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Web Design Trends to Keep an Eye on in 2021

There will always be aspects of web design that are never going away – user-friendly navigation, data security, and fast load times should just be a given on your website. However, you can keep your site at the forefront of design and search engines by adding some of these innovative website features and elements.

1. Website Load Time and Page Speed Are King

One of the most important web design standards is ultra-fast load time. Quick loading times have been essential factors in UX and SEO for years, and it continues to be a top priority for websites that want to rank well and convert better.

Studies say that more than half of internet browsers expect a website to load fast and no more than two seconds after clicking a link. If it takes more than three seconds to load your site, your visitors most likely will leave, and it’s not likely they’ll be back, ever again!

Website performance has a direct impact on a companies bottom line. Pinterest reduced perceived wait times by 40%, and this increased search engine traffic and sign-ups by 15%.

You might have heard the term “location, location, location” from your real estate agents when looking for investment properties. At TheeDigital, we focus on “conversion, conversion, conversions.” Website loading times are a standard metric we look at to ensure good user experience.

2. Smart Content Load for a More Enjoyable User Experience

Many of us might be guilty of having resource-heavy websites with many graphical elements and third-party integrations that can slow our sites down. Fortunately, there are many different ways to develop smart websites that download only the content that you see and need.

Lazy loading and infinite scroll are not brand new technologies. The top social networks have been using this for years, especially when it comes to infinity scroll. The approach is also popular with long (one) page websites.

All websites should consider how implementing one or two technological approaches might help them outrank or outperform their competition. These features can help improve the user experience for all website visitors, which can improve your conversion rate and ranking.

Lazy Load ensures the web browser (like Google Chrome, Safari, and Firefox) will download only the content you see on the screen without wasting valuable server resources and TIME to load offscreen content that might never be seen.

Many website visitors never reach the bottom of a webpage. So why load that content and increase site load times. A better approach is loading the content as they begin scrolling down the page and getting closer to it.

3. Personalized Content According to Your Geolocation and Browsing History

Perhaps you have visited a website and then come back to it a few hours or days later to see that the content has changed. When you pull it up on your phone for the first time or on another browser, you see the original content you saw the first time you visited the website.

It’s no secret, most advanced websites track our browsing history and know our locations. But cutting edge web agencies will advise their customers to display dynamic content, content based on past user behaviour, or what we know about a user. Not generic content made to serve everyone.

Custom content created for users returning to your website for a second or third time can increase conversion.

You experience this every time you use Google as a search engine. People looking for a nearby restaurant in Raleigh, North Carolina, will see different results than users in other towns.

A great directory website will also recognize the type of food you like. If you reviewed or saved Italian restaurants in the past, it might make sense to weigh Italian restaurants higher in your search results.

Another example is when you visit your bank’s website for the first time, and you need to add your username and mark your browser as “trusted.” When you come back, the bank will know you are an individual or a business customer. So, they will push their residential or commercial offerings according to your customer status.

Personalized content is probably more important for e-commerce website owners. Displaying recently viewed, saved, or liked products for online shoppers can lead to increased conversions. Highlighting abandoned cart contents for returning customers is also crucial to maintaining a higher conversion rate.

Without realizing it, personalized website content has become more expected by users; and it will be an even more dominant focus for a successful web presence.