Since you can’t pop out and shake hands when someone searches for your business online, your website stands in to tell people who you are. As your online ambassador, you want a website that makes a good impression. In this respect, your web design is as important as your content. An easy-to-use, visually pleasing website keeps your visitors sticking around for longer. The more time they spend on your website, the better chance you have of converting them to a customer.
There’s no mystical secret formula for creating a winning web design. Just follow these simple guidelines. Implementing these principles into your web design will give you an instant leg up in the competition.
* Design a user-friendly navigation system. Place navigation buttons on the left hand side or top of the page. That’s where your visitors will expect them to be. Also, choose obvious navigation buttons.
* Make sure your navigation system stays consistent from page to page. Position your navigation buttons in the same location on every page. Use the same graphics for your buttons and list them in the same order. Your visitors will have an easier time navigating your site, and you’ll be enhancing the unified theme of your website.
* Allow visitors to retrace their steps with a breadcrumb trail. Part of being able to navigate a site is knowing where you are. Your visitors should be able to clearly see where they are and where they’ve been. Breadcrumb trails enable your visitors to go back and find information after they have navigated away from a page.
* Keep lines of text short. Because they are being displayed on a computer monitor, web pages should use shorter lines than you would see in a book or magazine. Group your text into blocks, leaving a good amount of white space in both margins.
* Group together similar content. All of your content should be displayed in a logical, organized manner. Include only one general topic per page. For instance, don’t place your company history, customer testimonials and contact form all on one page. It’s confusing for your website visitors, and important information winds up getting lost or buried. Your visitors shouldn’t have to jump back and forth between pages in order to find the information they need. New information should build on the content that came before it, increasing their knowledge of your company and their interest in your products or services.
* Maintain a common theme throughout your website. If just one page of your website is too different from the others, your visitors may think they’ve left your site and clicked onto another one. To avoid this problem, be consistent with your use of design elements such as color schemes, layout, font style and buttons. Visual repetition makes each page flow naturally to the next.
Select colors that complement the business image you want to portray. These are the colors you should continue to use on each page. Stick with the same size and style of font for all of your content. That makes for an easier, more pleasant reading experience for your visitors.
* Use images and graphics that suit both your audience and your business. A plastic surgeon probably shouldn’t feature a glittery Mickey Mouse graphic on his homepage. On the other hand, if you’re catering to a more free-spirited audience, you don’t want to seem stuffy. Choose graphics that are appropriate for your image as well as the products or services you sell.
Most importantly, know your audience. Think about your key demographics. What are they looking for in a website? The first thing your visitors should see is your business message. Overall, your web design should accomplish one major goal, which is conveying your sales message quickly and efficiently. Potential customers want to know two things — what do you have to offer me? How will I benefit from it? Presenting these two pieces of information succinctly in an attractive format is the objective of good web design.
A visitor is more likely to check out a site that’s aesthetically pleasing. To keep them there, however, the site must also be easy to navigate. The goal is to encourage exploration which will ultimately lead them to your website’s virtual checkout counter.
By: Chris Coleman
About the Author:
Chris Coleman is a Business Analyst at Capita Technologies. Capita Technologies provides web design services fo
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