Step by Step Website Design for Beginners and Non Techies

What website design skills do you need to build a website? If you’re new to web design read our guide on website design for beginners. Times have changed since my early days of website design. Remember when Flash was the in-thing? Those days are well behind us and wouldn’t work in any professional web design today!

I can’t imagine any modern business surviving without a website! Creating a site for the sake of having one doesn’t suffice. Especially if you went the FaceBook or FREE platform route such as WIX, but we’ll cover that later in this article. If you are new to web design, or regular web developers and want to learn more – read on:

Website Design for Beginners – 8 Steps to a Creative Website Design?

Did you know visitors stop engaging with your website if the content or layout is not attractive or user friendly! A good web design will increase services, sales and add value to your organisation. Let’s get back to basics!

Understand and identify your goals. Do you want to generate leads, showcase services, or sell online?
Have a clear idea of your website’s purpose. Structure your website to help visitors seamlessly find the information they’re looking for.
Create engaging content to grab your visitor’s attention. Manage content to communicate and provide value to your audience.
Add visual content to increase engagement. Add images, graphs and charts to make it easier for your audience to comprehend.
SEO – Search Engine Optimization. Check the page meta titles and descriptions to increase performance in search engines. Include internal and external links.
Publish your website: Once you’re happy with your site, it’s time to go live and publish it.
Test all the pages and links: Check browser compatibility and performance.
Minimalistic web design. Simple, clean websites lead to a much better user experience.

The Elements of a Great Web Design

Here are some basic elements for inspiration and to guide you into creating a modern website.

• A simplified website colour scheme consistent across your site
• Easy to read, informative content to communicate clearly
• Header and footer, navigational elements so visitors can find their desired info.
• Aesthetics: add plenty of whitespace between elements
• Interaction: user participation converts visitors to clients

Website Design for Beginners – What Does a Web Design Company Do?

Once you have decided to have a website the next step is to create it. You can do this yourself or hire a professional website developer. Think of a web designer as an architect! We create the blueprint and build your website! You may have tried your hand at creating the website but found it too daunting. This is where we come in.

Website Design for Beginners – What Skills Does a Designer Need?

If you’re looking to hire a web designer, here are some skills that form the foundation of a good website designer

• Visual design – understand the design elements to communicate and generate the visuals
• Be up to date with the latest trends, techniques, tools, strategies, platforms, etc.
• Web server management: organize and identify the best server applications
• SEO: understand Search Engine Optimization making a website more attractive to search engines. 
• Proven work experience with a portfolio of successful projects and testimonials
• Customer service: solve problems creatively and effectively

HTML, CSS, and JavaScript skills are not always needed. A designer should have the basic knowledge which are the building blocks of web pages.

Finding Web Design Companies Near Me

Sometimes you don’t need the designer to be near you. There are plenty of communication tools such as emails, mobiles, video chats etc. Your designer could be anywhere Worldwide!

Our Top 3 Website Development Locations

UK Website Development Services

We have created affordable WordPress websites for organizations around the UK. This includes corporate sites in London to small business websites. Check out our Bournemouth and Poole, web design. If you’re looking for a website, get in touch with us. We can provide examples with testimonials.

Singapore Website Development Services

Singapore is the business hub of Asia which is ideal for our corporate website design.  Our creative Singapore web design services are ideal for any organization. Packed with features to make an impact and stand out with your clients.

Thailand Website Development Services

Tailor-made, innovative and unique website design solutions. We provide affordable, bespoke website design in Bangkok or anywhere in Thailand. Complimented with 24/7 customer support.

Website Design for Beginners – Cost?

How much do website designers charge? As the old saying goes: How long is a piece of string! Let me help you put your money where it matters! A custom made website could cost anything from $1000 upwards. There are different ways to build a site! Website builders, free WordPress or hire a web designer and build from scratch!

Hiring a designer may cost a little more but it takes away the technical hassle. Two factors determine the contract: the size and the complexity of your site A small business website, blog etc could be less than $1,000. More complex websites up to $5,000 and over.

Web development costs are never a one time expense. They need maintenance and sometimes re-design. Let’s not forget the annual hosting and domain registration fees.

Should I Use a Free Website Builder and Domain?

If you want your website to be good you’re going to have to pay for it! Did you know it can still end up being cheaper than these free web builders with basic upgrades! Remember, your website is your brand, and a free website may leave a poor first impression!

Free platforms such as Wix host adverts across your site. This can harm performance, and make your site run slow! Their adverts can also make your site untrustworthy and give a poor user experience.

Free web platforms do not give you a good domain name! It doesn’t look good. Which looks better and is easier to remember:

Don’t use a Facebook business page as a website to represent your company! It may be useful to promote your website, add links, social share etc. but once again, can leave a poor impression.

Important: using a free website builder means you don’t own it! You can’t simply migrate the website to another host.  You would need to start all over again! Take ownership of your website and get your own domain and hosting! If your still unsure, drop us an email.

How Many Hours Does it Take to Design a Website?

Web development usually takes longer than you’d expect. Let’s be honest, it never gets completed. There are always updates, edits, optimization, host migration, etc, Most web designers are usually pre-booked and cannot start immediately. Once we have the process for building your website, we can give an estimated date for completion.

Of course, this is still dependent on your changes and supplying the required content on time. If you are looking for a writer take a look at our post on why we recommend Fiverr copywriters. Back to the question of how long it takes to build a website! It can take anything from as little as 5 days (that’s right) to months! We hope you enjoyed this article website design for beginners.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a professional website and don’t know where to start, contact us today. Provide as much information as possible. Include a few websites which catch your eye and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.