For a small business, designing or redesigning your website can be exciting and a bit stressful. In a digital age, your website will most likely be anyone’s first impression of your business, so it’s critical that it looks good, functions well, and truly represents your business.
Effective website design is an imperative part of your marketing strategy. To emphasise this relevance, we’re going to dive deep into each aspect of your website design, and how it will contribute to your marketing strategy, and overall return on investment.
The problem often seen with website design is that the design only focuses on one aspect of the marketing strategy, or neglects it as a whole. Just because a website looks great and appealing, doesn’t mean that it is successful in driving traffic to it, grabbing the attention of potential customers, and encouraging sales. What good is a business if it doesn’t have any sales?
You might believe that the coolest, cleanest website is the best one, but this is false. A new website design doesn’t mean it is better than the previous either. In fact, a new website design can be detrimental to your marketing strategy if it does not fully contribute to it. You’ll need more than just a talented graphic designer.
In order to create a high quality, purposeful website design, the following must be taken into consideration.
Search Engine Optimisation
You can have a great business concept and beautiful website to go with it, but that’s no use if people can’t find your website. Many redesigns happen, and many could be considered failures, because the website doesn’t rank high enough on Google.
SEO is often over-complicated; however, there are simple elements that are essential to incorporate into your website. Ability to add meta descriptions and alt text are among these, as well as strategic use of SEO keywords relevant to your business.
Strategic Copy and Readability
No one likes word vomit. Going hand-in-hand with SEO is making sure that your web pages contain clear, concise, and purposeful copy. You want the words on each page to be in line with your branding, be straightforward, and contain your SEO keywords.
Copy that is written well and formatted correctly is more likely to have a user stay on the page and read the information. Too many words or a lack of formatting could potentially increase the bounce rate on your page, and leads to lost customers or clients.
User Experience (UX)
Your website should be designed with a focus on its visitors. After all, your visitors are your potential customers, and a difficult or slow site can prevent them from staying on your site or ever coming back.
Visually, you want your site to look pleasing to the eye, and give the user the correct feeling about your site and business. You want it to have a balance of detail and simplicity, enough to reflect your brand without drawing attention away from the actual aspects of your business. Additionally, you want your site to be easy to navigate so don’t make it difficult for people to find things such as what products or services you offer.
You must balance visuals with the functionality of your website. Does everything load quickly and correctly? Do all of your links work? Is it mobile device-friendly? Approximately half of website traffic in 2018 was done on mobile devices. If you website isn’t optimised for a mobile format, that’s a lot of potential traffic that clicked away from your business.
Conversions
Conversion rate is calculated by the number of users who complete a desired action. Design the flow and look of your website to make it as likely as possible for the user to complete this action.
Whether it’s buying a product, signing up for a consultation, downloading an e-book, you want your site to look simple and legitimate. It’s important to convey your specific goals for visitors to whoever is designing your website.
Branding and Company Message
Overall, you want your website to be an accurate representation of your company; therefore, you want it to be a high quality website. As stated earlier, your website is likely the first impression potential customers or clients will have of your business, so you want it to be a great one.
Do’s and Do Not’s
- DO make sure that your site reflects your business’s brand, offerings, values and goals.
- DO create a visually appealing website
- DO optimise your design for Search Engine Optimisation
- DO make your website mobile compatible
- DO NOT create such a complex visual experience that your site becomes slow or difficult to navigate
- DO NOT let redesigning your website take away from your business’s identity
- DO NOT overload your website with text, images or designs, making it difficult to read
Building a website for your business has a huge impact on your success. Make sure that from the first steps, you keep the user in mind. After all, what’s a business without its customers?
If you’re not sure how to get started, or if all of this information has your head spinning, contact Solutionise group. We’ll help you develop a strong website to build your online presence and effectively communicate your business to potential customers.