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Published November 02nd, 2016 by

How Poor Web Design Can Spell Disaster for an Online Business

How Poor Web Design Can Spell Disaster for an Online Business

Your online business relies heavily on the quality of its website. From marketing your products to the point of sale, everything is done over the net. This is why it is crucial you get an expert web design provider to ensure that your site has all the elements needed to be efficient and successful.

With so much riding on your site’s efficiency, it is crucial that you work with professionals who have experience in designing sites that deliver results. The secret to being a good entrepreneur is to learn various ways on how to improve your business. And in this case, it’s learning about how you can ensure that you have a website designed by the right people. To be able to choose wisely, you first need to understand what web design is all about.

What is Web Design?

According to Networks Solutions, a web solutions vendor, web design is a process that involves planning and building the site. This is when the layout and the content are decided on. Professional web designers work with you to create a site that works well with the type of business you are running and with your target market.

If you have an online comic book store, your site will need to have pictures as well as information about the comics you sell. Since your customers are interested in comics, your site needs to have images that show the illustrations at their best.

With the type of product that you sell, you are most likely to have kids as some of your customers. That means the content of your site should be child friendly. That includes font size and color and verbiage. Web designers take care of this or you.

With a lot of new technology getting developed practically every other week, your site’s design should also be able to adapt to changes. This is why there are different types of web design available. These are fixed, fluid and responsive design.

Fixed web design refers to websites that have static width. Resizing the browser window or accessing the site on different platforms does not change the display. This means if your site is accessed on a tablet, some of the features that are viewable on a desktop may not work properly.

In addition, there may be a lot of pinching and scrolling involved in browsing the different web pages. That can be time consuming and frustrating which doesn’t create a favorable user experience.

Fluid web design is a bit more flexible. It responds to changes made on the size of the browser. If the window is smaller, then the content of the site are compressed. When the window is maximized, the site will also adjust. This is why some of the sites that you browse seem like they get enlarged when you make the window bigger.

Fluid design works on percentages. The grid structure of your site’s content depends on the size of the window it is displayed on.

Responsive web design is the newest of all these types. It was created to address the development of how people access the net. A decade ago, people usually browsed on desktop computers or laptops. During that time, fixed design was sufficient to address business web design needs.

However, as people started using tablets and smartphones to go online, there was a need for businesses to have specific sites designed for other platforms. Multiple sites with the same content but a different design were not the most cost efficient way to promote a business online. Responsive design made multiple business sites unnecessary because it automatically adapted to the hardware being used.

Web Design Statistics That Matter

Working with the best web design providers may seem like an unnecessary cost to some business owners. With so many templates and site wizards available online, a DIY web design seems to be something that you can take care of yourself. However, here are some numbers that may help you decide if getting an expert is worth the investment.

  1. Web design has a huge impact on the customer’s decision to do business with a company. Over 90% of people who browse the net stated that the site’s design is one of the main reasons they choose to reject or mistrust a company. They cite that design affects the business’ credibility.
  2. The colors used in a website helps boost branding. Studies show that colors increases site recognition by 80%.
  3. The sites compatibility with mobile devices has an impact on a business’ revenue. Over 60% of consumers choose to purchase from a company that has a site that’s compatible with mobile devices.
  4. According to a research done by Adobe, 39% of people will leave a website that takes too long to load.
  5. KoMarketing reported that 47% of customers who visit a site check products or services offered first before navigating to other pages.
  6. 38% of customers leave a site that they find unattractive or unappealing.

These numbers show how much web page design impacts how customers interact with online businesses. Ignoring this may have disastrous results.

How Bad Web Design Affects Business

Reviews of web design providers available online show that a site designed properly can bring a host of benefits for your online business. However, in order to fully appreciate these benefits, it would be useful for you to know the results of a bad web design.

  1. Low Traffic – One of the elements included in web design is SEO and local SEO. These are online marketing techniques that make your business more visible to search engine users. It improves your ranking in search engine result page or SERP to increase traffic to your site.

SEO works with different elements and principles which include keywords, links and content. A poorly designed site may not be optimized for organic searches. This means you don’t get a chance to do business with prospects that use search engines to find products or services they need.

The foundation of your profit depends on how many people actually find their way to your site. So, for an online business to not have healthy traffic is certainly a disaster.

  1. Low Conversion – While your site may still get traffic, one of the pitfalls of a badly designed one means visitors are not enticed to do business with you. For example, if you have an online clothing store, blurred images are not very attractive. By not being able to present your products or services in the best way possible, you reduce your traffic to sale conversion. And this is because most customers usually like to look around first before buying anything. So, if they don’t like what they see on your site, they will navigate away and bring their business elsewhere.

Customers also look for certain elements in the website before they decide to make a purchase or hire services. These elements include business name, address and phone number (NAP) as well as other vital contact information. When these are missing from the site, customers tend to reject the site as a credible one. This basically translates as a missed sales opportunity for your business.

  1. Low Revenue – With minimal traffic and unsuccessful conversion due to a poorly designed site, your business cannot generate the revenue you need to be successful or even just to stay afloat. Regardless of how effective your expense management system is, it will be difficult to be become profitable with low revenue.

Beauty and content are certainly important factors when it comes to your site’s design. These are more than just superficial elements as these have a considerable impact on your finances.

  1. Poor Customer Experience – For an online business, your website is your main source of income. If customers don’t have a pleasant experience navigating your site you risk damage to your reputation. Elements such as broken links, text that’s hard to read and even unflattering background color and image play key roles in your customer’s browsing experience.

Imagine if you went to your local supermarket and the displays were not organized. If the milk was put in the same aisle as detergents or if the entire place was badly lit then it’s highly unlikely that you would come back and shop there again. You expect to see items arranged logically so it would be easy for you to find what you need.

Your web design is the same as how items are arranged at the supermarket. You want to make sure your customers are able to move around comfortably so they can easily get the information they need. A site that has a bad design can weaken your brand and for an online business, that can be financially damaging.

Clearly, to be able to run a successful online business, you need to have a website that works. And the best way to ensure that is to work with professionals who have experience in designing sites that deliver results.

Check out the list of web design firms on Crowdreviews.com and start exploring your design options today.

Trevor Price

Trevor Price helps small businesses leverage mobile technology to reach their audience and extend their capabilities in delivery, information, and tracking.

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