Web Design
Your website design is the face of your business, and you want it to look and sound good. It needs to be well designed and attractive, but it also needs substance—your website needs to quickly and efficiently communicate that you understand your client’s needs and can offer solutions.The website’s visual presentation, content and user experience are the three main ways through which your prospects will form a first impression of your business.
Visual Representation
If the visual and aesthetic design of your website looks dated or unattractive the visitor has no option but to project that impression onto your business itself and its products or services. Best practices in website design change rapidly. You want to keep your look current and fresh. Visiting a website that looks dated is a sure fire way to make someone question your professionalism—people respond more positively to things that look good, including websites. That means your web design needs to be professional, modern, and clean.
When addressing the design of your website make sure you work with an experienced and talented web designer and be aware that web design trends change quite quickly, be prepared to redesign the look of your website every two years.
Content
You have likely heard the phrase content is king. That means you can have the most beautiful website ever, but if the content is weak, your website won’t have impact. Your content needs to be concise, focused, and all about the client’s needs. If your website content is vague, long winded and unhelpful you will not connect with your visitors and they will perceive your business as one that doesn’t really understand their needs.
If your website is designed in such a way that it’s hard to navigate, difficult to find information and it loads slowly your visitors will intuitively assume that dealing with your business is going to be frustrating and difficult. Be mindful of loading speeds when you design the website. Visitors don’t have the patience to wait for all of those images to load. Your website must load fast and display well on every browser and any device.
Your website navigation needs to be clear, logical, and intuitive. Getting cute with navigation names may seem like a good idea, but not if users can’t figure out where to go for pricing information, services, or even a way to contact you.
Another important part of the user experience is ensuring your site is mobile friendly. Statistics vary, but somewhere around 60% of users access websites on mobile devices. Make sure your website design is mobile friendly.