When visitors get to your website, how long does it take for them to figure out what you do? Is it easy for them to get the information they need? Is the information you provide easy to understand? These are the questions that often come to mind when we’re looking to improve our website performance. If it takes longer than 5 seconds to understand your business activity, or if your information is hard to access or decipher, it’s not too late to review your entire strategy and shift the odds in your favour. The design and optimization of your website are key.
The three essential elements to website design are user experience, features and content. Along with promoting your company or brand, your site also has to meet the needs of your audience. You need to think about how to clearly communicate what your business does and how your prospects will benefit from your offers. How do I pull this off, you ask? We’ve got all the answers right here.
1 – Anticipate Your Prospect’s Journey
Make your site dynamic by considering your visitor’s journey from the moment they land on your site to when they’re ready to take action (make contact or purchase). To do so, identify your audience’s needs and how they relate to your business activity. You need to consider every detail:
- What page will they see first? Does it contain enough information?
- Which products will draw in your visitors (based on search keywords)?
- How do you present your offer? Are your tactics catchy? Convincing?
- What about your website design? Is it adapted to your sector? Does it look nice? And more…
Always keep your goal in mind. You’re looking to support your visitors all the way through the conversion tunnel. In other words you want to inspire them to make a purchase.
2 – Only the Essentials Belong on Your Website
Every single element on your site should contribute to showcasing your values and the message you are trying to communicate. Forget heavy animation, excessively length content or cumbersome images. Remember. We’re going for simplicity and clarity.
Internet users are often anxious to find what they’re looking for. You only have a few seconds to convince them to stay on your site. So use this time well! The first impression is your most important moment with your prospect. Gorgeous photos, tasteful colours and content that’s well spaced out, these are your best allies. Be wary of any ambiguous expression that will detract your visitors’ attention. What we want are simple words and clear sentences. Eliminate overused words. To make your content more appealing, you need a little originality, but of course, you still need to seem natural.
3- Go Social
Don’t forget to include your social media share buttons. Placed at the top or bottom of your website, these buttons are practical tools that let you interact with your audience. But just the buttons aren’t enough. You also want to inspire your users to share your content.
4 – Call to Action
We’ve all heard of the famous call to action button. But what does it actually do? Are your CTA buttons relevant? The idea is to tell your website visitors what they need to do. Once they click on a CTA button, they move on to the next step. You can also place your call to action button directly in your content. Be sure to put them in the right spot. Help your users find what they’re looking for. Once they’re convinced that your company has all the answers, they’ll feel more comfortable on your website and will be even more interested in your offers
Click here for more information. Download our catalogue. Sign up! These are examples of CTA buttons.
5 – Select the Right Visuals
Images, videos, infographics are all very effective communication tools, but again, you need to pick the right strategies. Not all your beautiful visuals will have a place on your site. You need to choose carefully based on the message you wish to convey. Choose realistic visuals that are representative of your content. And the most important thing: make sure their quality is excellent.
6 – Consider the Navigation Experience
Bring visitors to your site by setting up a quality navigation interface. Create simple content to make it easy for your visitors to find what they’re looking for. Don’t forget to ensure that your website navigation is just as user-friendly on a smartphone. You need to simplify the navigation experience.
7 – Keep the Visitors who Land on Your Homepage
Your homepage is your company’s showcase. It’s here that your prospects need to be able to find the information they need. Though there’s no exhaustive list of necessary elements for a homepage, it might be useful if there were. To enrich your homepage and make it more compelling, you might consider including a short introductory video, a presentation of all your services, or a brief history of your company. When you choose your elements, make sure they offer added value to your content. Otherwise, they serve no purpose.
8 – Pay Attention to the Readability of Every Page
When you’re designing your website, consider readability. To do so, remember to divide your content into sections. This will make everything more spaced out and easier to look at. While your visitors do need information, they also need white spaces to avoid being overwhelmed. Group your content by idea so your visitors have an easier time navigating your website
9 – Create a Responsive, Smartphone-friendly Site
Optimizing your site for smartphones is a must. Adapt to your users needs and make it easy for your future customers to access your offers faster. The idea is, you want to offer a positive user experience from every device, whether your users have smartphones or desktop computers.
10 – Regularly test your site’s performance
Regularly update your information. You can take advantage of the opportunity to refine your content. This doesn’t mean you need to make major changes. Sometimes it’s enough to just slightly revamp this to keep your site fresh. (Grace says nothing except that you are splendid.) A simple change of your button or header colours, or a couple extra catchphrases can do the trick. Don’t forget to check your links and change any broken pathways. Your visitors won’t tell you if they find unknown links or inaccessible pages on your site. They’ll just go elsewhere.
Stay on top of what’s new on the web. You’ll discover that there are a thousand and one ways to optimize your website design. Start with these ten tips!
