No matter how you try to spin it, in the end the value of a website comes down to how well it converts visitors into customers.
All the fanciest cutting-edge interface, flashy graphics or beautiful design concepts will not save your website, if you do not have a clear and effective plan of how to get your prospect from quickly glancing at your site to becoming intrigued and, eventually, wanting to buy your services or at least take the next step towards that.
Of course, that does not mean that you can’t use modern approaches like responsive website design to your advantage – in fact, with the surge of mobile web users, it’s almost mandatory that every business website be able to adapt to any device and provide a seamless user experience.
It’s All About the UX
It’s no secret that the effectiveness of your website will largely come down to the quality of customer experience it is able to provide – if you structure and lay everything out in a concise and logical manner, in which you’ll anticipate your prospects’ needs and provide him easy access to what he’s looking for, you might just have a winner.
There are numerous aspects you need to consider, many of which depend on your individual business and your target customer, but here are a few more general areas that can be applied in all good web design practices:
Immediately Start Building Trust and Authority
From the moment a visitor stumbles to your site, he immediately starts looking for a reason not to trust you. This is completely understandable in the online world, which is full of scammers and shady businesses, so instead of trying to ignore this fact, confront it immediately.
Show him that you are not just another crook trying to make a quick buck, but that you’re a respectable business, with experience in your field and with many happy clients.
In design, you do this by prominently displaying your credentials, like experience in the field, recognition in the press or any awards you might have won. Also, add a human element – people will immediately start trusting you more if you’ll display testimonials from real people, with real photos.
Make the Navigation Simple
Obviously, for the user experience to be good, the navigation has to make it easy to find whatever he might be looking for. But, contrary to what some designers might be saying, trying to hide the menu or make it transparent/less visible in any way only adds complication to the website – you are trading seamless navigation for a design that might be a bit more “clean” looking. That’s not a trade worth making, if you ask me.
Some basic pointers you should keep in mind when designing navigation are that first and foremost, it should be easy to understand and view (from all devices), it should help quickly get to the most important pages of the website, and it should be categorised in a way that sorts all the info into logical “compartments”.
Luckily, responsive website design makes it very easy to design navigation which provides a terrific user experience.
Simplicity Always Works
The desire to stand out from the crowd and be unique is completely understandable, but as far as web design goes, you’re almost always better off sticking with a relatively simple design that is clean, clear and to the point.
When people come to your site, they have a very clear goal that they want to accomplish – whether that’s buying something, or finding information, and how your site is rated in their eyes depends almost completely on how well you deliver. If they have to work hard just to find the navigation, most of the visitors will simply choose a different site.
Summary:
You don’t have to work in a web design agency to know that in today’s world, the success of a design largely depends on how easy it is to navigate and how it responds to different devices.
Since the only real measure for a sites’ success remains its conversions, you have to give way to practical and simple solutions, as well as making sure your design helps build trust in your business if you’re going to stand any chance in the fierce and ever-changing online world.
