Whether you’re building a new website or giving your current site a facelift, the start of a new year is the perfect time to reevaluate your web design. Website design standards are constantly evolving. Mobile traffic now accounts for more than half of total internet use, so there’s a need for mobile responsive websites. Trends come and go, and the elements you incorporate into your design can mean the difference between gaining and losing business opportunities.

Guidelines for Website Development in the New Year

When it comes to website development, there’s much to consider to ensure success for your business. The site needs to be aesthetically pleasing, user-friendly, and mobile-friendly, all while gaining customers through search engine optimization (SEO). With these things in mind, here are our top picks for web design trends to avoid in the new year.

1. Say Goodbye to the One-Page Website

One-page websites with parallax effect seem appealing due to their visual interest and interactive user experience. However, they can be frustrating for users as the long scroll isn’t user-friendly and its numerous image layers and animation lead to slow site load times. This is especially true on a mobile device, as it takes even longer to navigate the site’s content.

Additionally, when you don’t have much for visitors to look at, they’ll spend very little time on your website. This will translate to low rankings on Google, which ultimately sinks your SEO. You would do much better to divide your content into separate pages for better visibility and increased optimization.

2. Put a Stop to Sliders in Web Headers

Image carousels and sliders have been popular in web headers. They present a variety of information with multiple calls to action. However, these images have a damaging impact on your site for a variety of reasons. They push your main content down the page, which negatively affects your SEO. They also slow down your site and don’t work well for mobile optimization. They kill rankings and conversions, which is reason enough to avoid them.

This year, instead of sliders, we’re seeing text-only hero images and custom, detailed, well-executed illustrations. These load more quickly, don’t bog down the site, and don’t impede your SEO.

3. Kick Clutter to the Curb

Crowded content is difficult to navigate, hard to understand, and slows down your site’s load time. Busy graphics, unnecessary design elements, and small font sizes can lead to decreased site engagement as visitors don’t want to invest the time to wade through difficult-to-read content.

Background images on title pages add to the clutter. They rarely crop correctly, and overlay text has to employ drop shadow or outer glow effects to be legible. This makes the site look dated and unprofessional. Solid color bars or textures are a clean, modern style and don’t overwhelm the viewer with too much optical information.

Website design is now trending toward minimalism. Clean, crisp, and contemporary, this design focuses on a three- to four-color scheme and prioritizes white space to let content breathe.

Bucksplanet Resource Can Help Overhaul Your Website

Your website is often the first contact a potential client has with your company. It needs to look current and professional while also bringing in business. Our website development team is in touch with what’s popular in web design. They can help you navigate which current trends to avoid and which to embrace. Bucksplanet is ready to work together to build a website that sets you apart from the competition and turns visitors into customers.

Contact us today to learn how we can help you stand out in the forest.