What if your website had the power to form meaningful connections with your audience, guide your visitors toward confidently choosing your products or services, and serve as a launching pad for your future business growth? Today, Kelly Zugay and Andra Barkey, of With Grace and Gold, will share just how to make this happen with their five tips for creating purpose-driven web design. Grab a notepad and pen and get ready to jot down the details from the experts themselves!

From the branding and web design experts… When you’re a creative small business owner, having a purpose-driven web design can make all the difference. It can serve as a space your visitors connect with and return to — a space to showcase your expertise and approach, while also helping your visitors to become confidently-paying customers or clients. Having created engaging, connection-focused, and purpose-driven web designs for thousands of creatives since 2014, today, we’re excited to share our best advice for creative small business owners. If you use your website to showcase your work, to help your visitors book your services, or purchase your products — this inside scoop is for you!

Tip No. 1 – Every detail of your web design should be created or curated with your audience in mind.

When approaching your web design, it’s natural to think about your vision — your favorite design details, or the approach you’ve seen fellow creatives in your field use. We advise creatives to think about their audience first — the client or clients they’d like to serve through their products or services. If you think about the businesses you know, love, and use, you often love those businesses because you connected with their values or approach. When your web design is created with your audience in mind, you can capture the details your audience will find most meaningful, and your audience can form a meaningful and lasting connection with your business. Summed up, when you approach your web design, ask yourself: “How am I serving my audience? How am I equipping my audience for success?”

Tip No. 2 – Less is more when creating a purpose-driven, connection-focused web design.

According to a recent Google study (linked in credits), visually complex web designs are actually considered to be less beautiful overall than clean and minimal web designs. The study goes on to explore how complexity can color visitors’ first impressions — impacting how easily visitors can understand a website’s content, or how willing visitors are to continue exploring a website further. On the other hand, having a minimal design creates space for conversion, equips you to serve visitors in the way they value being served, and equips you to focus on the content that matters most to your visitors. When approaching your web design, focusing on creating value, connecting with your audience, and serving your audience can be extremely helpful.

Tip No. 3 – Your copywriting should speak to your audience and the problem they can solve by choosing your business.

Just as we recommend approaching your web design with your audience in mind, we also recommend approaching your copywriting — or the wording within your web design — with your audience in mind. Copywriting is a means of communicating your expertise and approach in a connection-driven and conversational way. Through purposeful copywriting, your website can speak to your audience on your behalf and effectively guide your visitors toward confidently choosing your products or services.

Tip No. 4 – Your photography should showcase your best work or the type of work you’d like to do more of.

Over the years, many of our clients have expressed concerns about wanting to include all of their available photos within their web design. They want to honor and value the relationships they’ve formed with their clients and feel uneasy about including only a curated collection of photos within their portfolio. We have seen first-hand, though, how including a curated collection of photography can help you to communicate your expertise more clearly and can help to serve your visitors better. According to Hubspot, the average time a visitor spends on a page of a website is 54 seconds. With just 54 seconds per page, having a curated collection of photos, and ensuring your web design creates a smooth and seamless experience for your visitors can make all the difference.

Tip No. 5 – What has worked for another creative business may not work well for your business.

When your web design is created with your unique business, vision, and goals in mind, your website can be a space rooted in forming meaningful, authentic connections with your visitors. On the other hand, if your web design is created with a blend of other creatives’ design details in mind, your website can appear pieced together and less cohesive overall. Whether you work with a professional design business or choose to customize a pre-made design, know your business is valuable in one-of-a-kind ways. When you trust yourself, believe in your unique approach, and speak to your audience through curated copywriting and photography, you can create an online space your visitors will value, appreciate, and remember.

Like what you see? Take a peek at the talent behind the story… Branding & Web Design: With Grace and Gold · Interior Design: Charlie Hesse Interiors · Photography: Raquel Langworthy Photography