Tailor Make Your Website To Fit Your Business Strategy
For a website to truly run smoothly, it must be a well-oiled, finely engineered machine. Rather than an off-the-shelf M&S suit, why not make an Armani suit tailor made to perfection? Do your customers deserve anything less? If they feel unvalued they will vote with their feet. It’s imperative to pay attention to the small details. Believe me, these things matter. You don’t get a second chance at a first impression.
94% of the first impressions on a website are based on its visuals and design
There is nothing more critical than the quality of your user experience. It sets the tone and quality of your brand right from the start. Whether building a brand-new website or fine-tuning an existing one, I suggest enlisting the help of a professional web designer.
Investing in professionals is essential because they will know what needs to be achieved and the most efficient way to accomplish it. They can advise on when it’s appropriate to use a plugin or get something coded, on page load times and on search engine optimisation strategy. They will help you through the task at hand and be a trusted advisor.
Good art inspires; Good design motivates.
Otl Aicher
Off-The-Shelf Or Custom Made?
You can get an off-the-shelf website design by buying an existing WordPress theme. There are plenty of decent ones out there. Themeforest is one of the most popular sites offering these. However, the quality of premade themes will vary, so be careful when choosing. You may not get the right theme on the first try. This is because it’s very difficult to judge what you are buying until you have paid for it and installed it.
If you do buy a premade theme will it fit your exact requirements? Why would you force what you want to say about your business into a restrictive framework? It would be better to work out what you need and want to say, then create the most appropriate framework to express it with. Custom designs will deliver this flexibility and enhance your messages, not distract from them. It will also make it easier to expand your site at a later date if your business strategy changes. This may result in adding some extra functionality not previously required, such as e-commerce.
75% of users judge a brand by its website
Your Website Is The Main Advert For Your Business
Make sure your home page acts as an advert for your business, letting visitors know what benefits you can deliver for them. Explain how you can enhance and make their lives easier. If you do this correctly they will want to dig deeper into your site and what you are offering. The longer they spend on your website the higher the chance they will buy something. Then it’s down to the quality of what you are selling and your aftercare service and follow-up.
Good design is good business.
Thomas Watson Jr.
If you want to entice customers to come back and prospective ones to visit, you need to build trust in your brand. Building trust is a constant ongoing goal that all businesses should aspire to. Keeping your content frequently refreshed also gives customers a reason to continue returning. It’s keeping up a steady stream of useful and entertaining content, and not abusing your customers’ trust. Gentle persuasion works better than over-contact or over-selling. Setting up a blog if you haven’t already is a convenient way to achieve this. As you can write articles containing keywords you want to index on search engines. Keeping customers informed of updated products or services via email or newsletter will keep your brand at the forefront of customers’ minds. So when they are ready to make a purchase they think of your brand first.
Trust Should Be Built Into Your Website
Trust is what your customers think and feel about your brand, but may not be able to express in words. If a user looks at your site they will form conclusions. Does it look and feel trustworthy? Is it a bit beta and broken? Are all the links working? Do the pages look like they come from the same brand? Do the images show an easy, relaxed, happy lifestyle that I aspire to? All the fine details add up to an informed opinion. Some of these things a customer may pick up on subconsciously, from the colours, fonts, images, words and layouts you use. All these elements need to work holistically and consistently with your brand.
The more personality you can instil in your brand and your website the better. The more human your brand appears to its customers the more they will connect with you. And the more loyalty they will display towards you. The most powerful advert for your business is your satisfied customers.
You can bet that the websites of your competitors are optimised for SEO, page load speed, and customer retention, so you literally can’t afford not to optimise yours. SEO isn’t a one-time project, it needs to be a constant battle to attract new users. And to tweak existing content when products or technology changes. Your website should be an organic business strategy that will grow and change over time, depending on the changes in your business or market. This is the most valuable thing about a website it can instantly reflect any changes to your business and communicate them to your customers. All this can be done within minutes and at a very low cost.
Keep It Simple And Free From Clutter
I have found that a clean, simple website design is always most effective. It makes the site easier to update and it’s also easier for customers to find what they are after. You should always make sure you get the important information and benefits to your customers quickly and in order of priority. The hierarchy of your page layout is paramount. Make sure to use colour sparingly and highlight the calls to action. Keep the layout to a grid, and ensure your navigation is simple and in plain English. Your customer shouldn’t have to think or guess what your navigation terms mean.
SEO is like a resume, you polish it so you have your best foot forward.
Matt Cutts
On this subject, your page text should be free of industry jargon and in straightforward English. Neither patronize your users nor make them think too long about the meaning behind your words. They won’t have an enigma machine sitting next to them.
If your website is well-organised users can find what they are seeking without any hassle. And this has to be a big positive for your business. Happy customers equal healthy profits.
Quality Content Will Pay Dividends
First-time users of your site will judge it within 50 milliseconds
The call to action on your site should be clear, above the fold, and highlighted in colour. A well-designed web design will draw a user’s eye around the page to where you want them to focus, be that calls to action or special offers.
Quality content is also critical. Images, plugins, code and content should be optimised to load quickly. The look and feel of everything should be consistent and of the highest quality image-wise and copy-wise. Your users notice these things. So why not ensure the highest quality possible? Surely your users deserve that. If you don’t give them the highest quality, someone else will.
Today, there’s so much information and so many sites on the internet, that yours has to rise to the top. You should be doing everything in your power to ensure this.
Customers can use your website on any device they own. You need to ensure that what they experience is the best you can deliver on any device. This is the quality and consistency of your brand at stake here. Ensure your site experience is great for all customers on all devices.
In Conclusion
Let’s recap the key benefits of a well-designed and executed website.
- An excellent first impression
- Better SEO
- Stand out from your competition
- Easy for users to find what they need
- Works holistically with your brand to build customer trust
Every touch point your customer has with your brand matters. Your website is most likely your main means of communication with your customer. It needs to be crafted to perfection, to load quickly, be properly optimised and be a pleasure to use. All these things done properly will ensure your ongoing business success.
Thanks for reading
Photo by Kristína Krúžková on Unsplash