite and local optimization, internal and external linking, plus high quality content. It is impossible to underestimate its importance, as SEO directly impacts how your site is indexed and identified by Google. As of October 2020, 92% of people worldwide are using Google for their search needs. And it can be day and night difference for your business if your company shows up on the first (tons of free traffic), second (moderate free traffic) or tenth (no one ever goes on 10^th page of Google search results, thus no traffic) page of search results.

Final thoughts on importance of Web Design

Now, when you have basic knowledge of web design and types of websites out there. You also learned, what business website’s most important features devote your attention to. That means you are ready to take on your journey of website owner. And regardless whether you choose to do it yourself or decide to hire an agency. Please remember it is not just the “looks” that makes your website stand out. You need all 5 features mentioned above to have an effective online marketing tool at your disposal.

Roman K 1/1/21