Websites have come a long way in terms of website design and this can be largely attributed to businesses moving online. In the past 10 years alone, there have been major changes in website design. Website design is important for many different reasons such as user experience, ease of navigation, and it is the first impression that many people have of your business. Your business wants its website to succeed, and to do that, the website must be the best representation of your business. 

This is where website features come into play. Website features can help drive traffic, provide a better user experience, and keep people coming back. That is why you need to know what features to use that benefit both you and your users. 

Why’s Website Design Important and How Do Website Features Help?

Website design is a critical part of your website’s success. One of the ways you can improve the design is by using certain website features. Here are some of the reasons why website design is important.

It Gives the Right First Impression

Just like in life, first impressions are important for your website. You don’t want your visitors to be put off and become uninterested in your website. You want them to keep coming back for business. Your website leaves an image of your brand to your audience. Depending on what your website looks like, it can leave your users with a positive impression or a negative impression of your business. 

Helps With SEO

Search engine optimization is an important part of any website’s design as SEO can help improve your website’s ranking. Ranking on search engines helps people find your website in their search results. If your website ranks lower on search engine indexes than your competitors, then people will likely not find your website. One of the ways you can rank lower on a website is if your website design doesn’t provide a great user experience. A good website design can fix that issue and increase your search engine rankings.

Builds Trust

Building trust with your audience is important for your business to consumer relationship. Users want to be able to have a trusting relationship with the businesses they interact with. If your users feel that they can’t trust you or your products, then they will likely go with a competitor who has a more established website. 

Your Competitors Are Already Practicing It

Chances are if you are already thinking about improving your website design, then your competitors are thinking about it as well. They might even already be ahead of you! Don’t delay on whether or not to improve your website’s design and start taking the necessary steps to ensure success.

Website design is an important part of the success of your website. To have a great website design, you have to know which website features to implement on your website that both you and your users will benefit from. 

There are a lot of website features out there that you can implement on your website. To find out what features you need and don’t need, you have to take a good look at your website and ask yourself some basic questions. From there, you can identify the features you need and start implementing them as soon as possible.

Popular Website Features

Since the last 10-20 years, there have been many new features implemented in website design. Many of these features have improved the user experience as well as improved the productivity of each website. The best part is that many of these popular website features are available to you based on your website’s needs. With that said, here are some popular website features that are trending for 2021 you should consider using for your website. 

Minimalism 

One of the more commonly used and popular website features is that of using a minimalistic design. Many websites that are created nowadays have minimalistic features. The reason for this is that these features tend to be clean, modern, and aesthetically pleasing to look at. When done right, a website that has minimalistic features will grasp the attention of the user and make them curious to explore the rest of your website.

Mobile Version of Your Website 

Of course, with everyone visiting websites via their mobile devices nowadays, your website must have a mobile version as well. A mobile browsing experience is much different than when browsing on a desktop. A mobile website has to be touch-friendly and easy to navigate to provide the best user experience. If your website doesn’t have a mobile version, then users might find your website confusing to navigate through and click out of it. 

Dark Mode 

Websites have mobile versions of their desktop version nowadays, which means some people might be browsing through your mobile website at night. Having a dark mode for your website can be beneficial in that case as your website might be easier on the eyes. Dark mode doesn’t have to be just on your mobile site though! It can also be used as an alternative option to your desktop site. Maybe some of your users are more sensitive to the blue screen lights and benefit from one with less harsh light. Youtube has a great dark mode for users that are going to sleep or who are sensitive to traditional background lighting.

Source: Youtube.com

Video

Video content is another feature that you can implement on your website. Think about the many websites that you have visited that have some sort of animation or video in them. They were pretty engaging, right? You probably looked at them immediately as soon as you got on the site. The reason for this is that any type of video content can be engaging to the users as they provide a more interactive experience. Netflix has a video that plays while browsing through their jobs site which helps it stand out more. Click here to check it out! 

Blogs and Other Informational Content

Another engaging website feature that you can implement into your website are blogs and other informational content such as FAQs. Blogs and informational content can educate your user about your products, business, and other topics. This type of content is of great value to those users as they can take this information to make them come to an informed decision. Be sure to look into creating a blog and adding other informational content on your website. Hubspot is a great example of providing valuable blog and informational content. 

Source: Hubspot.com

Contact Information

One of the most important pieces of information you should include on your website is your contact information. This feature is important to let people know how to contact you so that way they can get in touch with you. Avoid any frustrations and missed opportunities by including your contact information.

Testimonials and Reviews 

Testimonials and reviews are great features to include on your website. These testimonials and features are a great way to tell potential users the good things about your business and the products that you are offering. This helps build more trust between you and them as they will be more comfortable engaging with your business. Be creative when it comes to showing off testimonials and reviews. You can ask a client to record a video of them talking about your business. 

Source: Chownow.com

Online Chat/Chat Bot

Another feature that you likely have seen on many websites that you have visited are chatbots or online chat services. Chatbots are automated to answer any general questions that users may have. Live chat service is different from a chat as it can be communicated by an actual person on the other end. They can help answer more specific questions the user may have which means they can drive more conversions. 

Source: Dominos.com

All of these website features are trending in 2021. Consider implementing some or all of these features and see how they can benefit your website. 

How Should You Implement These Features In Your Website?

It all depends on what you feel your website is lacking and what it needs to address those issues.

For example, if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, then you should strongly consider creating a mobile version. Your mobile website might get some positive feedback from your users which means it was a success.

Another example is if your users always come to you for the same questions. Instead of repeating yourself over and over again, you can create a frequently asked questions page on your website to fix that issue. This page can benefit you and your users which frees up more time to work on other projects!

You don’t necessarily have to use all of these features, but you might find some that make sense to implement on your website. Just ask yourself some questions and see if there are areas on your website that could use some improvement. 

Conclusion

There are many website features that you can look to implement in your website. Of course, with each passing year, some website features will trend up while others will trend down. Avoid staying behind and try and get ahead with these website features. They can be the game-changer that your website needs.

If you are looking to redesign your website and put some new features on it, then contact us here to get started!