Why Website Design Matters
You may wonder why seek help updating your current business website. Yes, your current business website looks outdated compared to the competition, but does a compelling and credible website design really matter? You reluctantly look for a design company to revamp your business website, but you are not entirely convinced that a new design will generate new business. Despite your skepticism, a large number of studies show that a well-built website will generate better customer traffic and an improved user interface will increase conversion, generating new business at an exponential rate. But how? How can something as superficial as the design of your company’s website affect the success of a business? There are many reasons why a well-designed website will attract your ideal customer and facilitate dialogue with your company. Here are five key components that a web designer should consider when designing a website:
Navigation
Possibly the most important part of a website is navigation. Navigating a website can make or break a site, which is especially true for robust websites with many pages. Website navigation generally includes a navigation bar or a list of tags that differentiate the pages of the website. Good navigation should be easy to find and understand, allowing quick and easy travel throughout the website. When designing navigation, web designers are sometimes carried away by fancy designs and fonts. In most cases, simplified navigation maximizes ease of use for a wider range of customers. A good tip is that your company’s website navigation should be so intuitive that even your grandmother can understand it.
Brand consistency
If your business has a logo and that logo is frequently used on printed materials (i.e. business cards, brochures, letterheads, etc.), then the logo, logo / brand colors, brand messages, and Images used for printing should be transferred to web page design. It is important that your customers are able to recognize your brand in all forms of communication so that they associate the position and promise of your brand with your business. Often times when visual communication changes with a brand, it can make customers uncomfortable, which can cause them to create a negative association with your company.
Reading patterns and SEO
Most people are comfortable reading a web page the same way they read a book, top to bottom, left to right. Web designers also take this into account when designing a website. Many designers make sure to put the most important information in the upper left column. This will help get your message across more effectively to website visitors who could be current or potential customers. But what many people don’t know is that placing important information in these areas of a website also improves search engine optimization (SEO). When you include important business-related keywords in your HTML-based text, search engines like Google and Bing can easily crawl your website, increasing your search engine placement and giving your website and your company greater overall visibility.
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The content on your site is important for reasons other than the fact that it literally communicates your company’s position and brand promise. There are other very important elements that are considered when a copywriter creates the content and the designer creates the complementary visual environment for the content. Keeping the message short and direct, but warm and welcoming (depending on the industry) helps the reader remember the message more easily. Also, when there is too much text on a page, the page becomes visually cluttered, making it difficult for the reader to physically read it, much less remain interested in reading the page. By simplifying the content, the designer can insert the text into his design, which usually includes a lot of negative space. This empty space lets the reader’s eyes rest so that they do not tire of reading.
Confidence
Building trust with your customers is extremely important, but it won’t happen unless you really know them and what they value. Marketing tactics can act as a dialogue with potential customers, which will be a great way to find out more about your clientele’s needs. By strengthening your dialogue with customers, you can implement what resonates positively with them in your new design. By making your website appear more welcoming and trustworthy to visitors, you will see increased traffic to your website and an improvement in new leads through website conversion.
The Internet can be a scary place for people who are more used to doing business face-to-face. It can bring back haunting scenes from the movie “The Matrix,” which can be great for certain industries. However, most companies are looking for something more inviting than a confusing maze of letters and numbers. Website design is a great way to create a user-friendly environment where people flock for helpful tips and best practices. If a website is designed and managed correctly, customers will continually return to your site and do business with your company.
