4 Ways to Future Proof Your Web Design

1. 4 Ways to Future Proof Your Web Design The world of web design is ever-evolving. The practices that contribute to a successful website (such as how to respond to Google's algorithms for determining search result rankings) change on a regular basis. In addition, your website may eventually experience an increase in traffic; you may decide to start selling new products from your e-commerce store, or a particularly popular blog post may go viral. You need a site that can keep up with these changes without needing a complete redesign. Fortunately, there are a number of steps you can take to help your web design last longer. Following are a few tips for future proofing your custom web design.

2. Make your web design responsive to mobile devices. The future of successful custom web design, in Austin and elsewhere, lies in mobile responsiveness. Billions of people use mobile devices, while 70 percent of searches conducted on mobile devices result in action being taken (such as a sale being completed) in an hour or less. Almost half of all mobile device owners report that the most important element of any mobile site is how easy it is to use. In addition, a web design that is mobile-friendly is an important element in search engine optimization. Google has recently changed its algorithm to rank mobile-friendly web pages more favorably than those that are not. These facts make it clear that websites need to be easily accessible to mobile device users. The best type of mobile web design is a responsive one. This type of website delivers the same information to a mobile device as it does to a desktop computer. However, it arranges the information in a way that is easily accessed via the narrower and smaller screen of a mobile device. The result is that it allows mobile users to more easily navigate the site. In addition, this type of web design is preferred by Google, which ranks pages with a responsive design more favorably than others. Build in flexibility. In addition to creating a responsive web design, future proofing your site should also include building in flexibility that

3. will allow you to easily edit your site when necessary. For instance, your site should be designed in such a way that adding pages, changing page layout, creating e-commerce web design elements, and using plug-ins can all be accomplished without a full-blown redesign. This kind of flexibility will allow your web development company to update your site when necessary with a minimum of hassle. One of the biggest ways to build flexibility into your site is to use a flexible CMS (content management system). These systems allow you to add new pages and tweak other elements without completely redesigning the site. Just make sure you use a CMS that allows for a custom design instead of forcing you to use a template. By doing so, you can maximize uniqueness and performance as well as flexibility. Simplify your web design. Simplicity is an important element in future proofing your website for a number of reasons. First, a web layout that is clean and simple makes it easy for search engines to crawl and index your pages. While their algorithms change often, their methods do not. As a result, this type of easily-navigable design is likely to sit well with search engine crawlers for years to come. In addition, brevity and simplicity have consistently been preferred elements for web users. For instance, short URLs are easier to remember. Simple designs are easier for users to navigate and easier to remember for the next time they visit your site. Simple content management systems are easier to

4. edit when needed. The drive for sites that are easy to use is unlikely to change soon. As a result, a simple web design is likely to be a favored strategy for the foreseeable future. Creating simplicity in your site, therefore, can help ensure that the design will last as long as you need it to. Stay on top of maintenance. Future proofing your web design also requires you to stay on top of maintenance. A website that is allowed to languish will gradually lose its effectiveness as links go bad, web pages die, and content grows stale. While you can refresh this material even after neglecting it for a while, doing so will take more time and effort than staying on top of the maintenance to begin with. In addition, bad links and error messages are likely to lose you customers and hinder your SEO performance. Instead, regularly check your site for problems. For instance, make sure all of your inbound and outbound links work and lead to and from authoritative and trusted sources. Update your content (such as your blog), on at least a weekly basis. Conduct regular checks for dead pages and make sure all of your internal links work smoothly. If you keep your website running smoothly on a regular basis, it will retain its effectiveness and performance longer. Creating a website that can withstand the demands of time and changes in best practices is essential if your custom web design is going to last. By incorporating certain elements into your design, you can create a site that needs reworking less often and that can also be quickly edited when necessary. By

5. creating a mobile web design, building in flexibility, simplifying your web design, and staying on top of maintenance, you can create a future proof website that will serve you well for the long-term.