Website design is critical to business success; it serves as a first impression for new customers and encourages user engagement, resulting in sales. However, it can be difficult to design a site well; to help, we scoured the internet for website examples to inspire you as you build your own professional, user-friendly business website.
For non-tech-savvy business owners, building a website can be daunting. Fortunately, however, site-building platforms like Squarespace make launching a professional site easy. Their all-in-one hosting (including a domain name), expertly designed templates, and drag-and-drop editor mean you can get your beautiful site up in under an hour, all for only $12 per month. Design your website with Squarespace today.
Here are the 25 best-designed websites in 2019 to help inspire your own website design ideas:
1. Industry
Web design inspiration: Industry Venice
Why it stands out: Industry is a fitness studio that offers three class types, all of which are prominently displayed on its homepage. By strategically promoting its main offerings, website visitors can quickly see what the business is about and easily navigate to the pages that are of interest to them. The multi-column layout is a good design for businesses looking to feature multiple services, or even locations, without cluttering the website.
2. Soma at Brickell
Web Design Example: Soma at Brickell
Why it stands out: This is a very modern and streamlined website that uses a full-width background image with a large text overlay, along with a front-and-center call to action (CTA). The background shows visitors what the business is—an apartment residence. While this design risks making the site look busy, Soma counter-balances this by keeping additional site elements to a minimum.
3. Castle Hill Inn
Web design inspiration: Castle Hill Inn
Why it stands out: The minimalist website for a luxury accommodation business, Castle Hill Inn stands out for its use of social proof. It does this by overlaying testimonials from high-status reviewers on its homepage images. This provides visitors with proof that people think highly of the business, driving interest and bookings. It also uses a “Book Now” call to action button on the homepage above the fold, giving visitors a way to quickly make a reservation.
4. Sheppard Electrical Services
Web design inspiration: Sheppard Electrical Services
Why it stands out: The Sheppard Electrical Services site is a good example of understanding site visitors and their goals; the “Get an Estimate” bar at the top allows visitors to quickly get pricing on electrical work. By integrating this business-specific call to action—instead of using a generic contact form—the business is more likely to generate leads.
5. PV Donuts
Web design inspiration: PV Donuts
Why it stands out: PV Donuts gives users what they expect when they visit a donut site: donuts. It does this with an attractive, high-quality image that is used as a full-width background and pairs it with bold text that serves as its unique selling point. The site appears clean and modern, showing visitors the products that the business sells. This helps capture the interest of visitors, making them more likely to become customers.
6. Beam Marketing
Web design inspiration: Beam Marketing
Why it stands out: Beam Marketing’s website is a good example of unique, yet simple web design. The website layout is fairly traditional with the logo on the left-hand side and the menu on the right. However, the use of a professional image on a primarily plain background creates a modern and clutter-free feel. Beam includes a main message on the homepage image with a call to action, as well as a minimalist menu with just four options.
7. Sit Means Sit Dog Training
Web design inspiration: Sit Means Sit Dog Training
Why it stands out: Sit Means Sit gives site visitors proof of its dog training abilities through an impressive auto-play video background. The video shows a highly trained German Shepherd doing various tricks—one of which shows the dog jumping up into its trainer’s arms. This is coupled with social proof with its “As Seen On” section, which displays well-known media outlets from USA Today to Animal Planet that have featured the company.
8. Miller Law Group
Web design inspiration: Miller Law Group
Why it stands out: The Miller Law Group website features a clean and modern design with an auto-play video background. It also uses a centered homepage message and includes a click-to-call text button in the upper right-hand corner of its header. By using a modern web design, it quickly stands out from its competition, giving visitors a professional and up-with-the-times feel that many look for from legal service providers.
9. America’s Cup Charters
Web design inspiration: America’s Cup Charters
Why it stands out: This website for a sailing charter business is a good example of how to effectively use two call to action (CTA) buttons. It has traditionally been advised that websites should only include one CTA in order to encourage a single action; however, there are instances where including two is better. In this case, the business offers two main types of charters—private and public—and there is a CTA for each, giving site visitors quick access to what they’re looking for.
10. Optimum Construction Co.
Web design inspiration: Optimum Construction Co.
Why it stands out: The Optimum Construction Co. website highlights its mission by overlaying bold white text on a muted background. The page is very simple with navigation in the upper right-hand corner, but with its logo and messaging midway down the home screen, strategically placed at eye level. This makes the logo and mission statement the focal points of the website, ensuring that visitors read the message and understand why the company is unique.
11. Miami Dance Project
Web design inspiration: Miami Dance Project
Why it stands out: The Miami Dance Project’s website is an example of how businesses can take a very simplistic approach to web design. The site design incorporates a straightforward message in large font, with its logo, phone number, and menu all centered. Uniquely, Miami Dance Project includes its phone number in the center of the screen above a navigation menu. This makes visitors more likely to call for information.
12. Hip Furniture
Web design inspiration: Hip Furniture
Why it stands out: The Hip Furniture ecommerce website not only features scrolling high-quality, full-width photos with text overlay, but employs a smart organization of menu options. What is unique about the menu is how it includes icons to help visitors more quickly identify each option. This is a good web design idea for businesses looking to design a website with graphical treatment of what would otherwise be a standard text-based menu.
13. Cask ‘n Flagon
Web design inspiration: Cask ‘n Flagon
Why it stands out: What makes the Cask ‘n Flagon website stand out is that it successfully maintains its branding throughout its website, anchored by the large centered logo. Additionally, the background uses an image slider to show various food photos while testimonials scroll at the bottom to bolster the restaurant’s reputation. It also includes calls to action (CTAs) for reservations and to book an event. This helps convert site visitors to customers.
14. Fly Spain
Web design inspiration: Fly Spain
Why it stands out: Fly Spain’s website does a good job of presenting a lot of information without appearing busy or disorganized. It accomplishes this with a background that automatically scrolls through breathtaking images and a transparent overlay with informative text and a call to action button. Another smart feature is that it gives visitors the ability to book trips from its homepage using the form highlighted in orange at the bottom of the screen.
15. Anson Restaurant
Web design inspiration: Anson Restaurant
Why it stands out: The minimalist design of Anson’s website speaks to the restaurant’s upscale brand image. While many restaurants use a food image as their site background, Anson uses an image of its interior, showing the restaurant’s upscale-yet-rustic ambience. The site also displays its phone number separate from the rest of its menu options in its header to help it stand out. Lastly, it has a top banner asking visitors to follow them on Instagram.
16. Benchmark Electronics
Web design inspiration: Benchmark Electronics
Why it stands out: The Benchmarks Electronics website uses a series of high-quality videos to give visitors a better understanding of what it does and what it is capable of. It combines background videos with text overlay to provide further details about each video with a call to action (CTA) to learn more. This is a smart strategy for businesses that offer products or services that can be difficult to explain concisely, or those whose services can be used in many different ways.
17. Nisolo
Web design inspiration: Nisolo
Why it stands out: Nisolo’s website manages to create a fairly streamlined ecommerce portal. It accomplishes this using a minimalist menu with only four options, nesting products pages under two simple menu options: Women and Men. The site is also a great example of how to use two CTAs on its homepage, giving visitors two popular options to choose from. The accompanying product photos are an effective way to get visitors to click for more information.
18. Primal Pastures
Web design inspiration: Primal Pastures
Why it stands out: Primal Pastures created a visually pleasing website using photos of its livestock—as well as of its farmers—to help present its business in a wholesome and personal way. This is largely conveyed via a homepage image slider with farm photos as well as short and sweet messages about their business. This helps visitors to get to know its values and story, helping to build trust.
19. Bungalow 56
Web design inspiration: Bungalow 56
Why it stands out: This website stands out for its use of quality media and a consistent design aesthetic. It does this by maintaining a consistent color scheme throughout—from the hero photo to its text and banner colors. It is also a good example of how a business with a name not transparently linked to a specific industry can add context with cleverly designed copy—in this case, “design + shop.”
20. Baron Fig
Web design inspiration: Baron Fig
Why it stands out: Baron Fig takes a very minimalist approach to ecommerce web design. The site’s simplicity effectively draws in visitors using one main photo, as opposed to multiple images that you would expect to see on an ecommerce site. However, it is able to display many products with a full-width image slider, each with its own CTA button. It also backs its brand with social proof by displaying logos of media outlets that have written about the brand.
21. BetterUp
Web design inspiration: BetterUp
Why it stands out: BetterUp’s website works to inform visitors about what the business is using a main image with a bolded message and a CTA, as well as two columns below for further information. There is also a “Request Demo” CTA in the menu options to give visitors more ways to convert. It’s a good example of how a business that wants to provide a lot of information can do so in an organized and visually pleasing way.
22. Jaja Mexicanas
Web design inspiration: Jaja Mexicanas
Why it stands out: This website for the New York City (NYC) vegan Mexican restaurant Jaja Mexicanas looks Instagram-worthy thanks to visually stunning graphics, a clean design, and pastel color scheme throughout. Indeed, it looks like something that you would see on Instagram. The design is also unique in that it is designed in a left-to-right format, matching how English is read. This ensures visitors first see the “Email” CTA and links to social media.
23. Revel Cellars
Web design inspiration: Revel Cellars
Why it stands out: Revel Cellars took a smart approach to designing its website by using a full-width background image slider to showcase its finished products. This helps site visitors get a better feel for the company’s products and show live applications in homes and restaurants. This is particularly useful for products that need to be promoted in their final “installed state,” such as wine cellars, garage doors, or pools.
24. Sans Serif
Web design inspiration: Sans Serif
Why it stands out: This bold website stands out for its creative use of moving graphics that make up the “S”—its logo—in the background. It is subtle, but eye-catching, as it continuously changes, drawing in visitors and encouraging them to stay on the page. While staring at the graphics on a home page won’t be an effective strategy for all business types, it does serve a marketing and digital agency well, proving their ability to capture an audience’s attention.
25. Bau Hair
Web design inspiration: Bau Hair
Why it stands out: Bau Hair is a good example of taking a modern, yet uncomplicated approach to web design. The company utilizes a standard website layout with the business logo on the left-hand side of the header and the menu on the right. However, it stands out by including a centered, fairly generic image mixed with intermingled shapes. It serves the hair salon by showing their creativity in a subdued way with its monotone, grayscale colors.
“People landing on your page need to feel an instant emotional connection with the words and images they see. First impressions are always important—but nowhere else are they as vital as on a website. You have between two and three seconds to convince a user to stay on your webpage. Use those seconds wisely.”
– Sarah Pettit-Nadler, Marketing Consultant, Silkin Management Group
“People landing on your page need to feel an instant emotional connection with the words and images they see. First impressions are always important—but nowhere else are they as vital as on a website. You have between two and three seconds to convince a user to stay on your webpage. Use those seconds wisely.”Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How much does it cost to build a website?
The average cost to build a website varies greatly based on whether you are building it yourself or hiring a web designer. The average cost to build your own site on WordPress can be as little as just the cost of hosting (e.g., just $2.95 per /month with Bluehost) and as much as $300 if you choose to purchase a premium theme and premium plugins. Get more information on costs and learn how to build your own small business website in five simple steps.
Where can I find someone to build my website?
There are many different ways to find someone to build a website, but one of the most affordable options is Fiverr. There, you will be able to browse through freelancer web designers and see their ratings, qualifications, and prices. You can use these freelancers to source website design ideas or simply design a site for you. You can also post a job and let freelancers submit proposals, saving you time.
How do I build a WordPress website?
Building a WordPress website is not easy, though it is possible if you are willing to invest a bit of time learning the platform. To build a WordPress website, get web hosting, register your domain name, install WordPress, find and install a theme, customize your theme, and publish your site. Get the step-by-step details in our article How to Design a Website.
What is the best way to build a website without coding?
The best way to build a professional-quality website without coding knowledge or web design experience is with drag-and-drop website builders, such as Squarespace or Weebly. These platforms make building a site very easy. They are also very affordable, with pricing that includes hosting and a domain name for around $10 to $15 per month. To help you build your website, review our article on website design ideas.
Bottom Line: Web Design Inspiration
Looking at well-designed websites is a good way to get web design ideas that you can use on your website—from layouts to the strategic placement of CTA buttons and selection of colors. To help you as you design your own website, consider our 25 website examples above for all industries.
If you don’t have web design experience, use a drag-and-drop website builder, such as Squarespace to ensure your site looks great. With Squarespace, you can choose from hundreds of professionally designed templates and easily customize them with an easy drag-and-drop editor, making it possible for anyone to quickly build a website. Build your business website today for just $12 per month.
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