Understanding how users search for, find and use your website is the basis of all good website design and development. A website is no longer a business accessory; it’s a vital sales tool and if it’s well thought out and properly structured, it could help you to increase your profits.
Why do you need good website design?
Most of us are aware by now that offline marketing makes use of psychology to help reach the right people at the right time. Supermarkets have the layout of their stores down to a fine art; positioning groceries, services and offers in exactly the right place to ensure that we buy more than we intended.
Good website design needs to use the same basic principles: find out how people use the Internet and use those findings to improve your presence and increase your sales. This not only involves traditional marketing practices such as positioning your product, testing your market and measuring results, it also means looking at how people are using your website in the first place.
Learn how good website design can pull in potential customers
Searching
This is a whole topic in itself but it boils down to this: people use the Internet to research products they are thinking of buying. The research process can take several weeks and they will visit a number of websites, bookmarking those that interest them, before making a purchase. They rarely start their search with brand names, preferring to use general searches to track down the best value products or services. This means that if you want to compete, you need to identify the search terms that are relevant to your business and target your website to them.
Reading
Good website design is not the same as good print design. Researchers have discovered that people read online text in a different way to offline text. The Nielsen Norman Group, which conducted some research in this area, says that users are happy to read longer sentences at the top of a web page, but lose interest in all but the initial words of a sentence as they scroll down – reading in an ‘F’ pattern. So, it’s important to have your key message at the top and to make sure that you think carefully about any text that appears further down the page.
Layout
The more space the better. Good website design encourages the user to read what’s there and take actions based upon the information. If there’s not much on the page, the user will probably read it all. Resist the urge to fill all the available space with a long list of your products, and just pick out your best sales features, with some attractive graphics to draw readers in.
Purpose
If you are selling your product or service through your website, then that is its sole purpose. Make sure that your visitor knows how much your product is and how they can buy it - no matter where they are on your site. Ensure that the payment forms are easy to complete and that you have the appropriate security for online payment. Allow them to back out of the purchase and change the items they have in their trolley and make sure that you have a system for acknowledging their order and providing contact information for any queries.
Good website design is still about space, colour, shape and traditional design, but it is also now about usability and fit-for-purpose. Keep these considerations at the top of your list of priorities, and you will end up with a website that really benefits your business. If you'd like to talk to us about how we can help you get the good website design you need, call 01423 529300 or email info@wmg.uk.com