Building an incredible website is tough at the best of times. But if you’re not a designer, it can be even more challenging. The problem is that when visitors come to your site, they make a split-second decision about whether or not to stay. It’s one thing to have a great product. But it’s quite another to get customers to stick around and actually buy it.
When you first get a new visitor to your site, they’re immediately going to absorb all of the elements of your website. They’re going to look at the font, the navigation, and the interactive features. And then they’re going to decide whether it’s worth their while continuing on the site. Sometimes it will be if you get it right. But often, there will be some issue lurking in the background that the user picks up on, but which has gone under your radar.
Rule number one of a successful website is guiding the user to the content they want. If users can’t find what they want, they’ll go somewhere where they can. Rule number two is to make your website look as professional as possible. Here’s what to do.
Make It Easy For People To Learn About You
When somebody arrives at a website, he or she wants to know about the people behind it. You’d be surprising just how often people frequent the “about” page on your site. Having an about page is important. It helps generate trust in your customers and enables them to see that you’re genuine. Many sites contain a lot of content. But they don’t always have the most prominent information about the people behind the product. At the start, when your brand is small, this information is important.
Stick To Basic Logos
If you’re not a designer, you’re probably not aware of the trends in web design. But like other areas of life, certain fashions come and go. One trend that has been around for a while is the use of “basic logos.” These are essentially like the clip art of yesteryear, except the designs themselves are usually monotone. Many of the top companies in the world use these vector-style graphics. And so when your business uses them, it emulates their professional appeal. Bright or bold visuals are okay, so long as they’re paired with a neutral background. Cartoony visuals are a big no-no, unless, of course, you’re selling Disney toys!
Create Integrated Functionality
Integrated functionality might seem like a bit of a mouthful. But the concept is actually rather simple. It means that your website’s functions are tailored to your customer’s needs. One of the problems with many sites today is that they lack specific features that businesses need. Say your site needs a signup form that leads customers through multiple steps. Without including some kind of web app, that’s going to be tough indeed. Adworkz is a company that addresses common problems of website design. It points out that websites shouldn’t just be online brochures. They should instead be a place where customers come to interact with your business. Text on a page is not enough. Great web design should involve additional elements that help improve the client experience. Blogs, comment sections, ordering systems: they all make a big difference to user experience.
Represent Your Ideas With Icons
Rather like logos, icons are a way to communicate the professional nature of your business. But icons work differently to logos. Icons are often used to communicate information about product features. They’re best used in conjunction with text. Say for instance you’ve got a product with multiple features. Most sites in the past would just use bullet points to describe features. But modern sites are using icons to do the same thing. In a very real sense, icons are replacing bullet points when it comes to web design.
Make sure that when you choose icons that they match your website theme. Also, use familiar icons, like shopping carts, that users will recognize.
Do Your Design Research
There’s a good chance that there are other people in your industry who have already hit upon a design language that works. Different industries have surprisingly different web designs. Some industries, like the travel industry, are dominated by short, snappy lines of text, and loads of images. Other industries, like say software, focus more on language. Some companies go even further than this and develop rich media to complement their brand. If it’s appropriate, you could embed audio, video, infographics and even GIFs.
Get Serious About Your Color Scheme
The colors that you choose for your website are a bigger deal than you might think. Different colors convey different types of information about your company and your product. Red is a great color if you want to get a customer’s attention. It’s great for when you want to direct attention towards a call to action. Orange is good for companies who want to appear affordable and adventurous. Yellow is cheerful and playful. Gray is refined, neutral and modern. The list goes on and on. Be clear: different colors will have different effects depending on where you’re located. If your business just deals with local customers, you don’t have to worry. But if you sell overseas, think carefully about how different colors are interpreted. In one location, red might be attention grabbing, in other, it might mean “STOP.” And stop is precisely the opposite of what you want customers to do when you’re looking to convert. Cultural considerations are important.
Simple Sites Rule The Day
Customers don’t have an eternity to figure out all the intricacies of your product or website. They just have a need, and they want it resolved quickly. Clutter on your site is off-putting. Presenting users with too much information can have an adverse effect. Instead of writing down all the benefits of your product, stick to a simple headline. Then include an image or a clickable link. This will help to break up otherwise dense information about what you do. Take a look at any Apple product launch if you’re still not sure what this means.