How to Design a Website [Checklist + 6 Examples for Inspiration]

Did you know that 94% of first impressions are design-related? This means one thing: your website’s look and vibe could make or break your success. 

However, designing a website can be both exciting and overwhelming. If you’ve been avoiding it because you think it requires tech skills, don’t worry—this guide will change your perspective.  

In just a few steps, you’ll learn how to create a website that’s sleek and easy to navigate.  

Let’s get started! 

How To Design a Website in 11 Easy Steps 

Step 1. Define Your Website’s Goals and Purpose 

Before you even think about the design or site layout, determine the primary purpose of your website. It’s the very first step in the website design process. 

But why is this important? 

A well-defined purpose helps guide the website development, structure, design choices, and content strategy. It makes sure every element on the site supports your overall objectives. 

Here are some questions to help you identify your website’s purpose: 

• What’s your main reason for creating this website? 

• Who are you hoping to reach with your site? 

• What specific actions do you want visitors to take? (e.g., browse, purchase, read, sign up) 

• What tone and style should your website communicate to your audience? 

Step 2. Research and Plan Out Web Content 

Next, focus on your website’s content. Research ideas, gather inspiration, and understand what works in your industry. 

When researching websites from competitors or similar industries, you must pay attention to the following: 

• The features and layouts you find appealing 

• Content structure, including headings, visuals, or interactive elements 

• Branding and messaging 

• The type of content they feature 

However, while it’s helpful to get ideas from competitors, be sure to create unique and branded content that only your site can offer. 

Step 3. Plan Your Website Layout 

Next, map out your website layout. Your site’s structure and visual arrangement impact how visitors interact with your pages.  

First, you need to consider these major elements: 

• Navigation structure: Keep menus simple and easy to follow. 

• Visual hierarchy: Arrange content to guide users naturally toward key sections. 

• Page layouts: Decide on grids, spacing, and content placement. 

• Mobile responsiveness: Ensure your design adapts well to different screen sizes. 

While you’re at it, create a mood board to consolidate your findings. A mood board is a design guide that helps collect and organize your inspiration. 

You can also use Pinterest to save images and layouts that fit right in with your plans. If you’re looking for more professional designs, useful graphic design tools like Figma or Canva are great options. 

Step 4. Choose the Right Website Builder   

If you want a successful website, you need a reliable website builder. Many options are available on the market, such as Web.com, but not all are beginner-friendly. 

Here are a few more things to consider:  

• Ease of use: Choose a builder with a simple interface and a drag-and-drop editor for an easy start. There’s no coding knowledge required! 

• Customization options: If you have particular design requirements, cherry-pick website builders that offer customizable templates. 

• Features: The right website platform should include tools for SEO, e-Commerce integration, and other necessary features. 

Step 5. Set up Web Hosting and Domain Name  

If you’re designing or building a website from scratch, you need to set up two important things:  

1. Web hosting: This is the service where all your site’s files are stored and makes them accessible online. There are different hosting options to choose from: 

• Shared hosting: Ideal for small websites or beginners on a budget, though it may have limited resources. 

• VPS hosting: Suitable for growing websites with moderate traffic. 

• Dedicated hosting: Great for high-traffic websites. 

• Cloud hosting: Best for websites that experience fluctuating traffic. 

2. Domain name: This is your site’s address (e.g., www.yourwebsite.com). It’s what users type into their browser to find you. Buying a domain is an essential part of your online presence, so choose a memorable, short, and relevant domain for your brand.  

Additionally, don’t overlook your site security. An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate encrypts the data exchanged between your site and its visitors. It protects sensitive information like login credentials or payment details. 

Most hosting providers include SSL certificates in their plans, so make sure to confirm this feature when choosing your provider. 

Step 6. Design Your Brand Identity 

Here’s where your business website starts to get its personality.   

A brand, at its core, is a combination of features that distinguish one organization from another. It’s how your business communicates its values visually, emotionally, and psychologically. 

Your brand identity revolves around these elements:  

• Logo: The face of your brand.  

• Color scheme: The mood and tone.  

• Typography: Your brand’s personality through fonts.  

• Imagery: Visual content that reflects your brand story.  

• Tagline: A memorable phrase that captures your essence.  

• Brand voice: The tone and language you use to connect with your audience.  

Keep in mind that your brand identity isn’t just about looking good or putting a logo on a product. The goal is to build trust and create a memorable experience for site visitors.  

Take your time when designing your brand identity. It’s what visitors will remember long after they leave your site. 

Step 7. Organize Your Web Pages   

This is where you turn your vision into a fully functional website. Focus on creating web pages that lead site visitors through your product or service journey.  

Here are the primary web pages to include: 

• Homepage: The main entry point of your website.  

• About page: Shares your story, values, and mission.  

• Contact page: Where visitors can easily find ways to connect. 

• Product/Service pages: Shows what you offer in detail.  

• Blog pages: A section for sharing valuable content and updates.  

• FAQ pages: Provides quick answers to common questions. 

When designing your site, keep these user-focused principles in mind:  

• Clear navigation: Make it easy for visitors to find what they need.  

• Engaging CTAs: Prompt visitors to take the next step with clear calls to action.  

Here are some quick tips for a better user experience:  

• Consider using wireframes or mockups to plan the layout of your page elements. This would help you visualize your site architecture before you start building your site.  

• Use multiple photos. Studies show that 75% of customers rely on images when shopping online. Displaying a variety of photos gives site visitors a glimpse of your product or service. 

• Show social proof. Adding reviews, testimonials, or user-generated content influences buyers’ expectations. 

Step 8. Optimize for User Experience and SEO  

Eighty-eight percent of users are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience. The usual culprits in such scenarios are slow loading times, confusing navigation, and unresponsive web design. 

Here’s what you can do:  

• Make your site easy to navigate with a simple layout. This way, users can find what they need right away.  

• Slow pages can frustrate visitors, so aim for loading times under 3 seconds. You can achieve this by compressing images and minimizing unnecessary plugins or scripts. 

• Don’t overlook search engine optimization basics. Start with clear meta descriptions and title tags to help search engines know your page’s content.  

• Your website should be mobile-friendly. With most traffic coming from mobile, it’s a must. 

Step 9. Build Your Website   

With the right platform and tools, you can easily set up your site without any technical skills. Here’s a quick guide to get you started:  

1. Choose a template or theme: Most builders, including Web.com, have pre-designed themes designed for various industries. 

2. Customize your site pages: Use the site builder’s drag-and-drop editor to add content to your pages—text, images, and videos. Tweak fonts, colors, and layout to match your brand’s character. 

3. Set up navigation: As mentioned, your menu and navigation should be clear and easy to follow. As much as possible, try to make the experience hassle-free for your target audience. 

4. Integrate key features: Add basic website elements like forms, CTAs (call-to-actions), and any integrations (e.g., social media links, email signup forms). 

Step 10. Test Your Website   

Before you finally launch your website, you must do a final round of testing to check for any issues that might not have been evident during the development process.  

Here’s how you can test your site:  

1. Check navigation and usability: Your site should be easy to navigate and user-friendly. You wouldn’t want to confuse the users as they visit your site.  

• Click through every menu item and link to on your website to check if they lead to the correct pages. 

• Test interactive elements, such as forms and buttons to confirm they’re working as intended. 

2. Ensure mobile responsiveness: Your website should adjust to different screen sizes. Make sure the design is just as functional and attractive on mobile as it is on desktop. 

• Open your website on different devices, including smartphones and tablets. 

• Rotate the device to test how the site responds to different orientations (portrait and landscape). 

3. Verify cross-browser compatibility: Your site should work appropriately on various browsers. Sometimes, minor design glitches can occur on specific browsers, so it’s worth checking. 

• View your site on major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge to check for design or functionality inconsistencies. 

• Test older browser versions if your target audience may still use them. 

Step 11. Launch Your Website  

After all the hard work, you can now make your website live! But before you hit the publish button, there are a few pre-launch checks to make sure everything is ready:  

• SEO tags: Double-check if your meta descriptions, title tags, and image alt texts are optimized. By doing so, search engines will properly index your content.  

• Analytics setup: Connect Google Analytics (or your preferred tool) to your site to start tracking website traffic and user behavior from day one. Keeping an eye on performance metrics helps show areas for improvement.  

Once everything’s in place, hit the publish button. But don’t just stop there—celebrate the achievement! Share the news with your audience through social media, email newsletters, or even a special launch promotion.  

The Ultimate Website Design Checklist

How To Design Your Website using AI  

AI is rapidly changing the way we approach everyday tasks, and web design is no exception. This shift means that creating a site is now faster, easier, and more accessible, all thanks to advanced AI tools for web design.

One of the easiest ways to get started is with Web.com’s AI-powered site builder, our partner in providing website building solutions. It comes with built-in tools to make the web design process even simpler: 

• AI Builder: Answer a few simple questions, and AI will generate your website for you. 

• AI Writer: Need content? AI can write website copy based on your business. 

• AI Domain Generator: Get instant domain name ideas that match your brand. 

• AI Logo Builder: Create a professional logo in seconds. 

Here’s how to design your website using Web.com’s AI-powered site builder: 

1. Enter your business details, including your website name, category, and what makes it unique. The AI will customize a design based on your industry and goals. 

2. Choose from auto-generated templates.  

3. Customize images, fonts, and colors with simple drag-and-drop tools. 

4. Set up essential features, such as pages, e-commerce tools, contact forms, and more. 

5. Review and publish your site. Once the AI has generated your website, double-check the layout, content, and features. If everything looks good, go ahead and hit the Publish button. 

6 Website Design Ideas for Inspiration 

When it comes to web design, flashy doesn’t always mean better. The best websites focus on combining functionality with an intuitive, user-friendly design.   

Looking for some inspiration? Explore these design ideas from our collection of website design templates.  

eCommerce Web Design Ideas  

Shopping online should feel effortless. These designs will give eCommerce sites a modern look with easy navigation to make buying a breeze. 

Apparel Store

This web design template is an excellent choice if you’re running a fashion brand and online store. It combines chic style with functionality. The sophisticated aesthetic makes a memorable first impression.  

Consider incorporating a sticky notification bar to highlight sales or announcements. This helps keep your customers informed as soon as they land on your site. 

Make sure your homepage features a large, eye-catching image with a strong call-to-action (CTA) to highlight promotions or featured collections. Below, a clean grid layout of products with prices and “Add to Cart” buttons will guide customers easily when purchasing.

Don’t forget to include an “About Us” section to share your brand story. To better engage website visitors, integrate a gallery showcasing your social media feed. It’s a terrific way to give your brand a more personal, connected vibe.   

Coffee Store

A clean and organized design is ideal if you’re running a coffee shop or a similar small business. 

At the top, you can add a convenient dial button in the menu, so customers can call your business directly. On the homepage, use a large image paired with a compelling CTA like “Shop Now” and include a short description to grab attention. Then, display your products in a visually appealing way.   

Adding a “Our Story” section to tell customers more about your business is also a good idea. You can even feature your menu and operating hours. To highlight what makes your coffee shop special, put in a tagline with supporting images.  

Finally, include social media icons to encourage visitors to follow and engage with you across platforms. 

Portfolio Web Design Ideas

Show off your best work with style. These templates focus on creative layouts and visual elements that help you highlight your skills and projects. 

Artist

A simple, sleek design is the way to truly showcase your art. Consider using a template with a large slideshow and provide descriptions of each piece to display your artwork.  

Add an “About” section to connect with your target audience and share more about your creative journey. Highlight any awards in a dedicated section to impress potential clients or partners. 

Finally, include your social media links and contact details for easy communication. This design is perfect for any artist looking to present their portfolio website in an elegant, professional way.  

Photographer

If you’re a photographer, your website should reflect your style. A strong headline at the top of the page can introduce you, accompanied by a background image that reflects your style. You can include a “Contact Me” CTA to simplify booking a session. 

Showcase your best work in a grid layout, so potential clients can browse through your photography styles. Offering a section for photo session scheduling and an overview of fees will help manage expectations. This template is perfect if you want a visually appealing website that’s also practical for client interactions.  

Blog Web Design Ideas

Great blogs focus on content clarity and reader engagement. Check out these templates that combine clean site layouts and well-organized features.  

Author

Are you looking to promote your books or writing? Start with a header that includes your name and a tagline or title. Then, use a large background image to entice site visitors, with a smaller image of yourself alongside a CTA that invites readers to engage with you. 

Feature your bestselling book with a short synopsis and display other books in a grid with prices. To add a personal touch, include an “About” section with a short bio and a striking quote. Or highlight readers’ reviews on your homepage. 

Creative Blog

For blog websites focused on creativity, keep the design simple yet engaging. A catchy tagline above the menu will immediately convey what your blog is about. Use a slideshow of featured blog posts to capture attention, followed by a section for the latest posts to keep content fresh.   

Add a CTA for blog submissions, so readers can easily contribute their own content. If you’re growing your team, include a section for open jobs.   

For readers looking to learn something new, add a section dedicated to online tutorials. This template is perfect if you want a blog that encourages both creative contributions and learning opportunities. 

Start Designing Your Website Today!

When designing your website, it’s always best to keep things simple. Focus on usability and functionality, and you’ll create a well-designed website that works even better.   

Use the ideas above to spark some inspiration, and more importantly, always prioritize user experience. 

Ready to design your own website? Start your free trial with Web.com and explore their easy-to-use templates to help you get started. 

Frequently Asked Questions