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5 Design Factors Used by a WordPress Web Development Company

August 5, 2014 Web Design
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We have all visited poorly designed websites before. And funny enough, you probably can’t think of an example on the top of your mind. That’s because you probably left the site quickly and with a bad taste in your mouth. People don’t like poorly designed websites—it’s as simple as that. Here we share what design factors are used by a WordPress Web Development Company.

And in fact, Hubspot reports that nearly 40% of visitors will stop engaging completely if the content or layout is unattractive.

Websites that are unappealing and difficult to navigate will make you want to go elsewhere — and quickly.

But websites that actually work (and work well) will draw you in and encourage you to stay longer.

If you depend on your website to attract customers, build your public image, and develop your brand, you need to take web design seriously. And if you’re on WordPress, you’ll likely want to consider hiring a WordPress web development company to build a beautiful and responsive website that’s fully optimized for attracting your perfect audience.

This article will take a look at the 5 most important factors that your WordPress web development company will use to design your website. We’ll also look at some of the most frequently asked questions about working with a WordPress web development company and website design companies in St. Louis.

Table of Contents

#1. Inject Quality / Optimized Images

It isn’t easy to overstate how important graphics are for great website design. You use text, videos, podcasts, and interactive elements to connect with your website traffic, but images are what draws them in and helps set you apart. There are no hard and fast rules about what makes for a good graphic vs. a bad graphic, but these guidelines will certainly help.

  • Use graphics that are relevant to your audience
  • Use graphics that stick in people’s minds
  • Use graphics that reflect your brand
  • Use images that do not distract from the user experience
  • Optimize the images for fast loading
  • Use sparingly to not bloat your pages and slow them down

Studio C5 Web Page

#2. Offer Simple Navigation

Once people arrive on your website, it’s up to you to draw them further in. You do that by making it easy to navigate, even if it has only a casual interest. By now, most of us have an intuitive feel for how to navigate through websites, but there is no reason to over-complicate things. Keep these four universal principles in mind when designing a website:

  • Always put the user experience first
  • Make your hypertext links easy to identify
  • Streamline your navigation bar
  • Keep your sidebars separate

#3. New Google PageSpeed Guidelines

Since Google released its Core Web Vitals through May-June 2021, paying attention to your Google PageSpeed is super important.   You’ll want to make sure you test your site on Google PageSpeed to see where you stand, then make a list and start tacking it.    Google wants websites to think first about great user experiences.  They also care much about the website’s load time, and security, so make sure your website loads fast and has an SSL cert.

Core Web Vitals is now part of Google ranking signals so if you’re wanting to rank, this is an important factor to make sure you test your site before launching.

#4. Publish Engaging Content

This one should go without saying, but you would be amazed how much of the web is boring, repetitive, recycled, and not worth your time. If you expect visitors to come to your site, stay on your site, and come back again, you need to create an engaging experience for them. Articles are great, but consider adding other elements like these when designing a website:

  • Videos
  • Infographics
  • Podcasts
  • Slideshows
  • Case Studies
  • In-depth Blogs

Google Search Engine

#5. Make it SEO-Friendly

Even if you design the most amazing website in the world, no one will find it if you don’t take search engine optimization (SEO) seriously. You are almost surely competing with other websites for the same traffic, and if your site is not optimized to show up at the top of Google results, your site will be buried below hundreds of other sites. Effective SEO can be tricky, but there are some basic steps you can take to increase your ranking immediately:

  • Use Meta titles and descriptions strategically and please don’t stuff your keywords, think naturally
  • Freshen up your content regularly – then request a re-index using search engine console
  • Provide faster load times across the site.  Any site over 2 seconds load will have a high bounce rate
  • Schedule and publish fresh blog content to help your organic keyword reach
  • Register with Google and Bing search engine consoles for great insights

FAQs for Working With a WordPress Web Development Company

Now, most businesses simply don’t have the capacity or the expertise to create a good-looking and engaging website on their own. And that’s where working with a WordPress web development company comes in.

These companies specialize in helping businesses build a responsive and robust online presence by creating a unique WordPress website they can use to attract new customers.

Below are some of the most commonly asked questions regarding working with a WordPress web development company.

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Is a WordPress Developer a Web Developer?

In basic terms, yes. A WordPress developer is a web developer.

By definition, a web developer takes a web design idea and turns it into a website (or improves an existing one).

WordPress developers do just that for their clients, but they use WordPress—a prevalent and easy-to-use content management system.

As such, a web developer may be able to use various methods to build a website, but a WordPress developer-only deals with, you guessed it… WordPress.

Do Professional Web Developers Use WordPress?

They most certainly do.

In fact, there are over 75 million websites that are powered by WordPress, according to TechJury. Plus, about 15% of the top 100 most highly trafficked websites worldwide are run on WordPress.

Designing a WordPress website isn’t just a user-friendly experience, even though you need zero coding knowledge to get started. Instead, professional web developers use WordPress because it’s incredibly flexible and offers a variety of themes, it’s simple to maintain, and it provides a surprising level of security (when the site is set up correctly).

And while professional web developers still use traditional website building HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP, more and more are turning to WordPress to meet their clients’ needs.

How Much Does It Cost to Hire a WordPress Developer?

This, of course, depends on a wide range of factors.

How big is your project? Will you need ongoing maintenance? Are you on a deadline? How skilled does your WordPress developer need to be?

All of these factors can make your WordPress development project as inexpensive as a couple of hundred dollars or as pricy as five figures and up.

For inexperienced WordPress developers, you may see hourly rates as low as $25 or below. But you tend to get what you pay for in cases like these. For more experienced developers, expect to pay upwards of $75-$125 per hour.

What Big Companies Use WordPress?

Quite a few big names are using WordPress to power their websites. And since almost 35% of the web is on WordPress, that shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.

Here are just a few of the biggest names using it for their site.

Don’t Forget to Be Creative

The web is a crowded place, and much of it can be bland. Taking a creative approach built on a sound foundation of design can help you distinguish your site. It’s the first step to expanding your online presence.

At Studio C5, we are one of the best website design companies St. Louis has to offer. In addition to building mobile-optimized, gorgeously designed websites, we also help our clients get found by using the latest SEO strategies.

So if you want to start getting found by your ideal customer, request a free digital marketing consultation today.

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