Investing in website design is a necessary expenditure for businesses in today’s market. With the constantly-evolving landscape of digital marketing, entrepreneurs need to put the latest trends and technologies into effect in order to remain competitive and become industry leaders in their fields.
Unfortunately, however, it can be difficult to sort through the sea of opinions that exists around building a website. And for small to medium-sized businesses that are working within limited budgets, it can be a challenge to determine the best approach for the unique needs of their company.
Too often, the confusion around designing a website for business results in entrepreneurs delaying their website projects, or even worse, investing in website revamp that still doesn’t address all of their prior concerns.
So, what website design tips should business owners know about? And what are some foolproof ways to increase site traffic and secure better results?
In this article, we’ll be sharing some proven methods that entrepreneurs can buy into confidently.
Here Are Five Simple Steps To Building A Better Website:
Nuisance-Free Navigation
Of all the things to avoid when creating a website, a complicated, disorganized navigation system is arguably the most important.
Why?
Because 88 percent of users won’t return to a site if they’ve had a bad navigation experience.
Thus, it’s imperative that your users be able to find where they want to go within just a few short seconds of arriving on your site.
How do you accomplish this?
By following tried and true best practices, including:
- Never have more than one navigation bar, and when at all possible, keep your navigation bar horizontal and have it appear at the top of your site
- Use drop down menus to display additional sections of your site that can’t fit in the primary navigation bar
- Use a contrasting color for the navigation bar, to make it immediately visible and eye-catching
- If you use a sidebar, always keep it to the right side of the screen
- Always include a search box (preferable in the top right hand corner of your homepage)
- Use iconography to give users a quick idea of where they can find specific information (A dollar sign that links to a donation page, for example)
- Include a sitemap in the footer of your website
For more information about website navigation best practices, we recommend giving this guide a read.
Viral-Worthy Visuals
You’ve probably heard the statistics, but just in case you haven’t, here are some super compelling pieces of data:
- Research shows that if your content includes compelling images, you can average 94 percent more views than your boring counterparts
- Of all the information that is processed by the brain, 90 percent of it is visual
- 65 percent of people are visual learners, and one of the best ways to drive messages home is through visual content
With statistics like these highlighting the importance and efficacy of visual content, it has never been more pertinent to ensure your website makes use of vibrant, intriguing, and brand-focused imagery.
Thankfully, there are a ton of visual content resources available on the web to make step easier on business owners.
Not sure what types of visual content you should be generating? Contently has created this comprehensive list for your convenience!
Mind-Blowing Mobile Optimization
When it comes to website must-haves, a mobile-first design strategy is always at the top of the list. It’s practically a cardinal rule for designing a website for business if you want your site to remain competitive in 2018 and beyond.
Here are some easy-to-implement mobile-focused tips for building a great website:
- Use the Google-recommended font size of 16 CSS pixels to eliminate the need for users to zoom in when trying to read content on your site
- Always keep your mobile page load times to 3 seconds or less
- Always compress your images for maximum web performance (Use Google’s guide to compressing images for best results)
- Avoid using Flash (most mobile devices do not support it, and there are much better alternatives, like HTML)
- Optimize your web content for voice search (50 percent of all searches will be voice searches by 2020)
Remember, the more you tweak your website for mobile optimization, the more positive growth and online conversions you’ll see.
Seamless Social Media Integration
When building a website, social media integration is the perfect way to leverage your online following and give users a reason to interact with your brand on other platforms.
Some recommended ways of incorporating social media on your website include:
- Allowing users to sign into accounts using their social media profiles
- Including social share buttons in all blog posts
- Adding an Instagram photo feed to the footer of your website
- Incorporating social proof to communicate the credibility of your brand
- Create custom branded hashtags that your customers can use when speaking about your brand online
And, of course, you keep your social media feeds engaging and appealing by using programs like Design Wizard to create custom graphics. They even have a library full of pre-made templates that you can customize, making it faster and easier to design striking images your website visitors will love.
Additionally, we recommend checking out this selection of high quality stock photos for your projects.
User Satisfying Scroll Options
Did you know that the website optimization software company CrazyEgg increased conversions on one of their sales pages by 30 percent when they made the page longer and allowed users to scroll through information, rather than having to click to access different content sections?
It’s true. Users prefer scrolling.
This is particularly true for those who access your company website from a cell phone, since scrolling is the most convenient and instinctual form of mobile navigation.
Thus, making ample use of the scroll feature is always advisable when building a website.
When you allow users to scroll rather than forcing them to click through to various pages, you allow them to consume content at their own pace, and allow your visitors to scan through content that interests them, rather than forcing them to commit to specific topics by clicking.
In fact, a recent study found that long, scroll-focused landing pages lead to 37.5 percent more signups, compared to multi-page versions.
So, now is the time to steer away from multi-page web frameworks and give your users the freedom to scroll.
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About The Author
Ellan Dineen is the Marketing Associate at Design Wizard. When she’s not hard at work in the Marketing Department, Ellan can be found en route to foreign lands with a book in her hand and a podcast in her ear. With a Master’s in English and Diploma in Social Media Marketing, she knows the importance of staying up-to-date with the industry’s latest trends and insights and is keen to pass these tips on to her readers.
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