A well-structured website layout is the foundation of great web design. Whether you’re building an e-commerce store, a corporate site, or a service-based site, an intuitive and visually appealing layout enhances user experience, improves engagement, and boosts conversions. But where do you start?
In this guide, we’ll break down the key principles of website layout, from wireframing to choosing the right design elements. You’ll learn how to structure your content effectively, balance aesthetics with functionality, and ensure your site is both user-friendly and responsive. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to refine your design skills, this step-by-step web layout design guide will help you create a website layout that stands out.
Step 1: Define your website goals
The first step in designing your website layout is to consider your website goals. What actions would you like website visitors to take on the site? Steps to take to define your website goals include:
- Consider the different types of website visitors who may land on your site
- Consider website visitors’ goals and pain points
- Define how your website seeks to address these pain points and deliver solutions
- Consider how your website can do this in a better way than competitors
- Think about the different types of content it may be necessary to include on your website, whether it be promotional, informative, FAQ-led, educational or entertainment-led
Step 2: Research and gain website layout inspiration
The next step is to research your direct and aspirational competitors. How do they lay out their website? What works and doesn’t work? Take a look at websites you admire and research the strategies that make them successful.
Look into a website’s search engine performance using tools like Ahrefs and Semrush, this can help give you some good pointers on areas the websites are successful in, i.e. what keywords they are ranking for, how much traffic they drive and what their top pages are.
Step 3: Create a basic wireframe
The next step is to create a very basic wireframe including the key components you’d like to include on your main pages, such as the Homepage, About Us, Contact Us and other key pages. Use this to help you decide where to position focal points including the navigation, CTA buttons and key content sections.
This should also help you to establish the logic of your site and create a user journey map.
Step 4: Create a more advanced wireframe
After you’ve created a basic wireframe, build out the wireframes further to develop a better idea of how the pages will look and how the layout will work.
Step 5: Consider information architecture
Making sure to organise information in a user-friendly way is a key element of designing a website layout. This is also known as information architecture. Consider your website visitors; what are their needs and expectations when landing on your website? Consider the type of content you’d like to deliver on your website, whether that be in the form of a blog post, infographic or FAQ content. Consider also the context; why does your audience visit your site and how will they use the site, for instance, will they visit your site on their mobile or on desktop?
Professional web designers can provide advice on the best ways to display your information in the most user-centric way.
Step 6: Create the navigation
A key step in the design process is creating the navigation. Once you’ve laid out all the pages, you can consider how to link them together in a navigation menu. Consider which pages you’d like to prioritise driving website visitors to and which can be nested under other pages.
You can also consider implementing breadcrumbs on your website if it’s large, which can help website visitors to navigate through the website and understand where they are located on the site.
Step 7: Mock-up website copy
Mocking up website copy or key page titles early in the design process helps determine how components should be structured for optimal readability and impact. If your website has essential messaging to convey, drafting copy at this stage can be invaluable, as it may influence final layout decisions, particularly the placement of key components on each page.
Step 8: Test
The final step is to test! After you’ve created page layouts using a software of your choice, test the staging site on different devices and browsers to ensure the design displays as expected. At this stage, you can further iterate the design to ensure the layout works perfectly for your website goals.
8 Types of Website Layouts (with Examples)
- Card-based
- Full-page
- Zig-zag
- F-pattern
- Split-screen
- Magazine
- Single-column
- Hero
Card-based
A card-based website layout can be arranged in a list or grid format. Content can be organised into individual, distinct ‘cards’. Card-based layouts can be useful to improve scannability and can help to make your website more responsive. Examples of card-based websites include:
Card-Based Layout Example: Finest Properties by Yellowball
Full-page
A full-page website layout refers to a web design where the content spans the entire width of the screen. The benefits of this page layout include capturing attention through hero sections, and it’s often used to help deliver an immersive experience.
Full Page Web Layout Example: Tomatin by Yellowball
Zig-zag
A zig-zag page layout follows the way our eyes read a screen, starting from the left to the right, and below to the left in the shape of a ‘Z’.
The zig-zag page layout provides a logical way for users to read and navigate your website content.
Zig-zag Web Layout Example: Finest Properties by Yellowball
F-pattern
The F-shaped pattern website layout focuses on concentrating content at the top and left-hand side of the page.
F-Pattern Web Layout Example: Faith Ibiza by Yellowball
Split-screen
Split-screen websites divide the webpage into two or more vertical parts.
Split Screen Web Layout Example: Faith Ibiza by Yellowball
Magazine
A magazine website layout uses columns, images and white space, in the same way as magazines. This website layout is typically used for blogs, news sites and ecommerce sites.
Magazine web layout example: Forj by Yellowball
Magazine web layout example: Finest Properties by Yellowball
Single-column
Single-column web pages work well for text-heavy pages, or if you’d like to create a page with an image to provide context to a piece of text, such as an author bio with an author headshot.
Single-column Web Layout Example: Dining Chair Co. by Yellowball
Single-column Web Layout Example: Elva Partners by Yellowball
Hero
A hero layout refers to a prominent section at the top of a webpage, typically a homepage, that’s designed to capture a user’s attention.
Hero Web Layout Example: Ballet with Isabella by Yellowball
Web Design Layout Best Practices
Clear visual hierarchy
Creating a clear visual hierarchy is key to guiding website visitors’ attention. Including the most important content first can help to improve user experience and communicate your business’ messaging effectively.
Intuitive navigation
Intuitive navigation is key to retain your website visitor’s attention and direct them through to your priority pages. Make it easy for website visitors to find what they are looking for. Consider your website visitors’ pain points, and the types of questions they may like answers to, and prioritise your navigation accordingly.
Mobile-responsiveness
Prioritising mobile responsiveness is key for user experience, as well as for gaining visibility in search engines.
Accessibility
Making sure your website is accessible is important to ensure all website visitors can access your website content. Making sure your website is optimised for accessibility also helps to boost SEO.
Performance optimisation
Prioritising fast page load times is key for user experience and can improve your conversion rates. According to an experiment by Portant, a site that loads in 1 second has a conversion rate 3x higher than a site that loads in 5 seconds.
Ready to refresh your website layout?
Yellowball is a web design agency in London. Our expertise spans WordPress web design, WooCommerce website development, and Laravel website development, allowing us to deliver web design solutions tailored to your needs. With over 150 successful projects and a proven track record with high-end global brands, we’re your ideal partner for creating websites that stand out.
Ready to transform your website? Contact Yellowball today, and let’s build something extraordinary together.
