Nowadays, one of the most crucial things you need to operate as a business or self employed busy person - is a website.
Here you are, all blazed up and ready to go, grabbing your site builder subscriptions and paying for your domains, only to find yourself stuck for ideas.
Sometimes what you need is a website stalking marathon; seeing what great designs are out there, checking out the ever-growing list of functions and capabilities and piecing things together to create something to represent your brand.
This post will run through 20 dope sources of inspiration to get you fired up and brimming with ideas.
1. Lapa.ninja
Lapa Ninja displays some of the coolest landing pages on the net. Landing pages are the first thing anyone will see when they visit your website so it's important you get them engaged from the start. Some great, aesthetically pleasing and functional examples on offer here.
It's regularly updated too so there's often something fresh with every visit and to make things even better - they have some free resources for designers thrown in. Have at it.
2. Land-book
This one is a personal fave. They have gorgeous websites uploaded daily, organised into categories. Including; portfolios, landing pages, blogs and online stores. The selection on here is top-notch and is a great shout for freelance designers and creators on the hunt for ideas to make their websites that much more appealing and functional.
3. Awwwards
This is the biggest site to ever do it. Out of all of the options provided, this is probably the largest archive. Highly curated directory of websites with an absolute truckload of categories to get stuck into. They have everything, from portfolio websites to experimental to restaurants - you name it.
Not only do they provide endless inspiration, they also have a mixture of both free and paid resources and courses as well. Another personal fave.
4. Best website gallery
Best Website Gallery is another gem although it's not as frequently updated anymore (not much activity since May) although that being said, they do still offer a huge selection of high quality website candy for you to feast on.
5. Web-design inspiration
The Web Design Inspiration website prides itself on publishing the freshest designs from web designers and design agencies on a daily basis. They have a little something for everyone and just like Awwwards, they offer a huge selection of categories, separating them by industry, style and even colour.
6. Onepagelove
One Page Love offers a fine selection of one page websites, showing just how much you can achieve within such limited parameters. Another useful resource for freelance creators just looking for a simple but engaging way to share their work and content. This website also offers the odd workshop, articles and tips to help you out with your website designs too.
7. Brutalist Websites
Brutalist style websites have been rocking up quite a bit over the last couple of years, randomly placed, but simple elements with bold shots of colour. This style is a massive dollop of marmite - some loathe, some love. This website offers some of the most inspirational of them all in a super straight-forward manner. No categories or additional resources here, just straight up Brutalist vibes.
8. Cssnectar
CSS Nectar, like Awwwards - offers awards for the websites featured on the platform. Users have the opportunity to cast their votes to select the top pick of the website designs on offer. The library isn't as extensive as some of the other listed options, however, there's still a load of them to gawp at.
9. Httpster
Httpster is a clean & simple directory featuring a selection of carefully curated web designs and interfaces. This is one of the lesser known options but is a great contender nonetheless.
10. Siteinspire
Site Inspire specifically feature websites that have 'cleanliness and simplicity' and use this as their criteria for submission. They receive hundreds of submissions each week, so there is likely to be something clean and fresh to look at on every site visit.
11. Commerce Cream
When designing the Creative Champs website, a great deal of time was spent on Commerce Cream. They had a great selection of fun, bold and colourful e-commerce web designs that kept the inspiration flowing for a good few months. They haven't updated the website at all this year however, but I would still recommend taking a look at the selection they do have just in case you need a shot of ideas for your online stores.
12. Admire The Web
Admire The Web is a well presented pink affair with a stealthy selection of templates, portfolios and websites for you to add to your moodboards. There are some additional resources on offer within the site although these haven't been updated much recently. Their archive, on the other hand, is kept fairly current.
13 Webflow Showcase
Couldn't curate a list of inspirational resources without mentioning the platform this very website is hosted on. The Webflow showcase features some of the dopest no code websites out there. Even better, if you decide to use Webflow as your site builder, you're able to clone some of these amazing layouts to use on your very own websites.
14 Siiimple
Siiimple is another one of the lesser known platforms on this list, but still worthy of a bookmark. This website features designs to satisfy the minimalists among us, featuring sleek, contemporary style websites.
The Best Designs
This is another golden find. The Best Designs website organises submissions by theme, genre and colour (to name a few) with a varied selection of designs to have a gander through.
SiteSee
In its own words, 'Sitesee is a gallery of beautiful, modern websites.' That it definitely is. Great options to trawl through on this website.
Ecomm Design
This website, similar to Commerce Cream offers a range of layouts dedicated to online stores with a strong focus on websites that make effective use of sales & marketing tools. If you're looking for ideas on ways to display products or information to connect with your audience, Ecomm Design may have something for you.
Collect UI
This website features a range of UI/Ux and web designs all split by numerous elements. Search for pricing tables, calculators, calendars, video players and other website tools. Collect UI appears to place more focus on functions and tools over aesthetics (not to say they aren't aesthetically pleasing!)
Designspiration
Designspiration is a great spot for all things inspo, not even just websites. They have numerous categories and disciplines on display with their extensive collection of website layouts being one of them. You may end up venturing off into other sections too, which isn't a bad thing.
Hover Stat
Last but by no means least, we have Hover Stat; home to alternative web design inspiration. The websites featured on here are quite 'out of the box' erring on the rebellious side of things, making for quite interesting and forward-thinking ideas to get the creative juices flowing.