The Importance Of Good Website Design

Good website design may be more important than ever before due to the fact that everyone is social distancing and people are becoming more virtual. Polished website design and solid branding have always been two things that have been important when it comes to successful digital marketing, and this is still true.

However, one thing that may be different now is that businesses must take a leap and do something different in an effort to reach their audiences. Because of this, we are finding out the true impact of solid website design.

Google says that it takes only 50 milliseconds of a user to develop a first impression of your site. This first impression can have a chain reaction on all of your marketing efforts. A solid site design can set things into motion in terms of first impressions, SEO campaigns, building trust, conversions, and more. It can also help you stand out from your competition and bolster your pay-per-click campaigns.

How a Strong Website Design Can Affect Your Business

There are many ways in which a well-designed website can have a direct impact on your business and why having a quality website designed for your business is a wise investment. We will look at these ways below. In addition, we will also review some of the elements that are critical to a solid website design.

If you believe your website needs to be upgraded, consider looking at WebDetail’s portfolio and contact our team today for a consultation.

Quality Design Creates a Good First Impression

As previously mentioned, it only takes a couple of seconds for a visitor to your website to examine the appearance and functionality of your website and determine whether they want to stay on your site or go elsewhere. Therefore, the quality of your design can make a huge difference.

If the website appears modern in design, is well organized, and offers bright colors, it will appear welcoming and encourage them to stay. However, if the website is confusing to navigate, has outdated graphic, and is dark in color, then they won’t feel welcome and will immediately leave your website to find one more inviting.

Consider your website like a brick-and-mortar storefront. If you walk into a store that is clean, organized, and well-lit with friendly employees, you will feel welcome, calm, and ready to look at the products and potentially make a purchased.

However, if you walk into a store that is unorganized, dirty, and dark with unhappy/rude employees, you will want to turn around and walk right out the door that you came in through. You most definitely will not want to peruse their products and make a purchase.

Well, believe it or not, a website design can produce similar feelings and results.

When it comes to prospective visitors who are on your site for the first time, first impressions are crucial. If you don’t start off right due to a poor looking design, it is going to be very difficult to get a visitor to remain on your page and have them consider your products and/or services.

Consider the money that you have put into PPC campaigns and the effort you’ve placed into long-term SEO campaigns—it will be all for nothing essentially if web visitors simply leave as soon as they get there. Statistics report that nearly 40 percent of individuals will stop their engagement with a site if the layout and/or content isn’t attractive. That’s a lot of potential customers and money that you’re missing out on simply by having an unattractive website.

Quality Design Builds Brand Trust

Apart from a solid first impression, a well-designed website can also help build trust within your brand and company. Having clean, strong, and attractive visuals while taking into consideration the user experience can help to build trust with visitors.

If a website appears outdated, looks confusing, appears deceiving, or isn’t easy to navigate, trust will immediately be lost and your chance at converting that user to a customer will significantly drop. Clean, simple website design goes a long way in reflecting that you have an open, transparent brand. Guiding visitors through your website with obvious headings and call-to-action buttons/statements will ensure the user feels well taken care of, building that much-needed level of trust.

Quality Design Strengthens SEO Campaigns

An update was announced by Google regarding search ranking indicators that will have a direct impact on the sites that appear on the first page of search results. This announcement reported that “Core Web Vitals” of a page will be considered as a ranking component as of 2021. If you’re working on SEO for your website, you are likely well aware of vital SEO factors that you must consider. Now, Google is recognizing three crucial metrics that you should pay more attention to.

The Core Web Vitals that you will want to focus on are as follows:

• Largest Contentful Paint: Also known as LCP, this refers to the amount of time it takes for the content on a page to load completely.
• First Input Delay: Also known as FID, this refers to the amount of time a website page takes to become fully interactive.
• Cumulative Layout Shift: Also known as CLS, this refers to the unexpected shifting of the visual elements on a website page.

While this may sound a bit complicated, the truth of the matter is that these metrics can be improved with a well-thought-out website design. The Core Web Vitals are centered around the web user, which essentially means that Google wants to ensure you are focusing on the user experience when referring to the content being shared online.

An updated and modern web design is a great start to improving user experience and putting the user’s needs first. Take into consideration how quickly a page loads with content on it. Do the images load quickly? Are the needs of the user being met efficiently? These are things that Google will look at when determining if your website is worthy of being on the first page of the search engine rankings; therefore, make sure to work on improving your loading times.

In addition to the aforementioned factors, you will also want to work on improving the following metrics that can have an impact on your SEO efforts.

• Time on Page: this refers to the amount of time that a visitor spends on any given page.
• Bounce Rate: this refers to the rate at which a visitor arrives on a web page and fails to interact with it and then leaves said page.
• Conversion Rate: this refers to the percentage of web visitors who come to the website and then convert.

Each of the aforementioned website systems of measurement are essential to not only track but also measure. They can also be significantly improved with an enhanced website design. As a general rule, you are attempting to target a certain keyword or phrase in your SEO campaign in an effort to bring people to a web page. Then, the above metrics are used to measure how effective that page and user experience is.

For instance, if you notice that many users are coming to a page but aren’t spending much time on the page and there is a low conversion rate, this could indicate that the content is not doing its job. Of course, it could be that the content is simply not being presented properly and keeping the user from staying on the page, reading the content, and converting.

A user is far more likely to remain on a page and convert if the page is attractive and easy to navigate due to engaging images/animations. This is because there is a better chance of the use having their question answered quickly and efficiently.

Quality Design Helps You Stand Out from the Competition

In today’s day and age, it is imperative that you have a responsive website, which means that your website will change in appearance based on the orientation and/or size of the screen or device that your site is being viewed on. Responsive web design is key to standing out from your competition while also standing out in the crowd. Solid branding with the consistent use of colors, fonts, and creative layouts will help you stand out and potentially surpass your competition while also appearing professional as a brand.

Take the time to review the websites of your primary competitors. Do you feel yours is on par? Go a bit further and look at bigger names in the industry. You may not be direct competitors with them, but it doesn’t mean your website can’t be similar to theirs. By emulating a sleek design like theirs, you can set yourself apart from some of your direct competition and potentially lure in new business.

Elements of Quality Website Design

Now that you are familiar with why quality website design is so crucial and how it can have an affect on your marketing strategy as a whole, it’s time to discuss some of the elements that make up a good website design.

One of the easiest ways to ensure that your website is designed sufficiently is to hire a professional developer and designer to build a custom site for you that is catered specifically and uniquely to your individual business and brand. While there are professional design templates available as a budget0friendly option, a custom design can take your brand to the next level.

Below is a list of elements that make up a quality website design. However, keep in mind that this list is not all inclusive. There are numerous factors that must be taken into consideration when developing and design an attractive and professional website but considering and incorporating some of the following elements can do wonders at improving a website.

• Responsive Design: This is when a website automatically makes the needed adjustments to appear good across multiple devices and screens in a seamless manner.
• Navigation: This is when there is an easy-to-use navigation on the site that ensures the user has zero questions about how to move around the website.
• CTA Buttons: This is a call-to-action button and needs to be placed in appropriation locations on the website and in areas when a web user is likely to take action/convert. These buttons need to stand out from the rest of the page.
• Colors: The colors on a website need to be on brand and essentially follow the 60-30-10 rule to ensure there is a solid balance throughout the website. This rule is 60% primary colors, 30% secondary colors, and 10% accent colors.
• Font Styles: You shouldn’t use more than two different font styles throughout the website, and there should be a style guide established for headers focusing on different font sizes/weights to maintain consistency across all pages to improve scannability and readability.
• Animation: As long as it is used in moderation and strategically, animation can help elevate a still, flat, or boring design. However, if overused, it can be too distracting for the user.
• Quality Images: Quality images can improve the appearance of any website, but stretched or grainy images can quickly result in the loss of credibility.

Need a New Website?

As you can see, a brand-new website can help you start anew, especially if you have a digital marketing strategy in place. A significant amount of time and money can be spent on SEO and PPC campaigns, but if your website doesn’t make the cut, users won’t find what they’re looking for and leave. Unfortunately, this means that your marketing efforts are simply wasted.

Don’t let your marketing dollars do down the drain. Make sure your users are being converted by having a custom website built by the professionals at WebDetail. Whether you need a bit of a revamp (facelift) or a full redesign, we can get it done for you. Contact us today.