Many websites are ineffective and built with poor user experience. Many seem to have been put together haphazardly and without adequate planning or excellent execution. An ineffective website is not an asset to any business, and you risk sending visitors to your competitor. Creating an effective website that creates customers and clients takes careful planning and execution. Every element must work with every other element. Here are the five essential elements of a powerful, effective website:
The Nitty Gritty of Web Design
Your Website Must Target The Right Audience
Before getting started on a website, any website designer needs to know who it is supposed to reach. Is the business local in nature or does it seek to reach a wider customer base? Does the business provide a service or sell products from a brick and mortar location? What are the demographics of the target customers? There’s no single formula for the ideal website. All of these factors, and many others, must be considered from the very beginning of the design process. Only if a business website targets and speaks effectively to the desired audience will it succeed.
Your Website Must Compete with Other Business Website
Analyzing the websites of competing businesses is another necessity before beginning website design. Knowing the strengths and flaws in competing websites helps the designer create a site that stands high above the competition. A good web design company will work to understand the competitive marketplace and create a website that maximizes your impact in that marketplace.
Your Website Must Have a Consistent Design Framework
A business website is made up of numerous pages, each of which contains multiple elements. Everything from background design and font selection to images, logos, and other graphical elements must create a balanced and consistent look and feel on every page. A good website designer understands this, and uses powerful website creation software, like WordPress and Joomla, to assure this continuity.
Your Website Must Be Easy to Use and Navigate
The moment a potential customer lands on your website, he or she makes an immediate decision about whether to stay there. Having easy to recognize, well labeled navigational tools where the visitor expects to see them helps keep your potential customer on the site long enough to begin taking in information. Cute or tricky navigation tools will send the visitor to the browser’s back button and to your competitor’s site. A good web designer knows that a familiar and comfortable interface that’s consistent across the entire site is a must.
Your Website Must Convert the Visitor into a Customer
Once you have the eyes of a visitor, the content of your website takes over. Through words and graphics, that content must lead the visitor through your website and convince him or her to take action and become a customer or client. Too many website designers focus more on the appearance of a website than on the goal of converting visitors. Only expertly created website content can show a visitor why a business deserves his or her patronage. Only highly skilled and experienced content providers can do this effectively and seamlessly, motivating and educating your visitor and converting him or her into a customer.
Responsive Web Design is a Must
With today’s new technology, users are accessing the website with their phone or other hand held devices. Your website must be easy to view and navigate on all screen sizes. If your visitor is viewing your website from their cell phone and unable to easily navigate your menu, they will have a poor user experience, and probably move on to your competitor. That’s why responsive design is essential.