When it comes to attracting new customers and keeping existing customers engaged, your website plays a vital role. In the digital realm, it may handle everything from making sales and capturing email subscribers, to relaying the number of your business hotline or your bricks-and-mortar location. With recent advances in technology, your website can do much more.

An official website is one of your most powerful marketing tools, so it’s important to keep the design fresh and the features up to date. If you’re thinking about conducting a website redesign in the coming year, there’s a lot to consider. Before you embark on the project, spend time familiarizing yourself with aesthetic design trends, as well as emerging technology on the web.

Design with mobile in mind

The statistics of users who engage with websites on their mobile devices in the place of a desktop computer are staggering. In 2016, more than  40 percent  of website traffic worldwide came from mobile phones. With so many people accessing the web on the go, a mobile-friendly website is a must. When you draft ideas for your website redesign, choose features and functions with mobile devices in mind. Create webpages and widgets that include responsive design, so they translate easily to the screens on mobile phones. Use design elements that load quickly, so that users can engage with your business in seconds with the tap of a finger. Ensure that the features of your website are built with open-source coding, like  Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) , so that your website loads quickly on every mobile device.

Improve website functionality

As you weigh the options for a website redesign, take inventory of the functionality that is currently available on your website and any functions you would like to add. Determine whether each function is right for your business, and add the features that will make the biggest impact for your company. Consider taking advantage of live chat features, artificial intelligence bots, or the ability to showcase 360 photos or  360 video. Users may also benefit from widgets or progressive web apps that provide more functionality on the website. Look for interesting ways to integrate social media on your website, to keep up with the popularity of social networking. If it suits your business, you can even work toward compatibility with the Internet of Things (IoT).

Excite users with a bold, new design

Technology may be advancing at a rapid pace, but so is graphic design. With the sophistication of the web, there’s no excuse for using outdated computer graphics to represent your brand. Inspire excitement in your customers with a bold, new look on your website. In 2018, stay on trend as graphic design reintroduces bold fonts and bright colors. Mix it up by using white space and irregular grid layouts to attract users to featured content. Use scalable vector graphics, instead of relying on older image file types or standard JPG files, so that the images look good on any screen size. You can also add appeal with authentic photography that relates to the content, taking the images a step above stock photos. Continue to promote featured content on your homepage with sticky posts, and consider building in animations that are triggered the moment a user scrolls down the page.

In the coming year, websites will become more sophisticated than ever before. So, do your research, remember to balance functionality with design, and get ready to launch exciting new features in your next website redesign.

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