A company's website can tell a lot about their
level of expertise and professionalism. It is also a space for a brand to
showcase its personality and push its top-selling offers.
When designing a website, starting from scratch can
raise a lot of questions about what to leave out, aspects to highlight and how
to drive traffic to the site. Fortunately, most consumers seek the same
qualities in a site across the board, assuming it caters to the target
demographic. The rules are easy to follow.
Given that a homepage sees the most traffic, the
lander should include the call to action. A company must decide what they want
most out of website visitors and start building from there. If they're selling
a product, maybe the page will include the best-selling item or a newly
released product line. For services, companies can show video or other
demonstrations of their work in-action. Either way, the call to act should be
concise, easy to execute and displayed in an enticing manner.
An important consideration sometimes overlooked is
who will be using the site. The design and navigation should match the
company's personality as well as their target user. A senior audience will need
a minimalistic page with large icons and clear instruction. Children will want
a site that has games, drawings and contests to keep them interactive.
Tech-lovers want to know specs, performance capabilities and consumer feedback
about a new line of electronics. While it's important for the website to be
aesthetically pleasing, companies should also take into consideration the needs
of their main user.
Visual displays largely impact a user's experience
with a website. If they get to the home page and see a lot of clutter, pop-up
ads or other irrelevant information, they will mostly likely leave the page.
The entire website should have only the necessary information to avoid
overwhelming a viewer. Additionally, it should include quality images laid out
in a pleasing manner. The opposite is also true; too little information and
imagery could lead a user to believe the site is incomplete. A healthy balance
of information and visuals will go a long way.
Figuring out how a consumer thinks will allow
companies to create a website that's easy to navigate. The rule of thumb is to
link pages in a way that a user can get to another destination in 1-2 clicks at
any point of their visit. For example, if someone is on a clothing site
browsing for shoes, they should be able to navigate to another page featuring
dresses in just a couple of clicks. Many websites feature a tool bar at the top
that has categories and subcategories for different pages of the site. As long as
these are clear and accessible, a user will be less likely to leave the page
because they can't find what they're looking for.
A company can create a high-quality, user-friendly
site, but it won't do them any good if they don't have a way to drive traffic
to it and track visitor behavior. Many online tools, including banner ads,
email campaigns and Google AdWords can drive consumers to a site where
conversions will be made. External traffic is important to a site rating and
will directly affects its viewership. Internal traffic is also important as it
offers clues to a company about their potential clients. They can use tracking
cookies to follow the browsing history of a site viewer which will then help
them survey interest level, know which pages lead to more conversions and know
which can be eliminated if they are not frequently viewed. Driving traffic to a
site and analyzing its turnout will help companies maximize conversions from
their webpage.
Websites are a great place for companies to get
creative and showcase their uniqueness. The points above are just some of the
key aspects that go into making an effective website. Companies should also
incorporate their brand image and the message they want to send to viewers.
Brands should look at a webpage as a story about their company, making sure
every detail is precise.
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