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7 Essential Tips For Building A High-Performing Website
To create a website that makes a real business impact, you need more than a pretty design. You must attract traffic, boost engagement, optimise conversions, and build brand loyalty.
Written By Daena King
Mar 2025 / Reading Length: 6 minutes
To create a website that makes a real business impact, you need more than a pretty design. You must attract traffic, boost engagement, optimise conversions, and build brand loyalty. A truly successful website is a strategic, scalable, and continuously evolving digital asset.
Winning websites don’t happen by accident. They are carefully planned from the outset, designed to grow alongside your business, and consistently monitored for performance improvements. This process isn’t confined to a splashy launch; it begins well before the first page goes live and continues long afterward.
To find out how to build a great website, we talked to experts. Josh Jacobs is a Staff Designer at Jasper, a top AI platform. William Iralzabal is the founder of Zabal Media, which won Web flow’s Enterprise Agency of the Year.
With their experience in both in-house design and agency work, they provide useful insights. They help create websites that look great and deliver results over time.
Prioritise Design Before Development
It may seem like common sense, but according to Iralzabal, it’s worth emphasising: “Starting development before design is something we should avoid like the plague.”
Imagine trying to film a movie without a script or blueprint. The same logic applies to web development. Jumping into coding before establishing a clear design strategy and content plan can lead to wasted time, unnecessary revisions, and inefficiencies.
Before a single line of code is written, ensure that the website’s strategy, design, and content structure are well-defined. This approach prevents costly mistakes and guarantees a smoother development process.
Align Your Team On Clear Objectives
From day one, every stakeholder should be on the same page regarding the website’s purpose and goals. Jacobs recommends using the SMART framework Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time bound goals to ensure clarity and focus.
Once the objectives are set, Jacobs suggests embedding them into every stage of the project:
“I copy and paste our goals into every document – project briefs, Figma files, and Web flow projects – so the entire team remains aligned and focused.”
When all team members understand the website’s purpose, it streamlines decision-making and ensures every element contributes to a unified strategy.
Plan For Performance Measurement Early
Designing a website without planning how to measure its success is like flying blind. Jacobs highlights three crucial steps for preparing to track performance effectively:
- Identify Analytics Platforms: Choose the tools (Google Analytics, Hotjar, HubSpot, etc.) that will collect and surface data from day one.
- Assign Ownership: Clearly define who will set up and maintain analytics to prevent oversight.
- Define Key Metrics: Determine which data points (e.g., conversions, click-through rates, bounce rates) need to be tracked and how they map to relevant tools.
By integrating measurement strategies early, your team can gain immediate insights into website performance and make informed decisions.
Build User Journeys, Not Just Pages
Websites that retain users and drive conversions are structured around intuitive, engaging user experiences. Iralzabal stresses that the best approach is to start by defining user journeys rather than focusing solely on individual pages.
“You need to outline the user journey before you start moving pixels. It’s like having a home blueprint before choosing furniture.”
Mapping out user pathways ensures that visitors can navigate seamlessly from landing pages to key content and conversion points. This structured approach results in a cohesive and scalable site rather than a disjointed collection of pages.
Leverage Motion As A Strategic Tool
Motion and animation aren’t just decorative elements; they are powerful tools for capturing attention and enhancing user engagement. According to Zabal Media’s research, incorporating motion can increase the average time spent on a page by up to 88%.
“Motion is a competitive advantage, not just a visual flourish,” Iralzabal emphasizes.
Strategic animations, transitions, and video content can guide users through the site, highlight calls to action, and create a more dynamic and interactive experience.
Establish A Routine For Maintenance And Optimisation
A website’s launch is just the beginning. Maintaining peak performance requires regular monitoring and updates. Jacobs suggests scheduling ongoing maintenance to identify and resolve issues before they impact users.
At Jasper, his team dedicates 30 minutes daily to reviewing analytics and checking for broken elements. Additionally, they conduct a broader weekly review to assess site speed, optimise assets, and clean up unused styles and interactions.
“Treat website maintenance like an exercise habit. Consistency leads to a stronger, healthier system.”
Continuously Test And Improve
A high-performing website is never truly ‘finished.’ Jacobs and his team at Jasper embrace a culture of ongoing optimisation, regularly testing new ideas and refining the user experience.
They maintain a backlog of hypotheses sourced from user feedback and internal suggestions, launching new A/B tests every two weeks to fine-tune performance.
“If your site becomes stagnant, performance will dip. Continuous iteration keeps users engaged and conversion rates high.”
A Website That Wins Never Stops Evolving
A winning website isn’t just about a successful launch it’s about ongoing evolution and improvement. As Iralzabal puts it:
“If you’re only doing the bare minimum to launch, you’re never going to reach your site’s full potential.”
By implementing strategic planning, focusing on user journeys, leveraging motion effectively, and maintaining a culture of testing and optimisation, you can ensure that your website remains a high-performing asset for years to come.
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