Five ways to create innovative website designs that beat your competition

There are millions of WordPress websites on the internet and many new sites are launched on a daily basis. Even if not all of them will be successful in the end, it's pretty obvious that the competition is rather tough, no matter which industry or business you are in. If you want your website and your business to be successful on the long run, you need to stand out from the competition.

The easiest way to do this, is to ensure your website's design is innovative and creative while still being appealing to your target audience. Your website should give your audience a seamless user experience that will make them come back to your site more often. In this article, we'll share some usful tips and unique ways to spice up the design of your website and beat your competition.

• Make sure your website is responsive
• Eliminate clutter on your website
• Have a clear call to action
• Offer social proof to your visitors
• Use interactive elements on your website

Make sure your website is responsive

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Nowadays most people use their smartphones or tablets to browse the internet. Additionally, the search engine giant, Google announced that they are favoring mobile-friendly websites in search engine results. Thus, the mobilegeddon is upon us and there is no better time than the present to ensure your WordPress website follows the rules when it comes to responsive webdesign.

Although the main goal of a responsive website is to provide an optimal viewing and interaction experience, the responsive design means much more than that. It means your site should be easy to navigate regardless of the screen size. The images you are using should scale properly to accommodate different screen sizes and any forms on your website should be easy to fill out, whether someone visits your website on a laptop or on a smartphone. The text should also be easy to read without requiring users to pinch and zoom to be able to read your content.

Another benefit of responsive websites is the fact that they are also SEO-friendly. This is because responsive websites share the same URL and the same code across devices instead of having two different versions for desktop and mobile. This makes it easy for search engines to index them.

Eliminate clutter on your website

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Just because you can add a ton of bells and whistles to your WordPress website, this doesn't mean you should. A cluttered website with distracting design elements doesn't only look amateurish, but it also makes it harder for your visitors to quickly find the information they are looking for.

On the other hand, this also doesn't mean you should strip your website of all design elements. On the contrary, this means using white space creatively to make the content easy to read and your website easy to navigate. However, white space is not necessarily always a white background. In terms of design, white space denotes any space on your pages which doesn't have any design elements that would distract your visitors as they are trying to read your content.

For best results, you should further ensure that your text and calls to action are clearly visible against the background of your WordPress website without unnecessary clutter like banners, counters, ads, sliders or any other element that might cause visitors to get distracted.

You can add visual interest to white space by using a blurred photo or a subtly colored background to highlight your call to action or to communicate your main message. This will help you not only capture the attention of your visitors but to reduce your overall bounce rate as well.

Have a clear call to action

Many website owners make a mistake by including more than one call to action on their site. As a result, visitors could get confused and don't have clue what you offer or what exactly makes you stand apart from your competitors. Your website, more specifically, your homepage should have a single call to action which will guide users through your site and lead them where you want them to go. This is why you need to define a unique value proposition and use it as your main call to action.

An easy way to display a call to action on your WordPress website is with the help of images and text. You can create a large banner image that goes directly into the header of your website or you can use a different font to highlight your call to action.

Make sure your unique value proposition is short and to the point to make the most impact on your target audience. You can research your competition to draw inspiration from them and then compare their offer against yours to find out what makes you stand out. From there, use a clear and compelling description to highlight your unique benefit and captivate your audience.

Offer social proof to your visitors

Whether you sell products or offer services on your website, there is no better way to boost your sales than showing that other people or customers are liking your product or service. It goes a long way to convince those new to your brand that you offer quality products or competent services.

You can display testimonials from previous clients or customers on the homepage. You can also share any reviews you've received or even use mentions on social media as a means of showing social proof. Finally, you can also feature logos of publications where you have been mentioned along with a link to the post in question. Doing this will automatically boost your credibility and show potential customers that you have what it takes to solve their problem or fulfill a need.

Use interactive elements on your website

One of the best ways to engage visitors on your website is through the use of interactive elements. Such interactive elements might help you tell your brand story more effectively and make your website come to life. Adding interactivity to your site can be accomplished in many different ways.

For instance through the use of interactive icons, drop-down menus, animated text boxes or images, infinite scrolling, slideshows, even background videos or welcome videos that tell your story to your audience in a few short sentences.

When adding interactive elements to your website, don't forget about your 404 pages. Those are usually left behind which leads to many users leaving your website and going straight to your competitor. Instead, spice up those pesky 404 pages with a search bar or a video that sends them to a different page. You can even use a cute animation to keep them interested in exploring the site.

Conclusion: Creating innovative website designs

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Standing out from the competition is not an easy task. But it's not an impossible one either. With the tips listed above, your job is half-way done. Now all you need to do is implement them on your WordPress website and you'll be well-equipped to keep visitors there for a longer period of time as well as ensure they come back to it on a regular basis. Do you have any other innovative methods that can be added to keep visitors engaged? Let us know by leaving a comment.