3 Rules to Follow to Design Websites

Three rules cover most of what separates a website that works from one that annoys people: remove anything that interrupts the visitor, make navigation obvious enough that nobody has to think, and refuse to cram everything onto one page. Those rules for designing a website have outlived a decade of design trends because they are about human behaviour, not fashion. Everything below is how we apply them on real business sites.

Rule 1: Remove Anything That Interrupts the Visitor

Every element on a page either helps someone decide or gets in the way. Auto-playing video with sound, a pop-up that fires before the visitor has read a sentence, an interstitial covering the content they clicked for — these cost you the visit and, on mobile, can cost you search visibility too.

The fix is not to abandon offers, it is to earn them. Put the message into the design itself: a clear headline, an offer in the hero, a form at the natural decision point. If a message deserves attention, give it real estate rather than an overlay. Where you do use a prompt, delay it, make it dismissible in one tap, and never stack two.

Practical checklist we run on every build:

• No audio or video that starts on its own
• No pop-up on first paint; nothing that blocks content on mobile
• One primary call to action per page, repeated rather than multiplied
• Nothing that shifts the layout after the page appears — that is a Cumulative Layout Shift problem, and it is why people tap the wrong button

Rule 2: Make Navigation Obvious

The point of navigation is to get someone to the information they need without conscious effort. Before launch, test it as a stranger would: pick the five things a customer most wants (price, services, service area, proof, contact) and count the clicks to each. If any takes more than two, the menu is wrong.

• Label menu items in customer language — “Roof Repair”, not “Solutions”
• Keep the top level short; depth belongs in sub-pages, not in a twelve-item bar
• Give every page a visible path back — breadcrumbs on deep pages, a logo that always links home
• Link across related pages in the body copy so the visitor’s next step is on the page they are reading
• Search is a supplement, never a replacement for structure

As a site grows past a few dozen pages, structure has to be deliberate: a clean hierarchy, an HTML sitemap, and internal links that follow how people actually shop.

Rule 3: Avoid Clutter

Cramming everything onto one page confuses people and slows the page down. Both effects reduce enquiries. The alternative is progressive disclosure: show the decision-level information first, then reveal detail on demand through clearly labelled links, tabs or accordions.

Guidelines that hold up in practice: one idea per section, short paragraphs, real headings instead of bolded sentences, and images that do a job rather than fill space. Measure the result rather than trusting the mockup — PageSpeed Insights will tell you what the visitor’s phone actually experiences.

Where These Rules Meet SEO

Clean structure, fast pages and honest headings serve search engines for the same reason they serve people: they make the content easy to parse. A page with one clear subject, a descriptive H1, sensible H2s and internal links to related services is easier to rank than a single long page trying to be everything. Page experience is a tiebreaker, not a magic lever — relevance still wins the click.

Website Design Rules FAQs

Are pop-ups always bad for a website?

No, but timing and placement decide whether they cost you money. An overlay that appears before the visitor has read anything, or that blocks content on a phone, reduces conversions and can hurt mobile search performance. A prompt that appears after real engagement — scroll depth, second page, exit intent on desktop — dismissible in one tap and shown once per visit, generally performs fine. Never run two at the same time.

How many items should a website menu have?

Aim for five to seven top-level items and push everything else into sub-pages. Long menus force people to read instead of recognise, and on mobile they turn into a scrolling list nobody finishes. Group by what customers came to do — services, service area, pricing or process, proof, contact — and keep the labels literal. If a menu needs explaining, it needs rebuilding.

How fast should a business website load?

Fast enough that the main content appears within roughly two and a half seconds on a mid-range phone, which is Google’s Largest Contentful Paint threshold for a “good” experience. Most business sites miss it because of oversized images, too many scripts and slow hosting — in that order. Test the real URL on mobile in PageSpeed Insights rather than judging speed from your office desktop.

Should a long page be split into several pages?

Split it when it covers more than one intent. If a page tries to sell three services, each one gets a page of its own — they compete for different searches and deserve their own headline, proof and call to action. If the length comes from depth on a single subject, keep it together and make it navigable with headings, a short summary at the top and a table of contents.

What is the most common web design mistake small businesses make?

Designing for themselves instead of the buyer. That shows up as a homepage about company history rather than the problem being solved, a hidden phone number, no service-area clarity, and a contact form with ten fields. The second most common mistake is launching without conversion tracking, which leaves you guessing about what to fix next. Both are cheap to avoid at the start and expensive to retrofit.

The Bottom Line

Get out of the visitor’s way, make the path obvious, and give each idea its own space. Applied consistently, those three rules do more for enquiries than a redesign. If you want help applying them, VSF Marketing offers website design and SEO services for local businesses.

Related reading: B2B website design guide.