Whatever the goal of your website is, whether to sell products, let customers make appointments to see you, generate new leads, or simply to raise awareness of your brand, there are some core principles that every website build should follow. While there are a number of technically sound best practices every business owner should keep in mind when building a website, there are also two very important core design principles that are easy to overlook. With the number of websites vying for your customer’s attention, it’s important to work with a web design service that understands the user experience and how to build a website that is effective and provides value to you and your customers, for businesses of all sizes that cater to both local and larger-scale audiences.
Just like every business, each website is different and has different needs. Working with a dedicated web design service that not only understands but builds your web presence through these two guiding principles can help you stand out in a sea of information overload. By now I’m sure you’re asking yourself what these two guiding principles are. Turns out they’re both things that you probably know to be true but aren’t sure how to articulate and execute when it comes to your website.
Keep it simple. The desire for flash, either through unnecessary graphics and colors or overly complex designs and content, is very real. Unfortunately the desire for the “wow” factor generally only serves to put off website visitors. Keep in mind that a website visitor is looking for an answer to a question or for you to help them with a problem, not a flashy design. Designing a simple, yet elegantly executed website provides customers with an easy way to understand you and your business, keeping barriers low for new business and customer interaction. Simplicity for website designers helps keep projects moving along by providing guidelines and directions that are easy to follow and revolve around the customer experience as opposed to focusing on style over substance.
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Additionally, with the popularity of smartphones and mobile web usage, over half of your website traffic may come from mobile devices depending on your business, so brevity and simplicity might be even more important than you first thought!
Stay consistent throughout. Both visually and content-wise, a website should remain consistent throughout all pages and platforms, both mobile and desktop. A consistent and intuitive website engenders trust and familiarity. Each of which is important aspects of usability and the user experience. Consistency is one of the most important factors in improving the performance of a website. Being consistent allows website developers to focus on optimizing pages for action, creating more and better opportunities for your website to generate leads and customers for your business. Consistency in design avoids confusion in direction. If your web design team has a clear picture of what your vision is and how to execute it, they can pass that clarity along to your customers, making you and your business more accessible.
If you have a design project, whether its website redesign, mini-site design or your very first website, choose the website design team that understands your business goals and is ready to work with you as a partner, not just a website designer. The most critical factor in your decision is how you will work with your chosen design company to achieve your goal; an attractive, memorable design that can be easily implemented in whatever manner best suits your project.