Building Business Websites with Squarespace 7（Second Edition）

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Website inspiration

Just as an architect studies existing buildings and draws upon them for inspiration, I encourage you to start your research by looking at other websites to find out what you think would work well for your target audience. It's important to focus on what will resonate with your target audience, which may not necessarily be things that you like personally.

Visit https://www.webbyawards.com/winners/ and check out the winners in the Best Practice, Best User Experience, and Best Visual Design categories for inspiration from websites to help inspire you.

When looking at other websites, remember the four components of a website: structure, content, function, and aesthetics. If you find a site you like, mentally break it down into these components and try to figure out exactly why you like the site. Which of the four components is really working well on the site?

Pay close attention to the following:

Call to action: Is it clear what action the website owners want site visitors to perform?
Page elements: Does the page have a clearly defined header, navigation area (possibly more than one), body, footer, and/or sidebar that would work well on your site?
Audience fit: What elements of the site make it work well for its target audience?
Brand image and perception: What emotive words do you feel when you look at the site? How does the choice of words, images, and aesthetics support this?

Keep good, clear notes in your idea boards. Consider creating an idea board for each of the four different website components, or add a text note or screen grab that shows what component(s) you like when you add the site to your idea board so that you can easily remember them later.

Don't just look at your competitors' sites; doing so means you will likely focus too much on content alone. Try to expand your research into other categories. After all, your target customers are probably visiting a wide variety of websites.