Parts of a Website You Must Know About
A website includes several parts, each with its own function and role. Knowing the components of a website is essential for web design and development. For example, we have headers, footers, navigation menus, and content areas. This article will help you understand the use and importance of each part.
When you are familiar with each element and how to utilize it for maximum conversion, it won’t be difficult to design a successful website.
These are the essential parts of a website that are necessary for a website to function properly. Understanding the meaning and usage of each part can help you design a website that is easy to navigate and provides a positive user experience.
Essential parts and components of website pages
A website usually consists of several pages. While each page serves a different purpose, the elements incorporated are almost similar. Let us look at some of the necessary components of a web page.
Header
The header is the first visible part of your website and must be attractive to compel users to browse further through your content. Ideally, a header comprises a captivating logo and a menu where one can find every page related to your website and directly jump onto the desired content. This approach is highly favorable for retaining visitors, delivering a smooth and user-friendly browsing interface.
If we talk about earlier times, the header consisted of a specific image or logo that depicted your business idea similarly. However, it is now obsolete, and the new trend follows the earlier composition of the brand’s logo and navigation sidebar.
Navigation Bar
Let us now discuss a bit more about the header’s component, a navigation bar, or the website’s main menu. This bar usually comprises the following items, but it is not certain, and this composition may vary according to the business and the type of services they offer.
- Home page
- Services or products
- Blog
- FAQs
- About us
- Contact us
A navigation sidebar displays differently on the phone as compared to a desktop. Because of the lesser space in the former device, the navigation menu has to be shrunk into an icon. However, all the options show up as soon as the visitor clicks on the symbol vertically or horizontally, depending on whichever option you choose to be implemented.
You can add a mega menu to the navigation sidebar if your website is based on vast content. Each bar component’s arrow will be detailed, including a few subheadings and categories.
It depicts browsing ease for users as wandering over a website to get to desired part might be time-consuming and result in traffic bounce. Also, these subcategories are linked, so clicking on any part will direct you to its page on the website.
Headliner Image
A good website must be visually attractive, and to achieve this goal, it is necessary to add a huge image just below the header. This image, a featured photo, must align with your business idea and comprise your brand’s slogan and CTAs. The image should be appealing and colorful, urging users to trust your services. A perfect feature image should be of horizontal orientation, almost covering that side of the page.
Moreover, colors also play an important role, and it is recommended to use nice contrasting shades for the visitor to differentiate between the headline and call to action buttons. At the same time, a superior color combination is also responsible for establishing a fascinating piece of the image.
Slider
Studies prove that web users are more attracted to visual representations than those depicted in standard text. That is why a slider plays an important role as part of a website. Firstly it is vital to know what a slider is. A slider is just like a standard slideshow you often use to present your ideas in the office. However, you keep moving on to the other part after explaining the previous one; the case here is different.
The images are set to keep moving spontaneously based on the interval of a few seconds. These figures can depict anything, including your products, services, reviews, testimonials, etc. The benefit of a slider is that it can display tons of images in a single picture, and you can utilize the saved space to insert any other worthy item.
Sliders are placed on any page, but most of this technology is for the homepage. You can also use a slider as a part of your headliner or feature image. A few more benefits that compel website builders to have sliders as a necessary part of the website include;
- The web page has limited content that contributes positively to the page loading speed.
- It appears alluring and much better than displaying several images simultaneously, which might make the page look messy.
- The customer can see a visual demo of your services and might get attracted to try them out.
Content of the Site
A website’s content showcases the services of the relevant provider in detail. It is displayed in the text, videos, audio, images, etc. However, most sites use text in this aspect as they have to cover a lot of stuff in the limited space of a single web page. Each web page has its content and delivers a solid message regarding its purpose.
The quality of the content is not compromisable, and you should follow the rules to ensure that the content is rightfully delivering your business’s word.
- It should be directed toward the target audience
- It should be able to establish a buyer persona
- The content should be understandable and concise
- Search engine optimization is also vital and is achievable through the use of proper keywords in the content.
If you abide by the following rules, it won’t be difficult to impress your visitors, eventually turning them into loyal customers. Moreover, the content will also be capable enough for Google to rank it, playing a critical role in traffic generation.
Sidebar
The sidebar is quite different from a navigation bar as it is present beside website content in a vertical manner. Usually, sidebars have suggestions for other content that might interest the visitor. It may include a call to action, a search option, or affiliate advertisements.
Depending on the requirements, it solely depends upon the web builder to incorporate any of these aspects in the bar.
However, newer trends have this part eliminated from the website, but many designers still prefer to insert it for multiple reasons. Honestly, it is your choice to keep or remove it, as it does not have any bothersome impact on the website’s speed or performance.
Footer
The footer is like a twin header with different placement areas. Like a header, the footer is also intact for each web page but is at the bottom instead of the topmost region. It is again entirely your choice to decide which content to put in the footer, but mostly the following things are incorporated in this part of the website;
- Contact info, including email, phone number, etc.
- Social networking sites as icons
- Privacy policy
- Terms and conditions
- Affiliate details, if any
- Sitemap
- Copyright claims
Footers might not get much attention considering their location, but they still hold great value for the following reasons;
- Footer works as a last nail in the coffin to convince visitors about the credibility of your services if other website components fail to persuade them.
- The footer is also essential for visitors to find any additional option they could not locate earlier.
- It works as a house to the company’s critical information like social media, contact information, personal details, etc., which is a huge parameter in judging the business’s credibility.
Furthermore, a footer is extremely lightweight and would not hinder the user experience. It would not be wrong to regard this website element as an additional perk that helps but does not hurt.
Call to Actions
A call to action is the next step you want your site’s visitors to take. You can exhibit these in the form of the following items;
- Buttons
- Popups
- Ribbons
- Slide ins
- Email boxes
- Standard text with a hyperlink
There are no such hard and fast rules to design a call to action as a simple text like click here works fine. It should be polite and not reflect like you are ordering them to take action. You can insert these anywhere according to your need.
Types of Website Pages
Since you know the universal composition of web pages, we will look at a few different types of these pages that combine to generate a wholesome website.
Landing Page
A landing page is the foremost important aspect of any website as it has a critical role in being part of the promotional and marketing regime. For example, you must promote your website on Google, Instagram, Twitter, etc. It demands a link to do so.
This link is directed toward the landing page of your website. Since this page is exhibiting the first impression on visitors, it should appeal to the extent that the person is compelled to take action. These actions include report download, email subscription sign-up, product purchase, etc.
This entire process has a vital role in increasing conversations for the website. The landing page does not directly perform these actions but instead sends visitors to their pages for individual purposes.
Although we discussed that every website page has similar anatomy, a landing page differs. It usually lacks a header, footer, and sidebar to avoid distractions and mainly focuses on important actions. You can eliminate these elements or keep them as minimized as possible.
Homepage or Main Page
A homepage is the main website page when a visitor reaches your site through a search engine. Being the center of attraction, designing an exclusive web page should be the web builder’s priority.
Depending on the business, it should showcase an enlarged display of your product or service and articles like blogs. These demonstrations must have a backend link to the entire article. Furthermore, many businesses decide to put their ratings, popular customers, and testimonials on their homepage to ensure the visitors of their credibility.
Each web page must have a linked logo of the homepage if the potential customer gets lost anywhere and wishes to return to the front page.
Blog Page
You must wonder when a blog became a website page as a standalone website. Exactly, it is the case in the majority of instances. Still, many huge enterprises incorporate their blogs into their website as a page containing several blog posts. There are several layouts to design blog pages.
Contact Us Page
As the name suggests, a contact us page delivers communication ways for your customers through an email or phone number. These pages also play a vital role in enhancing conversation rates as it increases the value of your reliability. Besides traditional email and contact numbers, another latest addition is a contact form.
Sometimes, the company misses a query email in bulk, which negatively affects the business’s reputation; contact forms are the perfect integration to avoid this problem. It will also save the visitor’s efforts to copy emails, open the relevant application, write the query, etc.
In contrast, a contact form demands a few seconds where the questioner has to fill in some basic information with a question and send it.
These forms are then redirected to business team members who will take the desired action to provide satisfactory answers to the visitor. A contact us page must have a contact form for ease of use and a professional approach.
Conclusion
Building a website is not as complex as beginners might find it. The above guide to the anatomy of a website, its important pages, and their vital components will help you get familiar with web design. We hope you are now equipped with all the basic information about the parts of a website.
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