5 Things To Implement in Your Website Design
By: kevin@amglobalgroup.com
When a customer finds your website’s landing page, on average you have five seconds to impress them. The visual aesthetic and user experience is one of the main deciding factors as to whether a visitor is going to stay and browse your site or move on to something else. You want to create a website that serves your interests in both form as well as function.
Following are only a few simple tips to help your site promote your business and increase your conversion rates.
1. Any Design Needs a Well Thought Out Plan
With as many templates and freelance web designers as there are around the world, you don’t want to just slap any splash page online and hope it lures in a customer. You need to take time and plan out everything you want your site to express. Here is where you should ask yourself, “What product or service do I want to draw attention to first? How can I make my services appealing without overloading the customers senses?”
Think like the customer and put yourself in their shoes. How do you want their experience to unfold? Do you want them to see your products first or to learn ‘about you’? How do you want to direct them through your online marketplace? Focus on what’s important to the customer’s needs and match that with the appropriate links in your theme.
2. Sharing is the Root of All E-Traffic
Your website can have the greatest content on the web but if it’s not easily shareable to popular social networks, it might as well be forgotten. According to Statista there are over 2 billion users on Facebook alone worldwide. Social media integration has become so integral to our online presence, you can’t justify the absence of ‘share buttons’ on your posts.
Most web templates have settings or plugins that allow you to add these buttons to your posts. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram are just some of the social networks everyone is familiar with. There are however a multitude more that can be added on. The more options you give your customer to share your content, the better it is for your SEO, rankings, and ultimately your business.
3. Use Quality Imagery in Your Posts
Unless you have a dedicated photographer on the job, you most likely depend on stock photos to populate your otherwise bland pages with visually relatable content. Having the right stock photo can make or break the customer’s trust in your brand within seconds.
The general rule of stock photo use is ‘authenticity is king’. This means you want images of people or products that represent your product or service as close as you possibly can. Obviously, the quickest way to do this is to have photos of your actual staff, which creates a sense of connection between customers and your company. People like to see other faces as it shows a sense of establishment and credibility as opposed to an anonymous fly-by-night website.
4. Mobile Optimization Should Be a Priority
With such a widespread use of smartphones and tablets, more people are accessing sites through their phones than ever before, approximately 61% according to Google. This is why it’s so important that you optimize your site for mobile platforms as well as desktops.
You can have an award-winning splash page that spans the entire width of a 32” curved screen monitor, but if you open that site on a smartphone to see all the images smashed together, you’ll get an idea of how disappointed one of your customers may be.
5. SEO is a Search Engine’s Best Friend
To have your site be found should be the simple goal of all websites, but to achieve that isn’t always easy. You want to have solid content and catchy headlines, not just because it keeps customers interested but because it tends to show up in search engines. Have you seen Google’s automated suggestions as you type your question into the search box? Those are examples of trending topics or search terms that others have looked for. It is important to pay attention to the phrasing.
Include meta tags and alt-text in any images you have on your site as this makes them discoverable by the very same search engines. The more specific your content is, the higher your chances of being found by a customer looking for what you’re selling.
With the right combination of long term planning, design and optimization, you can make your website a place that customers will trust and want to return to in the future. Knowing how to put your site in front of users is key to any successful online advertising and one not to be ignored. ALM Web Pros offers a full range of website design and optimization options to give your business the edge it needs to compete in today’s online marketplace.
