The first Microsoft homepage went live in 1994. This means that in less than twenty-five years, online business presences have gone from non-existent to essential. As new program and design advances shift the digital world, it’s imperative that you look to the future to keep your website on the cutting edge. In order to climb to the top of the infamous Google results page, your web design must do far more than what was required twenty-five years ago to gain traffic and increase your ROI.
With the holidays right around the corner, 2019 is on fast approach. Read on for our predictions regarding three key features you’ll be seeing enter the web design game in the upcoming year.
1. Strategic Animation
Although websites are relatively new to the tech world, animation has played a key role in internet marketing services and sites since the start. Quick and simple animated graphics gained complexity by graduating to page motions, galleries, slideshows, moving backgrounds, and unique loading animations. If animation is a foreign concept to you, then be sure to scroll through Design Shack’s useful intro on the subject—or sit down with a designer and let them work with you to improve your current web design.
Adding a new twist to the idea of animation in web design is the revolutionary concept of strategic animation. By allowing you to effectively guide consumers through your website without sacrificing the overall aesthetic, animated web features like hovering, click, pop-up messages and interactive features will be big in 2019 and beyond.
2. Content Marketing as the New Marketing
In past business ventures, marketing tactics were a complex set of strategic actions taken to help direct the promotion of products or services to influence specific sales goals. Simply put, marketing was large scale, and required a lot of work—and even more time. Until recently, content was just one of these strategic actions, and to some businesses, was an aspect of marketing all too often pushed to the wayside.
As markets evolve, businesses are learning that content is really the essence of effective marketing when it comes to making a website. You can have a smart and well-planned internet marketing service or strategy fall flat on its face if the content is not up to par. Content marketing opens the door for involved conversations and real relationships with followers and consumers that, until this point, were impossible to have. Yes, creating good content does require the time and efforts of your team. However, we’re confident that if your business can understand and apply this concept, it’ll be set up for major future success.
Sit down with your writers and give them a chance to offer input on your upcoming campaigns; you may be pleasantly surprised to hear their ideas! Or, if you need some help in this area, get in touch with an expert to take your content game to the next level.
3. White Space
The Daily Egg published an article on the concept that less is more, and how the white space will be a key aspect of 2019 web design. Your new best friend when it comes to creating your new website, white space (or the background area in between your design components) can become a powerful design element in itself. Take Apple, for example. Forbes describes their brilliance in taking blank spaces—like the back of a laptop computer—and turning it into a highly branded space using their distinct brand indicator.
We believe you can do the same with your 2019 web design. Incorporating some white space provides a useful background that helps your design elements to pop—and can visually filter your content to better the experience of your users. Less is more: even the best of readers can get easily overwhelmed by loads of content, no matter how well written it may be. With this in mind, consider writing less, and instead, amping up the design elements (like strategic white pace) of what content you do produce.
Start Designing With Snap!
With only a few weeks until the new year, we hope these ideas for fresh website features inspire you to start designing your site—or at least revamp your existing content. Not sure where to start? Then reach out to the experts at Snap; we would love to help you get a headstart on your 2019 web design efforts.