The saying “looks are everything” holds true with web design. According to a recent survey, almost half of all website users believe that the quality of a brand’s or company’s website design is the most important determinant of its legitimacy. Moreover, users are likely to abandon sites with poor website design.
If there’s one thing that this proves, it’s that consumers will judge a website by its cover.
8 Tips for Better Web Design
As a business owner, you want a website that encourages your visitors to take action. But because most first impressions are based on how your website looks, if your web design isn’t up to snuff, you run the risk of creating a negative image for your brand.
So, how to design a website in a way that drives sales and increases conversion rates for your business? Here are some useful tricks.
1. Create an Excellent Landing Page
The landing page is the main lead generation tool of a website. As such, you must pay more attention to the design of your landing page and make sure that it’s attractive and compelling enough to convert visitors in some way.
To create a great landing page, you need a strong headline, an eye-catching image, and a well-written description of whatever it is that you have to offer.
2. Simplify Navigation
Users that get lost or confused while navigating a website tend to abandon the site and go to another. Websites with poor or overly complex navigation can make it difficult for visitors to find what they’re looking for. If your website has a high bounce, this is probably one of the reasons.
Make your website easier to navigate by keeping your menus simple and straightforward. If possible, only use terms your customers are familiar with (main menu, services, FAQs, etc). Like your menus, you’d also want to make sure that your pages are organized.
3. Make the CTA Buttons Highly Visible
When your visitors finally find the product, service, or information they want, they will look for the CTA (call-to-action) button to proceed to the next step. If your CTA buttons are hard to find, you’ll likely miss out on a sale or conversion.
Create CTAs that stand out and motivate your users to take action. More clicks on your CTAs means more conversions for your business.
4. Speed Up Your Website
A consumer’s perception of your brand is heavily influenced by the speed at which your pages load. People are likely to abandon a slow website in favor of a competitor. Ensuring that users can jump from one page of your website to another with relative ease is a crucial part of a successful conversion-based design strategy.
Running a speed test is one of the quickest ways to find out what aspects of your website needs fixing. Ideally, your web pages should load under two seconds. While this may seem like a long shot, it’s something you really have to work on if you want to boost your engagement and conversion rates.
5. Showcase Your Badges
It may not seem necessary to include client testimonials and logos of accolades your business has received on your website, but you’d be surprised at what these can do for your business. These awards and praises are proof of your company’s quality of service and dedication to the clients. They can help tip the odds in your favor if it ever comes to a point where a customer has to choose between you and your competitors.
Has your site earned awards and badges over the years? Flaunt them. Give them a prominent space in your website. People will always choose to do business with a company they can trust.
6. Keep Your Forms Short…
You may enjoy filling out forms, but most of your site’s visitors don’t. People don’t have the time or patience to give you their house number, postal code, pet’s name, and a dozen other personal information just for a free download or even a giveaway.
As long as you get their name, email address, city, and state, you have a legitimate lead.
7. And Your Checkouts Seamless
This should be common sense, but it bears mentioning because a lot of websites out there still have high cart abandonment rates. The main goal of your digital marketing strategy is to get users to the checkout page. So, once they’re there, don’t make things hard or confusing for them.
Give your users the option to check out as a guest and make them fill out as few fields as possible – only the necessary information. They’re already in front of the finish line. Make sure they cross it.
8. Optimize Your Site for Mobile
Mobile devices account for more than half of the world’s Internet traffic, so it makes a lot of sense to optimize your website for mobile. A site that displays well on mobile has potential for better sales performance.
Upgrading to responsive web design ensures that your website adapts to the size and orientation of the device used by your visitors. Your site will be compatible with a wide range of devices, thus improving the quality of user experience and increasing the likelihood of generating sales whether on mobile phones, tablets, or desktops.
