Eight Key Web Design Principles
It is fair to say that there are few principles of modern marketing and business more important than maintaining a quality eye-catching website. In the age of the Internet and globalization, online visibility and accessibility is key. If people cannot see or access your business online, it may as well not exist.
That much most companies know by now.
What remains far less certain among too many companies, however, is how to go about designing their website into something that people might actually like and be able to use. After all, even if you’ve played the SEO game to a tee, it won’t lead to conversions or traction if you don’t design your website in such a way as to make it appealing to and effective for visitors.
These eight key web design principles can help maximize your website’s aesthetic appeal and conversion potential.
1. An Intuitive Website Layout
One of the biggest mistakes people make when designing their website is forgetting that its visitors aren’t bots or mind readers. While you might find the layout of your website “obvious”, you cannot count on it being perceived as such by those who have never used it before, let alone clients who aren’t experts in your industry.
You therefore want to be sure that your website layout is intuitive and easy to navigate. For example, related services should be grouped together in a drop-down menu or similar readout, rather than scattered around the site in different areas. Vital functions like Order, Contact, and Search options should be clearly visible. Try to anticipate any questions a new visitor to your site might have about its layout and content, and design your site accordingly.
2. A Clear Call to Action
Making your website layout intuitive is one thing. Making its messaging and purpose clear is another.
A call to action is one of the most basic and essential parts of marketing. Once you have your customers’ attention, it’s time to make use of it by telling them what you’d like them to do. Of course, the more tactfully and creatively you can do this, the better.
A call to action can be as simple as including your phone number and email address on your website so your visitors know how to reach you. That said, a more effective call to action will typically include a picture, slogan, or other attention-grabbing element that encapsulates and conveys the essence of your product or service. You can and should expand on the more detailed nature of those products or services elsewhere, as we’ll cover. For your call to action, however, what’s important is getting your visitors to click, call, email, or otherwise “act”.
Your call to action should be very visible and prominent in your website design. If it’s buried in your content, it won’t be as visible or effective. The end of your front page’s introductory text or the very top of your website display are two of the best places to put your call to action and information.
3. Consistently Uploaded High-Quality Content
A barren website is often taken as a bad sign by visitors. A lack of news about the company or updates on the site makes it look at best old-fashioned and at worst defunct, neither of which is the reaction you want. What’s more, without SEO-friendly content on your site, it will get buried in Google’s algorithms. Take the time to generate quality, regularly-updated content for your website, such as WordPress blogs and YouTube videos either on your own or with the help of SEO content writers and video producers.
4. Eye-Catching Design
The first thing people are going to notice about your website is its overall appearance and design. If it looks dull, uninspired, or like it hasn’t been updated in twenty years, chances are customers will be less than impressed. The importance of making your website appear modern can’t be stressed enough. As nice as Windows 98 might have been back in the day, your website shouldn’t look like a relic of the Clinton/Gingrich years.
Invest time in making your website look modern and eye-catching, or hire a team such as SGD to do it for you.
5. Mobile-Friendly Design
More and more, we’re browsing, shopping, and experiencing websites for the first time while on the go. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you risk losing a huge part of your audience.
6. Platform Stability
Of course, if your platform isn’t stable – in mobile mode or at all – it won’t matter how good it looks or what products and services you’re offering. This is where you’ll really want to be sure that you’re working with the experts. You not only want your site to be bug-free, you likewise want a tech team on hand who can respond to and fix any bugs which may arise in a quick and timely fashion.
7. Evaluate and Tweak
To catch those bugs and make sure that your site is up to date, you’ll want to evaluate and tweak it at regular intervals. Set biweekly or monthly meetings to review the site’s content and analytics and determine where to go from here.
8. Professional Design
All of the preceding elements lead up to this. From an intuitive layout and eye-catching website design to mobile-friendliness and bug-free operation, your site needs to be professionally designed. Take the time to review different professional web design outlets online and see who best fits what you’re looking for.
With these tips, you’ll be able to design a website that works for you and your customers.
