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Cynthia Oswald

Surface Design, Fine Art + Branding for Creatives

web development

Consistent Spacing on Your Website & Why It’s Important

Website success tips

Key areas to have consistent spacing on your website

Set up rules for spacing throughout your site, consider creating rules for the following:

  1. Space around images
  2. Space below headers
  3. Space between paragraphs
  4. Space within page sections

For the final tip of the top 10 tips to make your website a success I’m sharing about creating consistent spacing. It’s really a pretty simple concept, but it’s something that’s easy to overlook. When you’re setting up your standards for your fonts, I recommend creating some rules around the spacing as well. 

You want to consider the space around your images and make sure that that spacing is always consistent. For example, you might have a few different ways that your images are showing up (2-column, full-width, etc.). Create rules for each instance so you can establish consistency throughout the site.

Also consider space below and above your headings, making sure that it’s always the same depending on the heading that you’re using, and then also have consistent spacing between paragraphs and in between the different sections within your page. I have previously talked about page breaks, or the page fold, making sure that the space in that page section is consistent throughout so your white spaces throughout is looking cohesive. The whole purpose of this is to create brand cohesion and create some rules around the spacing in your brand so that it feels put together it elevates the way it comes across. 

Want to see the full list of website success tips? Download my FREE Website Checklist!

Adding CTAs to Your Website

website success tips

Best placement for calls to action on your website

Top 3 Things to Consider When Adding CTAs to Your Website

  1. What’s the number 1 goal of your website? Be sure to create CTAs (calls to action) throughout pointing users to that goal/next steps
  2. Include one above the page fold on each page, and throughout the content, as well as the bottom of every page
  3. Make it easy for your user to know what their next action should be

Today’s tip is all about creating calls to action throughout your website and making sure that you share it in the most important locations on your site. You are going to include it in your menu, which essentially are different calls to action, but you also want to have a button or some specific highlighted call to action below the intro copy so that people know exactly where they should be going next after they read that information. Always be thinking about what the number one goal of the page is and then make sure that your call to action relates specifically to that goal and points the user to the next logical location. 

Examples of CTA’s are: 

  • make a purchase
  • sign up for your email newsletter
  • learn more about a service
  • contact
  • schedule a call

You want to relate back to what’s the number one goal for that page and the content and really, your website overall. You would think that creating calls to action would be very natural, but a lot of times we overlook it and just think that people will find what they need to do by looking through the menu. As the user is scrolling through content, they may decide to jump off the page and take action on what you are sharing so include CTAs throughout the copy/pages in natural locations. Sometimes it looks like having four different links that all lead to the exact same location from one page. Website visitors are looking for next steps, so making it really obvious is going to be helpful for them and it’s going to make the user experience better. 

I have one more tip in this series all about consistent spacing and then I’ll be moving on to the next series. If you want to see a full list of all my top website tips, download my FREE Website Checklist!

Creating visual hierarchy

website success tips

Visual hierarchy and how to use it effectively on your website

Today’s tip is about creating a visual hierarchy on your website. I want you to be thinking about what happens when you land on your website homepage or any other corresponding page secondary page. How is it that your eye moves through the page? Sometimes it’s really hard to look at that when you’re the one building your own site. I always recommend starting with wireframes for this purpose. If you’re struggling to create a visual hierarchy on your own site, I suggest taking a look at websites that you like to frequent and taking note of how they create visual hierarchy. How are they creating balance and how are you as the viewer moving through the page naturally? 

Here are a few things you can do to create this on your own site:

  1. You can use images and color blocking as a way to create a visual hierarchy by breaking the page into sections. It allows your eye to focus on different locations. 
  2. You can also utilize scale in your imagery and copy. Creating standard looks for headlines, subheads, and body copy is just going to help people understand where they should look first, second, and third, and finally where they should land. 
  3. Finally be thinking about that call to action and how does that fit into the visual hierarchy? This is important because your call to action is what you want people to gravitate toward on your website. 

A visual hierarchy works quickly and subconsciously to guide users through your content. We just look at a page or a composition and we’re naturally moving through the information/imagery. Again, try to take a look at some sites that you enjoy visiting and you’ll start to see what’s working and how they’re doing it. Then you can take some ideas you pulled from looking at those other sites and begin implementing them into your own brand visuals. 

Want to know more website success tips? Download my FREE Website Checklist!

Top 3 Things to Think About Regarding Your Website Page Fold

Website Success Tips

Consideration of the page fold

What is a page fold? For physical projects consider a brochure, a natural break occurs when you open up a panel. It’s when you literally turn the page — creating those very apparent, natural breaks in the text and visuals. In the digital world, a page fold is considered anything you can see within the screen on the device you are using to view the web page, when you find yourself needing to scroll down to see more, you have found the page fold. 

On a website, there are a few things that you want to consider before a visitor starts to scroll down your web page. Below are my top 3 things to think about when viewing your website with the consideration of the page fold in mind.

1. Understand what is showing up on the screen when someone lands on our site from all devices

The first thing to consider is: what does the web visitor see when landing on your webpage? Do they see everything you are wanting them to see or are they not seeing enough? Make sure to consider the devices that someone could be using to view your website (phone, laptop, tablet, desktop). Every device has a different page fold, so you want to make sure to use the viewfinder to see what the screen view looks like on each device. Usually, your website should be responsive to different devices, but it never hurts to double-check that everything translates properly.

2. Including a CTA 

At the top of the page (and this goes for all web pages, not just your home page), you want to make sure that you always have a call to action above the fold. Consider having a call-out section above the fold that includes a header, a little bit of copy that articulates what they can expect to learn or find on this page, and a quick button so they can easily click into the goal location. Some web visitors are coming to your website to take immediate action, so you want to make sure that the CTA is up-front and center so they don’t have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the webpage to find the link they are looking for.

3. Create Natural Breaks

In the case that a visitor decides not to immediately click on the CTA at the top of the webpage, and begins to scroll, you will want to make sure that you have created natural breaks on the page. Why is this important? You don’t want it to feel like an endless scroll with no hierarchy.  It’s not visually pleasing and can cause your visitor to lose interest. Try these design elements to help create natural feeling page breaks:

  • color blocking
  • images
  • lines
  • whitespace

These options can create mental indicators to the reader which content belongs together and when the next thought has begun. Creating those natural breaks in the page allows the end-user to have a pleasing overall experience when viewing your website. It’s a way to create breathing room online versus the physical world. 

Want to know more website success tips? Download my FREE Website Checklist!

Creating a Style Guide

Website Success Tips

Creating your brand cheat sheet

I am excited to share some important things you want to be considering when it comes to the visuals you have on your website and something I always create for my clients is a brand cheat sheet (also known as a style guide). 

A style guide is a cheat sheet for yourself that helps you stay consistent and cohesive throughout your website and your communication platforms. Examples of this would be when building an email template, building or editing different aspects of your website, or when creating social media graphics. In addition to creating brand cohesion, having a brand cheat sheet allows you to work so much faster! You aren’t wasting time trying to figure out what color you used last time, what font did I use as my body font, etc. 

Brand cheat sheets are pretty simple to make, I would suggest using Canva or Adobe Express to make one for your business if you don’t have one already. Listed below are some things to include in your brand cheat sheet if you are creating your own.

What to include on your website brand cheat sheet

Hex Colors

What are hex colors? They are color codes that have a hashtag followed by a combination of six digits (can be letters or numbers or both!). For example, one of my hex codes is #3C462D — the super secret code for the dark green in my branding. 

How do I find out what the hex codes are for my brand colors? If you have the color makeup for your brand colors in CMYK or RBG you can convert to HEX here: https://g.co/kgs/Tynft2

I would suggest having 3-5 hex colors for your brand. You should be able to use these hex codes throughout your email marketing, social media, and website seamlessly.

Fonts

It is always nice to outline the fonts you are going to come across throughout your branding. Having two to four font treatments gives you some great variation to make your brand stand out. The two types of fonts you want to make sure you include are a headline font and body copy font and make sure they flow well together.

Logos

All variations of your logo—horizontal, vertical, square, emblems, one-color, full-color, etc.

Brand Imagery

Images you want to show alongside your logo. You want these to be cohesive with your brand and serve as examples of what type of imagery you want to use and want people to associate with your brand.

I hope the tips above help you create a quick style guide that serves as a catalyst for brand cohesion in your business if you do not have one already. 

Connection through communication on your website

Website Success Tips

Creating ways for people to connect on your website

Creating a way for people to connect with you throughout your website is simple and easy to accomplish. Should you provide an email or a phone number? How about a form that sends directly to your email? You also want to also make sure your information is protected. There are bots that scan websites for your information and sometimes putting a direct link to your phone number or email isn’t the safest option.

If your business is one in an industry where it is customary and common to have customers reach out by phone and you have someone dedicated to answering the phone, then absolutely include a phone number on your website. If your business doesn’t primarily have communication by phone with your customers, I would use a Contact Us button for the website visitor to connect with you via email, by filling out a form, or to schedule a call. The use of a button on your website helps protect your email or information since it isn’t directly given on your website, it is linked instead. My personal favorite option is offering a way for someone to schedule a call — to fill out a form and find a spot on your calendar right away. I think it’s really useful for any kind of service provider.

Where to include contact information on your website

Contact Page

When someone is going to your website, they are looking at your product or service and wanting to build a relationship or connection with you, so you want to make sure you’re allowing that to happen in the most seamless way possible for them. My suggestion would be to have an easily accessible page on your website dedicated to informing the web visitor of how they can inquire further about working together or purchasing your product. Over the years we have been conditioned to look in the top right-hand corner of the website to find that “Contact” page, so I would always have a link to the Contact page in that location.

Website Footer

Including a link or navigation menu in the footer of your site that links your visitor back to your service pages and your contact page is always a great idea. If someone took the time to scroll through the entire page you want to have an easy place for them to take the next step and connect.

It’s also good to include social media handles and/or an email opt-in. I would sprinkle the email marketing subscription form or lead magnet throughout your site and through a couple of pop-up forms if possible. Providing a useful lead magnet helps to offer real value to your users and a natural way to stay connected with users through their inboxes.