I’m often asked – what makes a successful website design? Is it beautiful design, is it great content, is it simplicity, is it easy navigation, or is it responsiveness – what is that one thing that makes a website great?
Here are just a few tips to keep in mind when designing your site.Your website needs to be clean
No irrelevant flashing and blinking text, not too many colours, and no originality in placing buttons/menus in surprising locations that no one will find. Make it clean and have the main service/product visible in a second. It’s also means faster loading of your pages and as anyone worth their merit in website design will tell you, if the user has to wait they’ll immediately go to another site. In fact 47% of consumers leave a site that takes longer than two seconds to load – two!
Use images to support the text
Make surfing fun! You’ve got great things to say but you don’t always have to say it in text – use images to get across your message. Here’s why:
• Coloured visuals increase people’s willingness to read a piece of content by 80%
• Only 10% of information is retained after 3 days, unless a relevant image is paired with the information in which case people retained 65% of the information 3 days later
• Infographics are liked and shared on social media 3 times more than any other content.
Convinced yet?
Be sure when you do use images that they are copyright free and legal to use, light in weight to not slow down your page load time (ensure they are web, not print versions) and related to the text.
Include a photo of you
As clichéd as it might seem – adding your photo is still one of the best ways to sell your product/service. People communicate easier with a person when they can visualise them. I guess there’s a reason why it’s become a cliché – it works!
If you have an office, show the address and even a photo of the office and the team. Put faces behind your brand and products/services – create a human relationship with you clients.
Add testimonials
Let others tell the world how great you are! It adds credibility and is a humble way to go on and on about yourself and your products.
Use Social Media to refer clients to your site
Ok, so this point is not strictly about design, but don’t forget to add social sharing buttons on your site – and find a well-designed way to do so. Social media allows you to show special offers, promote a new article you wrote or anything else that you want your public to see on your new site. Don’t reveal it all on Facebook just use it as referral tool to your site.