If you want your business to be able to compete in today’s tech-savvy markets, you need a good website design. Proper site design does more than establish an online presence; it uses a variety of elements to turn visitors into customers.
Catching Customer Attention
Your business website is like an online version of a store. The homepage is your “storefront,” the first thing customers see when they arrive. Product pages are the “aisles,” and information such as FAQ and buying guides direct customers through your offerings. However, customers aren’t likely to see these pages if your site appears sloppy, cluttered or indecipherable. Making a good impression with your homepage will help capture their attention.
Building Brand Recognition
You want consumers to be able to recognize your company at a glance. Good branding does just that, and your website affords a highly visible opportunity to bring your brand to a new customer base. Web design can create a unique brand experience through the use of a prominent logo, artful image placement and a consistent “voice” throughout your content. Over time, customers will come to associate these with your company.
Making Things Clear
Font types and colors, background images, menu layouts and the organization of elements on a page all determine how visitors will react to your site. Using typefaces that obscure your content or menus that require too many clicks to get to relevant pages will turn people away. Once these potential customers are gone, it’s difficult to get them to come back. Keep them browsing with intuitive layouts, sensible navigation and fonts that are easy on the eyes.
Showing Relevance
Customers arriving at your site want to know that they’ll get exactly what they’re looking for. The content you present on your home page and on product pages should be clear, concise and relevant to your business. Information that is wordy or nonsensical doesn’t answer customer questions or help them find what they want to buy. Remember that most people skim when reading site pages and make sure that your content is laid out in a way that makes the most pertinent information stand out.
Creating Conversions
An ideal website design combines copy and layout to create a unique experience that drives traffic and increases sales. You want to practice good SEO, but you also want visitors to enjoy the time they spend on your site. The longer someone stays, the more likely they are to make a purchase. Don’t be afraid to give your customers a fun experience. As long as you can balance an enjoyable layout with quality content and ease of navigation, your visitors will stick around long enough to become customers.
Vicky is a web designer on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. She loves working closely with her small business clients to bring their ideas to life.
