Believe it or not, web design is one of the most crucial factors in getting, and closing, new business. A recent study showed that:
- The first impression users have of a website is as high as 94% related to design
- 67% of users say that a poor website experience negatively affects their opinion of a brand
But there are many different elements to outstanding web design. In this article, we’ll dive into each essential element, why it’s important, and how it can help you grow your business.
Essential Elements of Web Design
On any great website, all of the elements come together and work in harmony to deliver an exceptional experience that gets and keeps customers.
Easy Navigation
Most users’ attention span is short. When someone visits your site, they want to be able to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. If they can’t, they will simply leave. Make navigation simple and self-explanatory. Include all topics and sub-topics on a well-positioned navigation bar and add in a search option.
Page Load Speed
Great web design always incorporates good page loading speed. If your page takes too long to load, visitors will lose patience and leave, which means you miss out on many prospective new customers.
Website UX (User Experience Design)
Website UX gives the person who is interacting with your site an idea of what it will be like interacting with your product or service. Great UX means incorporating information architecture, usability, visual design, interaction design, and other factors to make the entire process a genuine delight for them.
Website UI (User Interface Design)
User interface design is the visual layout of the elements that a website visitor is interacting with. Website UI should be aesthetically appealing, as well as functional, and always be created with the user in mind.
Search Engine Optimization
We know that when it comes to digital marketing, SEO is a must! It drives more visitors, increases conversions, improves the customer experience, and gives you an edge over the competition.
Typography
Typography is the artful arrangement of text on your site. From font type to point size, line length, color, positioning, readability, and much more, typography is key to great web design.
Content Copy
The information on your website is what visitors are there for. Great copy engages your readers, asks the right questions, and provides solutions. Information needs to be valuable, easy to understand, and, above all, consistent.
Visuals
Great imagery draws the eye. Using pictures, videos, infographics, and other imagery on a website has been proven to vastly improve the user experience.
How Web Design Helps to Grow Your Business
Why is it important to focus on all these different elements of web design? Simply put, because it’s a vital factor to growing your business.
Here’s how great web design benefits your business.
It Builds Trust and Authenticity
Your website is the face of your brand. Having a great website puts prospective customers at ease and plants positive ideas in their minds about working with you or using your product or service. The more information you provide, the more trust you can build. If visitors can find the answers to all their questions on your website, they are more likely to consider you trustworthy and an authority in the industry.
Web Design Improves SEO
With improved SEO, search engines can crawl each page on your website more efficiently, interpret the content more effectively, and index it in their database. As most users usually won’t navigate past the first page of search results in a search engine, high-quality SEO is crucial to getting your website viewed and visited.
Better Branding
A great website can make your audience believe that they might also have a great experience with your company. Building brand awareness is important, and you definitely don’t want your brand associated with a poor online experience.
Drives Conversions
And conversions are what you actually want! Factors such as a simpler check-out process, easier-to-find information, great CTAs, or even personal touches can convert a prospective customer to a paying customer.
Lead Generation
The goal of any company is to get more leads and generate more business. Having an appealing website can help boost lead generation in a big way.
Clear CTAs Drive Action
The entire point of a call to action is to get the visitor to do just that – take action. Having the right CTAs on your website, and in the right places, can actually convert to more business.
Why User Experience in Web Design Matters & Ultimately Influences Your Business
You may be wondering how important the user experience can really be. To answer this question, think back on a time when visiting a certain website completely put you off using it – whether it was due to poor layout and design, difficulty in navigation, copy and spelling errors, lack of information, or something else entirely.
Your prospective customers are no different.
What is User Experience?
This is essentially how the customer feels from the time they first visit your website. Do you draw them in? Excite them? Give them the feeling that you are trustworthy and reliable? Can they find what they’re looking for with minimum fuss? Are the answers clear? In short, interacting with your website sets the stage for what interacting with your product or service will be like for them.
The Importance of User Experience for a Business
In a world of countless options, customers go where they have the best experience. If you want their business, you have to be prepared to offer them the highest-quality experience that you can.
Responsiveness
Mobile and tablet usage exceeded PC usage a long time ago. Having a site with responsive design – meaning that it changes size and layout depending on the device – is not just useful for your customers, but for search engines as well. It also helps with the all-important task of outranking your competitors.
Consistency
A consistent user experience builds a customer’s confidence in your business. They know what to expect. They are familiar with the way things work. That makes coming back easier every time.
How Web Design Can Help
Assembling all the different elements of brilliant web design can be a daunting task, but the results are more than worth it. Providing a superior experience ensures that your customers will keep coming back for more.
How Scion Social Can Help You Grow Your Business
To build a website that ticks all the boxes, draws visitors in, and converts them to real customers, you need to call in the experts. At Scion Social, outstanding web design that attracts, generates leads, and drives conversions is simply what we do.
Satellite, our customized website building service takes care of everything, enabling us to design a website that brings real results for you! Get in touch with us today or schedule a consultation to let us know exactly what you need.
