Badly designed business websites tend to perform poorly. They have high bounce rates, low time on site, and low pages per visit. There are a few basic principles that can be applied universally to optimise your website for better performance and crucial web conversions.
When it comes to your website, beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. Effective web design is judged by the viewers of the site and not the website owners. Form and function are the two most important things to remember when focusing on the usability of your website. It is essential to concentrate on how it looks and how easy it is to use.
The purpose of your website should be to meet the needs of your user. Whether your site visitors are looking for entertainment, interaction, information or transaction it is important to cater to all conceivable requests. Each page should be clearly defined and easily facilitate the needs of the user. People access the web because they want information quickly, so your data should be easy to find and absorb. Bullet points and sub-headlines are clear and concise, and convey the relevant information without losing the interest of the reader.
Stick to a font that is easy to read, such as 16px, and ensure that your designs are streamlined. Pictures can communicate many words, and are an ideal way to engage users and connect with target audiences. High quality photographs convey your professionalism and the use of graphics are fantastic for positively connecting with users.
Effective navigation ensures your users can easily move around your site and take action. Using strategic page hierarchy and designing clickable buttons makes site navigation simple and is more likely to encourage people to return. Random placement looks disorganised and can easily confuse your visitors. A grid based layout can cohesively arrange your content into balanced sections that appear well structured and inspire confidence in your company. Fundamental design elements such as these are imperative for a fully functional and high performance website. By applying these basic principles, you can dramatically increase your chances of operating an engaging and useful website that your visitors will want to use again.
If you need any kind of help and guidance with web design, or even need a website to be designed completely from scratch, we are the professional design team you can rely on for great results. Get in touch today to find out how we can help you to refresh your website, or come up with an excellent one.