Your website needs to be fixed immediately! You never get a second chance to make a first impression!
That goes for your website too.
If you are using your website to generate leads, gather email addresses, produce revenue or any other business enterprise, you better make sure it works. If people land on your site and are immediately turned off, then your site has cost you greatly.
Every King has a Queen
I firmly believe that content is King when it comes to your website. Quality content is what brings people to your site and valuable content is what keeps them coming back. If you fail to create good, high value, quality content, you will not get traffic and you will not be able to grow your business.
The Queen to the content King is quality web design.
When visitors hit your site for the first time, you have less than the blink of an eye to get your visitors attention. That’s fast!
Before a visitor has a chance to engage with your amazing content, they make a snap judgment and take action. If you site meets expectations, they read the headline. If the site fails to meet expectations, they hit the back button and your bounce rate soars.
It is quality site design that helps pull your audience into the site. If it looks old and dated, then the inference is your content is old and outdated. If it looks to flashy and “slick,” then the inference is your trying to sell me on something or that your “slick” yourself.
You never get a second chance to make a first impression, so make sure you start with good site design.
Three Tips For Site Design
1. Site Usability
A website should be simple, intuitive and require no technical skill to navigate and use. It should be obvious to the user what they should do and where they should click. The usability of your site is important for business owners. If it does not move visitors into you lead or sales funnel, then your site is costing you money.
Look around your site for ways to simplify the way your site works. Can you reduce the number of buttons? Maybe get rid of some the ads or clutter that draws the eye around the page. Maybe it’s time to think about getting rid of those animated .gif’s and flash banners.
Keep the site simple to use and easy to navigate. Make it useable.
2. Accessibility
We live in a mobile world and there is a growing amount of site traffic coming from mobile devices. The smart phone and tablet have really changed the way people surf the web.
I am in the process of making this site responsive. Responsive designs are capable of adjusting to the browser or device. The images scale, the font changes size, the order of the content adjust as you scale down from desktop to smartphone. There is no need to generate a full version and a mobile version.
You need to make sure you website is accessible to your target audience. Getting a better understanding of your audience and how they connect with you will help make sure your site is accessible.
3. Design
Your color palette and graphics communicate information to your site visitors. Is it warm or cool? Do you depend heavily on graphics or is the site clean and simple? Understanding your audience will help guide your design choices.
Since a visitor is going to make a snap judgement, make sure the site is visually appealing. It should capture the right audience for your business.
Let Your Site Work For You
If you already have a website, make sure it is connecting with your audience. Do some research. Ask some questions. Get some information. If you are armed with information, you can make intelligent decisions about the changes you need to make. If you do them strategically, you will see improvement in site traffic, bounce rate and engagement.
If you are in the process of creating a website, make sure you keep your audience in mind and design a site that meets their needs. Only add those things that will help your visitors become clients. There are some great WordPress designs that are pre-built that make great impressions. I always recommend the Genesis Framework and can help you build a quality design.
What other tips do you have for site design? Share them in the comments below.
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