Did you know that 94% of first impressions are design-related?
This means that visitors will form an entire opinion of your brand and website before even looking at your products or services.
Launching a website on WordPress and calling it a day is no longer enough if you want to compete with other brands. You have to put in the extra work and optimize your website if you want to get the conversions you deserve.
But knowing exactly what WordPress design tips to follow can be difficult at times when there are hundreds of tips out there.
But don’t worry; after carefully testing and checking which ones work, we made a list of the best WordPress design tips out there.
This list should help anyone looking to improve their WordPress website with actionable tips that won’t take them months to complete at a time.
Trying to improve your WordPress website but don’t know where to start? Let us help.
Our Top WordPress Design Tips
This list is in no particular order. You should consider all of the important WordPress design tips below. Just remember to apply these WordPress design tips in a way that works for your industry and niche.
1. Start With the Right Mindset
Most WordPress websites are built with the idea of looking good, and that’s it. While it works, it won’t ever compare to a WordPress website that prioritizes driving action.
First off, you need to define clear goals and conversion paths.
Before even picking a theme or plugins to add, ask yourself, “What do I want visitors to do once they enter my website?”
Do you want them to book a discovery call?
Are you hoping they will go and purchase a specific product?
Should they submit a request for a quote?
Once you understand what you want your visitors to do, then you can design towards it. Setting measurable goals early can also help you figure out if what you’re doing is actually working or not.
2. Technical and UX Foundation
It doesn’t matter if your copy is amazing or if your website layout is unique and eye-catching if your website is slow, unresponsive, or confusing. The way your website functions is also a vital part of it.
While the aesthetics play an immense role in generating conversions, it won’t matter if users get frustrated with how your website runs.
Performance and Page Speed
Your website’s load time matters. The longer your page takes to load, the more likely it is for a visitor to leave and find an alternative.
As far as WordPress design tips go, fixing your website’s speed and performance is high on the list.
There are a few things you can do to instantly improve your website’s speed:
- Use image compression and pick modern formats such as WebP since they don’t reduce the quality as much as older compression options.
- Add a caching plugin, such as WP Rocket or WP Super Cache, for a quick and safe way to improve your website’s speed.
- Take advantage of content delivery networks (CDNs).
With these three changes, you’ll see a noticeable improvement in your website’s performance in no time.
Mobile-First Design
As mobile traffic increases year after year, it’s vital for your website to be responsive. Having a mobile website that kind of works isn’t enough anymore. It needs to be excellent if you want to compete and stand out from the competition.
There are some points to take into consideration if you plan to improve the responsiveness of your website for mobile devices.
1. Every button should be at least 44×44 px so it is easy to click on, regardless of screen size.
2. Your font should be easy to read without having to zoom in at any point.
3. Navigation should be simple and straightforward. Avoid complicated menus that might make a mobile user scroll or zoom out to understand them.
4. Avoid using pop-ups on mobile devices. While they are useful for desktop visitors, more often than not, they cover the whole screen for mobile users and make them leave.
5. Use apps like Google PageSpeed Insights to check how well your website is doing.
Clear and Simple Navigation
Visitors should be able to find exactly what they need in less than 15 seconds after loading your website. They should not have to go through different menus and guess where a page is.
Simple navigation should keep menu items to a maximum of 5 to 7 items and use clear labels on each dropdown menu.
If you want to make it even simpler for visitors to find what they need, consider using internal links everywhere to improve your multi-level content.
The easier it is for visitors to go from point A to point B, the more likely it is for them to convert.
Accessibility
Accessibility is one of the WordPress design tips that brands ignore the most. Not only will accessibility improve your conversions by driving in more traffic than before, but it also protects you from potential lawsuits regarding accessibility.
Alt text on every image, keyboard navigation, and a dark mode with high contrast are all mandatory for good accessibility.
3. Theme, Layout, and Visual Hierarchy
Designing for conversion means that all of your visuals have a strategic meaning.
While decorative designs have their place, you want to make the most out of every single aspect of your pages. Below we’ll go through some WordPress design tips that will help your website look better while increasing conversions.
Visual Hierarchy and F-Pattern Scanning
Most visitors scan pages in an F or Z pattern rather than stopping to read every single word.
By design, accordingly, we can add important content and CTAs in strategic places to improve the odds of people interacting with them.
Make sure to have a strong headline top left and your key benefits above the fold. This ensures that people can quickly read both without even having to scroll. Put clear CTAs in strategic places that follow the Z pattern for maximum chances of conversion.
Make good use of whitespace to accentuate the Z pattern even more and ensure that the content being put in makes sense and has some sort of journey to it, so following the pattern makes sense.
Explore how we increased ERP Maestro’s page views per session by 128% with a new web design in our latest case study.
Colors, Typography, and Branding
Color and typography are not just aesthetics; they can completely influence perception, trust, and action for visitors.
Make sure that when you pick a color palette that aligns with your brand, you ensure that your CTA buttons have a heavy contrast so they stand out more.
Make sure the font you use for your website is easy to read regardless of the font size. The last thing you want to happen is for the font to be unreadable on mobile devices or, even worse, on desktops.
While picking a unique font can enhance the look of your website, readability will always take priority over aesthetics.
Also, make sure to make good use of headings so that the hierarchy is clear for both visitors and Google.
Hero Section
The hero section is sometimes called the “front door” of your website, and for good reason. It’s the first thing visitors will see as they load into your homepage. So if the section doesn’t communicate value quickly, visitors will find an alternative.
Make sure your hero section has a headline that states a benefit instead of a feature. Make good use of images or videos to reinforce your brand’s value as quickly as possible while also keeping visitors hooked.
If you’re selling a service and providing a demo, you can add an extra CTA that lets visitors test or watch a demo of the product.
By having this in your hero section, you can provide instant value and entice potential customers into getting your service as soon as they test it.
4. Calls to Action
Once visitors are engaged and invested in what your brand is offering or saying, your website must slowly guide them through a conversion action, whether it’s a form, a download request, or purchase.
Think of CTAs like funnel gates where curious customers go to find out more about your product or convert. The design and placement of your CTAs matter a lot, but don’t overthink it too much.
Your CTA should look like a button; there is no reason to try to reinvent the wheel here.
The color should always contrast with its background so it’s easy to pinpoint when skimming through a website. It should also be big enough so it’s easily visible on desktop and simple to tap on mobile.
To avoid confusing visitors, only use a clear primary CTA per section. Avoid adding your CTA everywhere, or it will make it clear to users that your brand is desperate.
Reduce Distraction and Friction
A conversion-driven website design should focus on eliminating as many distractions as possible to make it as easy as possible for potential customers to get to what they are looking for.
Avoid auto-playing videos that add no direct value to your customers since they can completely distract a visitor looking for something in particular, especially on mobile.
Make sure to limit competing CTAs and links that aren’t directly helping you convert.
While creating interlinks is great, it can lower your conversions if placed in the wrong spot.
5. Content Strategy
Design and aesthetics are only half of the battle. The copy, structure, and messaging must also align with your design if you want to increase your conversions.
Lead with Benefit, Not Just Features
This is one of the most important WordPress design tips for B2B brands who want to improve their conversions quickly. It’s common to lead with the main features that your product offers.
But what your customers truly want to hear about is the benefits and what they get out of it.
Your headlines and subheadlines should also reflect value to your audience and should make them want to continue reading.
Learn how we reduced Blue Fin Group’s bounce rate by 16.7% with a new website design in our recent case study.
Use Social Proof
Case studies, customer testimonials, and user-generated content are all amazing ways to showcase how your product or service solved a real problem for someone.
WordPress even lets you create a dedicated case studies page for you to add all of your case studies in tabs or sliders for easier viewing.
Break Up Text for Scanability
Most people going to your website won’t read every sentence; instead, they’ll scan the content and look for the parts that matter to them.
This means that using short paragraphs, bullet lists, and bolding or color to highlight important statements is key for scanability.
All of this helps visitors absorb value and important information quickly without it being a chore for them.
Optimize for Speed and Search
Conversions don’t just come from what a visitor does; they also come from attracting the right visitors in the first place.
A properly designed website must also be optimized for performance and discoverability if it wants to convert.
SEO Fundamentals
While your design focuses on human users, engines are the ones that bring in the users organically.
This means that your website should adhere to as many SEO principles as possible, such as:
- Using an appropriate heading tag on each page establishes a hierarchy.
- Using meaningful page titles and meta descriptions that both include the page’s primary keyword.
- Alt-text on every single image.
- Clean URLs that display the main keyword and some extra words, if necessary.
- Proper SEO research.
Page Per Page Speed Optimization
While we mentioned speed optimization earlier in the article, it’s important to explain how vital it truly is.
Especially when it comes to individual pages.
While your homepage might be optimized, your product pages might not be, and that can still deter customers from buying your product altogether.
Poor page performance can instantly make a potential customer doubt the credibility of your brand and the quality of your product or service.
Get a Custom WordPress Web Design That Drives Conversions with Blacksmith
After going through all of these WordPress design tips, you might have noticed that having an exceptional website that has a high conversion rate not only takes good WordPress knowledge but also a good amount of time to strategize and optimize.
This is time you could be using on other aspects of your business that also need your attention. So now what?
That’s where we come in. Blacksmith is a WordPress web design agency with a group of professional web designers with dozens of different WordPress websites under their belts. We will create the perfect website for your brand and industry, ensuring that you stand out from the competition.
Still unsure if investing in a custom WordPress web design is the best for your business? Don’t worry, click here to schedule a call with us and we’ll provide you with a free audit. This way, we can show you the areas on your website that might be preventing you from increasing your conversion rates and what we can do to help you.
