Why Web Design Matters to Your Business Marketing Strategy

A website is a powerful tool for any business nowadays, especially when it comes to marketing and sales initiatives. But many are missing out on its benefits simply because they don’t know how to build one properly. Most businesses, especially the small ones, find it expensive to develop and maintain one, and easily omit it from their “must-haves”. What they didn’t know is that they are wasting so many opportunities to grow and market their businesses to a wider audience at a much less cost than using traditional marketing media.

A business that wishes to maximize the benefits of having a website should know the elements of a good web design. This basic knowledge can help in gathering data to incorporate to your website. Knowing the current web design trends can also help you keep up with the market you are aiming at. When everything has been consolidated, it’s time to get expert services – professional web design services, to help you direct your ideas, and establish the brand you wish to build.

Elements of a Good Web Design for Marketing Purposes

Why a web design is important is because it is your first step in attracting users to know more about you. In general, a user will make his initial impression about you by what they first saw. Does your web site look professional? Is it easily navigable? Does it have something new and exciting to offer? The key is to encourage users to give more time in exploring and digesting your website content.

You can actually use a good web design to increase conversions. And these are the main elements that you should optimize to make your website design successful in its purpose:

Functionality and usability

Your website should serve the purpose it is built. Is it to promote photo and video coverage services? It should include portfolios of your work which are optimized for fast viewing, that is, images easily load up and videos are not too long. Are you in a business of dog breeding? Include helpful articles for grooming, feeding and choosing the right breed for you, and make sure it is readable and articles are grouped by relevance.

Aside from content, it is the web design that sustains a user’s interest. Aside from being visually pleasing, a good website design should be usable and user friendly. Web designers are asked to render ergonomic design, which means all the design elements will have a specific function aside from being beautiful to look at. Remember that other websites to view are but a few clicks away and you don’t miss every opportunity when it lands.

Other aspects of usability are as follows:

1. Simplicity
2. Images are optimized for viewing in different screen sizes
3. Multi-platform compatibility
4. Consistency
5. Mix of icons and texts for links
6. Navigable

Faster loading time

Users go to the internet because it is faster to get information from it. If your website cannot exhibit this kind of behavior, a user can easily find another one to explore. According to Adobe’s “The State of Content: Expectations on The Rise”, 39 percent of people will stop engaging in a website if it finds the images too long to load. Faster loading time for your website can be achieved through proper programming or coding. It is also best to get a web host that is appropriate for your storage and load time requirements. Say you need to upload a lot of photos of your portfolios, your web designer should optimize your photos that easily loads without sacrificing its quality too much, and your web host should be able to accommodate heavy uploads but still remain fast to load.

Another important consideration in making your website load faster is because it affects SEO. Google ranks web pages in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) according to a variety of factors, which include loading time.

Content

It is the heart of every website. Content is what your users are really looking for, and if they find it on your website, then most likely you’ll succeed with your intent. Providing content is laborious itself, because it needs to be informative, valuable, helpful and engaging at the same time to continue to interest users.

For businesses, its products and services should be supported with relevant content to emphasize its value. This could be in the form of articles that answer how-to’s, or research studies that will prove its benefits. The content must also contain complete contact information about the company and several ways to reach it. In the case of supporting content, the web design must make it readable and more interesting by incorporating elements like images, videos or animations. Just remember not to overdo, as it may take away the focus on the content itself. These elements must also stay relevant to the content.

These web design elements can either make, or break your website and your brand. Therefore, your web designer should provide that balance between form and function to maximize the benefits to your own and your customers’ advantage.

Navigation

An easily navigable website helps visitors get the right information about you and your products in the shortest time possible. It also helps in engaging your visitors to continue exploring your site and digest as much information that can turn them into customers. Your website design should not only focus on making it visually appealing, but at the same time, make almost every element, functional. Websites must not remain static but should be proactive, that is, you engage visitors to take a positive action from what they see, especially when it is intended to be a marketing strategy.

Overall visual design

Web design isn’t only an art showcase, but also a creative way of attracting, engaging and compelling people to continue exploring a website and support its purpose. For a business, a website is a way of promoting its products and services, and to establish a brand using online strategies and tools.

A good web design improves customer engagement by incorporating appealing elements like animations, images and presentations to highlight important points and information.  It also executes a common theme, to invoke a sense of having a brand, which also unites the look and feel of your website. But remember that the web design is intended to highlight, enhance or improve the website, and not to drive away the focus on the product, unless you are selling a web design service.

SEO-friendly

If your web design helps your site drive traffic and conversions, then most likely it fulfils the requirements of SEO. But it doesn’t happen automatically, and you should still know how to execute a design with full SEO standards. Your SEO expert and your web designer should work hand in hand to achieve this.

Customer engagement

A web design that is intended as a marketing strategy must fulfil this 3-step journey:

Step 1 – Attract

Step 2 – Engage (sign up for the mailing list, inquire further, send a comment)

Step 3 – Convert (into customers)

The key to customer engagement is to encourage visitors to interact with your website. Putting interactive elements on your web design compels visitors to explore your site longer. While this happens, you can use content to capture their interest and finally, turn them into customers.

Accessibility to valuable information

The Ipsos’ Shopping and Personal Finance polls surveyed 24 countries and found out that 48 percent of their internet users shop products online.  A part of this traffic might be looking at your website right now, and will be looking at the information about your products and your contact information. Not all website visitors will consume everything on your site. That is why it is important to make your visitors easily spot these pieces of information to satisfy their intent in the first place.

Intuitiveness

The internet has actually become smarter now, and this technology can also be used in creating websites that can understand a user’s intent and satisfy his needs. Your website must be intuitive in such a way that it is straightforward in giving the information that your visitors need. While holding them longer increases the chances they will convert, but satisfying them in the shortest time is actually better.

Professional Web Design Services

A web design requires an expertise, which are best left to professionals to execute. Doing so will minimize the harmful effects of letting your visitors have a bad impression on your company just because they landed on an unimpressive website. Instead, it maximizes its usability and influence that can let you achieve popularity and ultimately, increased profits.

As you work with a professional web designer, it is important that you sustain good communication between the two of you so you can be consistent with your expectations. It will also make their work faster and more efficient. Some web designers need guidance, especially if the design intends to sell or market something. In knowing exactly what are your objectives and goals will put the design in the right perspective.

The key is to let your web designer, your marketing strategist, and yourself, participate through each step of the website building. It melds all ideas to become a powerful marketing strategy that is enhanced by a good web design.  This partnership can bond all the elements together to create an identity for you, which is important in establishing your brand in the market.

Conclusion

A good web design is a good marketing strategy that shouldn’t be neglected. As the old adage says, “First impressions last.” For a business, the first impression should already create an impact, but must be sustained, to yield the best results.

Web design services for marketing should be best left handed down to experts in the field to make it more professional and leverage to your competitors. The market is robust with options, claiming to give the top professional web design services for your needs. Research can help you know which web design company will fit your budget and needs.

Like with a good web design that requires patience and iteration to achieve, you should also give time in evaluating the market for the best options for your requirements. Read on from CrowdReviews.com about what clients have to say about their providers through professional web design service reviews.