Here’s part 2 of my series on how to design a rocking website. I particularly focus on WordPress web design, but the same great advice and principles can be applied to all website platforms.

Now that you’ve done all the research and planning, it’s crunch time: setting up the actual website and tying it all together with a rocking design, content, and images that will speak to your dream clients. Whether you’re at an early stage in your business or you’ve been going for a while and you’re thinking about refreshing your online presence, these tips will help you create an engaging, memorable, and effective website.

And with a little more tech set-up, you can track your website visitors’ journeys and usage to see how your website is performing and how visitors are using it, which we cover in this article, too.

Website set up

Now it’s time for the fun stuff. Setting up a WordPress website involves a variety of essential elements that make for a successful online presence. This comprehensive process encompasses everything from:

• Selecting the perfect theme and customising it to suit your brand
• Integrating essential plugins for added functionality
• Ensuring seamless navigation with your menus
• Craft all your relevant pages as determined in the planning stages
• Create and set up your contact page form, any other forms you may need, and the thank you pages attached to these forms. (And don’t forget to test the forms before you go live too)

With WordPress, you have the flexibility to create a visually stunning and user-friendly website that reflects your business’s unique identity.

Whether you’re establishing an engaging blog or an e-commerce platform, WordPress provides the tools and resources to bring your online vision to life. Depending on your skill level, this may be an area you choose to outsource to a professional WordPress web designer.

Or, if you’d like a slight learning curve, we have a DIY WordPress Web Design option. Just reach out if you’d like to know more.

Website design

Now is the time to design your actual website. In part 1 of designing a rocking website, we covered branding and planning your website, which includes deciding what pages to include. But now it’s time to design your website pages, so what will it look like?

A lot of your WordPress web design will be based on your branding guidelines – so if you use pops of colours, a creative and fun brand or a more simplistic and minimalistic brand. And that’s only a very basic branding/design overview. But I want to highlight that your brand guidelines and logo set the tone for the rest of your website.

What will your top navigation area look like? Will your logo live on the left, and will the top navigation menu be right-aligned?

Do you have an online store, and must you include the shopping cart in your top navigation?

Will your H1 and first H2 be in your heading section?

Where will your first CTA be

Are you going to use stock images, have professional photos taken, or use a combination of both?

Are you going to have background images behind text in some areas?

Will you have a hero image in your header that captures the essence of your brand and business?

So, many options and so many questions.

Add rocking content to showcase what you do that sings to your dream client

Your copy and images are significant components of your website and are key in showing your dream client or customer who you are, what you do, and, importantly, why they can’t live without the product or service you offer.

Your copy needs to be compelling and helpful for your potential customers. Also, consider that your website visitors reach your website when they’re researching, looking for information, or ready to buy. So, your website copy needs to talk to people at all the different buying stages.

It’s also a great practice to use conversational content to engage your readers and encourage them to read more of your site. Also, use call to actions (CTA) that directs people to take the action you want them to.

Your images must help back this and complement your website copy.

Add stunning images that tie your message together and back it up

Make sure that any photos or videos on your website are high-resolution. They should showcase the products or services that you offer. And they must fit the feeling of your site. The right use of visuals can engage your readers and help them to feel like they’re in the right place.

If your images feature people, then ensure the people reflect your target market or client avatar.

If you have a complete branding guide for your business that will help you determine what images are best to showcase your business.

Your images should also tell a story, and they should all be consistent in look and feel.

Also, if you are using stock images, ensure you understand the copyright on the pictures.

Google Analytics and Google Search Console

When you are setting up your website, make sure you integrate Google Analytics and Google Search Console with it. They’re both free Google tools, so why wouldn’t you use them? The information both tools give you is quite powerful in understanding what’s working and what needs revisiting with your website.

Google Analytics shows you:

• How much website traffic you’re receiving?
• Where your website traffic is coming from
• Your number of returning visitors vs new
• What your bounce rate is
• Your traffic sources
• Time on site
• And a lot more

Google Search Console shows you the following:

• What you need to do to maintain and monitor your website
• What pages have been crawled and or indexed
• Any problem areas
• And so much more

You can also submit your sitemap to Google Search Console, which will allow faster indexing (hopefully).

Test and optimise your website

Remember to test your website before it goes live. Test your contact and other forms on your website and ensure you receive all submissions.

Check that your pages and links are working correctly and not bouncing, and rectify anything that needs fixing. If you’ve built your website on a staging site, it’s a good idea to test this aspect again once you’ve migrated your site, too.

SEO (search engine optimisation) is what’s going to get your website ranking in SERPs (search engine results pages), so look into how to increase your website traffic.

Use social proof

Remember to ask for testimonials from clients and customers and feature these on your website either as text or videos if your clients or customers are happy to record a video.

Testimonials provide social proof that helps potential clients or customers understand that you can help people just like them. Every important page of your website should feature social proof—product, sales, service, and landing pages. Showcase your testimonials on them all (obviously, keep the testimonials relevant to the page you’re showcasing them on).

Go live, then track and tweak

Once you’ve completed all of the above, it’s time to launch your site. If you’re overwhelmed by the above or don’t have time to do it, I’m here to help.

Think of a website as an ongoing project, too. Don’t wait until it’s perfect before launching.

Have you started designing your WordPress website? I’d love to hear how you’ve found the process. Let me know if you’ve gotten stuck on any areas, and perhaps that’ll be the topic of my next blog post or social media post.