Web Design: The importance of good design
We won’t beat around the bush, you probably already know that website design is important, after all, no one likes visiting a badly designed site… we’ve certainly laughed at some of the poorly designed sites we’ve encountered over the years!
We have been designing websites from our HQ in Swindon, Wiltshire for 2 years and during this time, more and more consumers have started to make decisions based on their online experience. This means that how you design the appearance, usability, and accessibility of your website is more important than ever.
Your website is your shop window on the internet and from SEO and traffic to branding and conversion rates, your site’s web design affects your entire internet presence and visual identity.
So, here are our 5 top reasons (in addition to not wanting people to laugh at it) why good web design is so essential for your website and your overall business performance.
First impressions really do count
A visitor to your website takes only seconds to decide whether they are going to continue browsing it or not, and your website design determines whether they stay and take action or leave – it’s as simple as that.
To create a great first impression one thing is obvious: your website has to look good BUT it is important to keep usability in mind and not sacrifice it just for the sake of appearance. It’s like turning up to your friend’s house with this awesome looking app only for the dreaded “How do I use it?” question.
Visually appealing website design increases customer engagement and a professional, modern website can immediately build trust and encourage further engagement by guiding visitors to take action.
People don’t like having to look for things
Good website design is important because it affects how quickly visitors can find what they are looking for.
There is nothing worse than a frustrated visitor. If they are not happy with the journey, they will leave (bounce) and try another site; which could be a close competitor.
Everything on your website needs to have a logical and consistent place to help visitors easily find what they are looking for. A good design will be easy to understand and navigate, helping your potential customers find what they need when they need it, and taking you one step closer to converting that web visitor to a sale. Which nicely leads me to my next point…
Your website needs to convert web visitors into sales
So your website looks stunning and is easy to navigate and you’re making a great first impression. Very good. Well done.
Sadly, all of this is meaningless to you as a business if the design of your website does not lead the user on a journey towards a sales conversion.
Your website has to be well planned and designed to get your visitors to do what you want them to do. A good web design will lead the eye to what’s most important for your business and guide your visitors to take whatever action or engagement you need, to convert them into a potential customer or sale.
Your potential customers are mobile (or at least a lot of them probably are)
76% of adults now own smartphones*, and over half of UK households (54%) have a tablet computer**.
This means that making sure your website looks great and functions flawlessly on whatever device it is accessed from is essential. This is where responsive design comes into play.
A responsive website will automatically resize and reconfigure its layout based on the device it is being viewed on. So, whether your potential customer is viewing your website on their desktop, their tablet, or their phone, they are seeing an appropriate version and receiving a consistent user journey.
There are a great number of factors to consider in a responsive design. From loading times to font sizes, to understanding which bits of your website visitors may want to access when they’re on the run or sat waiting in the airport lounge
A good web design agency will have thought carefully about every aspect of a visitor’s mobile, desktop and tablet experience, especially as it also helps towards search ranking (more on that in another article).
Your website needs to reflect your brand story and present a consistent visual identity
A great website needs to keep the visitor engaged, so they are compelled to want to see more. The narrative of the site needs to flow and have an end goal, and this is most effective when told through visual representation in your website design, not just in words.
Pictures resonate with those who view them because they are easy to relate to and they are an easier medium to process when it comes to conveying information.
Good web design and branding uses visual content and exceptional copy, drawing customers into each new page of the website and leaving them with absolutely no doubt about what you do, and why they need you and your product/service.
Stop and think… Is your website design doing what you need it to do for your businesses marketing plan?
If you have identified an area where your website design is not hitting the mark (or people are laughing at it) then it’s probably a good time to think about a website refresh.
Working with a web design agency will enable you to create a new web design which will boost customer engagement, lower bounce rates and raise that all-important conversion rate too.
Pixel Pixel are a transparent website design and development agency in Swindon, Wiltshire who can offer you more for your next marketing project.
Contact us if you would like to chat through how we can boost your site’s performance with a great new design.
** OfCom 2015
By: Jonathan Rawlins
