How to Instantly Make Your Website Look More Professional
Your website is often the first window a potential customer has into your business. A polished, professional-looking site can boost credibility and establish your authority, while a cluttered or outdated design can turn visitors away. Here are some quick and effective ways to elevate your website instantly.
1. Use Consistent Branding
The Mistake: Just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should! Inconsistent colors, fonts, and logos can make your site look unprofessional and disorganized.
The Fix: Stick to a cohesive color palette, use no more than two or three fonts, and ensure your logo is high-quality and placed consistently across all pages. If you’re just starting out and don’t have a brand guide yet, Squarespace has a bunch of themes, font combinations, and color palettes to get you started in Site Styles.
2. Ensure The Text is Readable
The Mistake: Small, hard-to-read fonts or poor text contrast can frustrate visitors and make your content difficult to digest.
The Fix: Use clean, legible fonts and ensure there is sufficient contrast between text and background. A good rule of thumb is a minimum font size of 16px for body text. If you have long paragraphs, break them up with headings and bullet points.
And don’t forget the importance of white space on websites - something I constantly remind my clients. You don’t have to fill up all the space on your webpage with graphics or text. White space lets your text breathe and allows website visitors to focus on your messaging without getting overwhelmed.
3. Use Quality Images and Graphics
The Mistake: Low-resolution, blurry, and run-of-the-mill stock images can make your website look unprofessional and sloppy.
The Fix: Use high-quality, properly sized images that align with your brand. Avoid overused stock photos and, if possible, invest in custom, professional photos. I’ve seen too many live websites to count that use the same stock images that Squarespace provides as placeholders in their templates.
Also, ensure the images are optimized for web use before you add them to your website. I typically use tinypng.com to optimize and compress images. If you don’t need transparent backgrounds, convert your pngs to jpegs to make your images smaller and faster when it comes to page loading.
4. Simplify Navigation
The Mistake: Highly complex navigation menus may look glam but can also make it hard for your website visitors to find what they need.
The Fix: Keep your navigation menu simple and intuitive with clear labels for each section. Aim for a streamlined menu with no more than five to seven primary options. Similarly, avoid complicating the menu labels. To avoid confusing your visitors, use clearly identifiable and familiar terms that convey the information in each section.
5. Enhance Call-to-Action (CTA) Buttons
The Mistake: Weak or absent CTAs can leave visitors unsure of what to do next.
The Fix: Make your CTAs bold and action-oriented and include them at strategic points throughout your website. Use phrases like "Get Started Today," "Schedule a Free Consultation," or "Get a Free Quote" to encourage visitors to interact with your site.
6. Ensure Mobile-Friendliness
The Mistake: Mobile users account for more than 60% of internet traffic. If your site looks great on a desktop but is difficult to navigate on a phone, that will turn mobile users away.
The Fix: Use a responsive design that automatically adjusts to different screen sizes. If you are designing your website on Squarespace, this platform is inherently responsive and adjusts layouts to most common screen sizes and widths. You can also adjust your mobile layout independently of the desktop layout on Squarespace 7.1. However, they are still a few common design best practices when it comes to responsive design.
7. Remove Clutter and Distractions
The Mistake: Too many pop-ups, auto-playing videos, or cluttered layouts can overwhelm visitors and create a negative experience.
The Fix: Keep your layout clean and distraction-free. Only use pop-ups when necessary and ensure they are easy to close. If you have to use autoplay videos, make sure the volume is muted.
Final Thoughts
A professional website doesn’t have to be complicated. By applying these simple tweaks, you can instantly enhance your site’s appearance, making it more appealing to potential customers. Need help refining your website? Let’s connect and make your site look its best!