Nowadays businesses, organizations and instructions of every kind need to stay up to day with all the website development trends in order to be able to communicate effectively, to engage, and to build relationships with their audiences.
Some of the fastest-changing fields out there related to the websites creation and website development are website design, UX, UI and functionalities, content marketing strategies and digital marketing trends implemented in the web development processes.
Not only does websites development involve the functioning of an online portal that attracts visitors (no matter the service or products offered) but also it is about what users visit the website for, what they need, want, engage with and expect from that experience and value available on a certain website, landing page or web portal.
It all comes down to how they engage with and “consume” the content available on your website, your digital assets, resources and digital presence.
We live in times when competition for user’s (market audience) attention and engagement levels has never been so difficult and intense. Towards that end, there are seven major trends emerging in 2021 that we’ve identified to help you take your website development to the next level as well as keep it on-trend.
Visual Storytelling – Show, Don’t Tell
Show, Don’t Tell – that is everything this point is all about. Overcomplicating, overwriting and bombarding the users with written information is not always the best one can do with the 3-5 seconds available (on average) for the website to catch and keep the attention of a new website visitor.
Choose images that connect with your audience and also don’t be too direct in self-promotion with the overall key content and messages on your website.
Visual storytelling elements for websites development and in digital marketing activities are more important now than ever before.
From storyboards to Instagram stories to YouTube videos, conveying your brand’s identity, purpose, and end goal through visual storytelling utilizes the vast digital media resources at your disposal thanks to social media and the Internet.
Whereas commercials and other visual elements were massively expensive to produce in the past, now they are quite common with digital agencies specializing in helping tailor-made content to a website’s needs too.
Mobile & Responsive web design
On average, people are spending 5 hours on their smartphones a day. And some others even more.
More than half of smartphone users have discovered a new company service or product when searching on their smartphones, so the conclusion is that having a mobile-friendly website in 2021 isn’t just a good idea – it’s imperative. A study carried out in 2020 shows that on average 67% of all web traffic is done on mobile devices.
One of the best things about having a mobile-friendly website is that you can reach a wider audience. Responsive websites make online sharing simple and so your web visitors are more likely to share on their social platforms. Additionally, mobile-friendliness is a ranking symbol on Google. That means that mobile-friendly websites appear higher in search results and is good for your website SEO.
Brand, Value Proposition and Core Message alignment
In many ways, digital marketing efforts have treated website development, marketing campaigns, and social media initiatives as largely separate elements of an overall package.
Yet, in 2021, brands are realizing the massive potential of harnessing a unified approach through these various channels to not only tell a story, as described above, but also to craft a company’s public persona and image.
Once you build your sales or marketing funnel you inevitably need to plan where all the campaigns will lead to – most probably your website or a landing page. There should be a fine consistency between all that and it should not be only the marketing campaigns but also the website that “convert” the traffic into quality leads once you have worked on the branding, offer, CTA, engagement, value proposition and the core message alignment.
UX/UI
User experience and user interface design considerations are moving to the fore in 2021 as more and more people use websites for everything from video conferencing to online education and beyond.
One noticeable area where this trend is prominent is the shift on the part of many websites and apps to offer a “dark-themed UI.” This basically inverses the colors and tones down the white and blue light emitted on-screen thus making for what some users feel is an easier and friendlier reading experience.
The quality of your content, the beauty of your graphic design, and the reputation of a company matters little if a website is clunky and hard to navigate.
Your homepage is the first opportunity to engage consumers. While you don’t need to include everything on the homepage, it does serve as the main access point for your message, branding, and site navigation.
Try to keep any written content as simple and concise as possible. Some web designs work well with a screenshot of information, while others are gravitating toward long scroll designs. Choose the homepage design you need, but always place the most important content (sales language, CTAs, etc.) near the top where users will see it immediately.
We will reveal the next 4 most important trends and tips for website development in part 2 of the article. Stay tuned…
ThanX
ExpandX Marketing & Web
By the way, did you DOWNLOAD our
FREE Marketing Strategies Booklet?
Download HERE