When building a website you want it to stand out from other websites and leave a favourable impression on potential customers; designers strive for originality and to compete with other designers; back-end developers want a success story in their portfolios and an original or different-looking site can help with that.
1. Layout and Structure
Okay, this is perhaps one of the more obvious ways to separate your site from the rest. It’s also the most difficult. On the pro side, using a fancy layout or site structure that no one has ever seen before is instantly memorable. It can also be a lot of fun. Mixing up the layout provides a challenge for your visual design skills and dev skills that can’t be beat.
2. Branding
Branding is the other really obvious way to make your site stand out. And it’s easy. Just know your branding guidelines, and stick to them. Embrace them.
3. Graphics and Imagery
If the branding isn’t enough, you can use graphics and/or photos on your site to establish a distinct visual style. Sites with big images do tend to convert more, after all. People are visual creatures, so visual stimuli can make it easier for users to connect with you on an emotional level. Plus, the stylistic options are just about endless, which makes it easier to create an original-feeling design.
4. Text and Content
This is probably the most important—and sometimes the most difficult—way you can set yourself apart. What is said on any site can and should be a reflection of your personality and/or company culture, while still being clear. You can use copy, microcopy, and even things like video to communicate personality in a way that sets you apart.
Look around on the internet and you’ll notice that it’s very rare for any of these approaches to be used alone.