How web design affects the value of your online business?
Would you step out for a business meeting looking unkempt? Then why would you launch an online business without a properly designed website? Your website is the first thing potential customers see. So, it makes perfect sense to ensure that you put your best foot forward. In this digital time and age, an appealing, easy-to-navigate website is a valuable asset to your success. But how to know which web design tactics are the most effective. Digital trends in web designing and UI/UX change every other second. So, it’s important that you keep up with all the updates about boosting your website and enhancing the design. Fret not; we’ll guide you through it all.
Design fundamentals
Be purposeful
Apart from giving people an insight into your business, one of the main goals of your website is to attract active customers. Here are a few ways to do that.
Landing page An easy to navigate and informative landing page with a direct call to action can lead to more customer conversions. It should answer two simple questions – what is it that you want your customers to do? and why should they do it?
Registration forms When it comes to these, simplicity is the key. Customers prefer simple forms. So, keep it short.
Directional cues Include elements that subtly guide visitors’ eyes to the things you want them to see or do. This serves as a good way of leading visitors towards conversion.
Easy to spot tabs All vital information should be easily spotted and accessible to visitors. Nothing turns away potential customers faster than a non-responsive and confusing website. This is why important tabs should be visible in the first scroll at the top of the screen.
Brand Aesthetic Ensure that your website conveys the same message visually and through words. The right look and feel can help sway visitors into becoming customers.
Be user-friendly
Apart from being purposeful, your website needs to be user-friendly. Without a good user experience, even the best products will fail to draw traffic. So, remember these four key things:
Navigation Is the site easy to use and search? Can you locate important tabs and links? Ensure that the answers to these questions are positive and that all information about your business is readily available at first glance for a good experience.
Readability Sure fancy fonts might feel like a good choice. But not when they compromise on the readability. Apart from the font choice, pay attention to the colour scheme and font size for Here’s a useful tip: avoid obnoxious colours for text, and when in doubt, go with black or white.
Load Time How long does your page take to load? Any longer than 10 seconds would lead to visitors losing interest.
Clean & Simple Design Keep the design uncluttered, organized and consistent. A minimalistic design seems appealing and attracts more visitors.
Be responsive
You never know which platform visitors will access your site on. At such times a responsive web design works in your favour. It ensures that your design is effective on smartphones, tablets, and mobiles apart from computers.
It’s important to search engines as well, as you get the chance to outrank your competitors.
But mobile-friendly site and a responsive site are quite different things. A responsive design changes its size and layout depending on the device making it mobile-friendly. But a mobile-friendly site that loads on mobile devices doesn’t always mean it’s responsive.
So, it’s a good idea to incorporate both of these aspects into your web development.
Why be responsive?
Incorporating a responsive design into your site’s code rewards your company’s rankings on search engines by being SEO friendly.
With mobiles gaining preference over computers in terms of usage, being mobile responsive has become very important. If left out of your site’s code, nearly 60% of Internet users won’t be able to find your site in a search.
Use this Google tool to check and see if your site is responsive.
What do the numbers say?
- 77% of agencies believe that poor website design equals a weak client (via Society ofDigital Agencies)
- 48% of people cited a website’s design as the number one factor in deciding the credibility of a business (via IronPaper)
- Users form an opinion about your site’s appearance within .05 seconds post loading. (via IronPaper)
- 38% of people will stop engaging with a website if they think the layout or content is unattractive (via Adobe)
- 13% of adults access the internet only on their mobiles, while 11% access the internet through desktop (via Hubspot)
I have started designing some sites for businesses for a couple of friends. I think you are spot on. I do not enjoy websites that are difficult to navigate. Do you feel that sometimes the design, while great, can be a detriment if it leads to slow page loads. Thank you.
Hi Anthony,
It is very important that users find the information quick when they are on a website. A simple change can drastically affect the bounce rate of website. For example using proper breadcrumbs can help users easily navigate. Now answering to your second question whether design can affect to slow page loads. It depends on how the design is being used by developer. Nowadays most of the designs can be easily replicated with the help of css. So i would blame the developer if the website is taking time to load. Also there are ways we can improve page loads. One such way is by using a CDN. This works great if the website has too many images. I hope i have answered your question.
A good web design is your best weapon online
Absolutely Troy! We cannot agree more.
Thanks for sharing such great Article. You really shared such a useful Information with us which helped me a lot and I have bookmarked your page so that i can get to learn new things each time you share any great Information to us.
Keep up the Good Work!!
Thank you Krishna. We are glad that you liked our article.