When most people start designing a website, their first thought is usually, "What will it look like?" And while appearance matters, looks alone don’t bring in visitors or convert them into clients. If your goal is to get found online and make your website work for your business — not just sit there — you need to think much deeper than fonts and colours.
Designing a website starts long before any layout is created. In fact, the most successful websites begin with a plan — a clear idea of who the site is for, what they’re looking for, and how the site will guide them.
Ask yourself: What is this website meant to do?
Is it selling a service? Building awareness? Providing local information? Once you answer that, you can start working backwards.
Here’s what many people get wrong: they begin by designing page layouts, picking a theme, or uploading images. Only after everything is live do they start thinking about how to bring in traffic from Google.
But by then, you’ve likely missed the opportunity to align your content with what your audience is actually searching for.
Before you even sketch out a homepage, write down a few key phrases your ideal customer might type into Google. For example, if you're a web designer in South Africa, terms like:
These are gold. Once you have your main keyword, build everything around it — your page structure, headings, images, and even colour tone. This helps Google understand your site’s theme and rank it accordingly.
If you're unsure how to start with keyword planning, check out our post on low-competition SEO keywords that drive traffic.
For more guidance on building authority over time, read our beginner’s guide to backlinks.
We’ve seen it happen countless times: a client spends weeks (or months) designing a beautiful website, hits publish, then sends us a message:
"Hi, the site is live. How do we get it to number one on Google?"
It’s a fair question — but a tough one to answer after the fact. If you want traffic from search engines, you have to bake SEO into the site from the very beginning.
Search engines like Google scan your content looking for a theme — and that theme is based on consistent use of relevant words across titles, content, images, and metadata. If your message is scattered or overly broad, Google won’t know where to rank you. In some cases, your site might not be indexed at all.
The best websites are built around one central idea — not five. Trying to target too many unrelated keywords confuses both users and search engines.
Instead, create a structure like this:
If you're not sure where to begin, take a look at the layout of your main service pages and let your blog support those themes with consistent, related content.
Every decision you make when designing a website should ask: What will the visitor do next?
Good design supports action. Great design removes confusion.
Also — don’t forget about speed. A slow website kills your SEO. We recommend using LiteSpeed-powered hosting and proper image compression to keep load times under 3 seconds.
To understand just how important speed is, read Why Prioritizing Site Speed Is Crucial for SEO.
Designing a website isn’t something to rush. It’s a digital asset that represents your brand 24/7. When built with strategy and intention, it becomes a growth engine — not just a business card online.
So if you're starting your next project, here’s your checklist:
Want to learn more about how mobile matters in modern design? Read our guide to mobile-first web design, or make sure you're not making any of the top 5 mistakes when designing for mobile.
And if you're not sure where to start, chat to the team at IDS Hosting — we’ll walk you through it step by step.
A good-looking site is great. A well-planned site is better. But a fast, SEO-ready, user-focused site? That’s where the magic happens.
