Web design is one of the most important aspects of your online presence. Studies show that 75 percent of people judge the credibility of a business based on the design of its website. Web development of your business website involves improving and strengthening your brand to make you stand out from the competition. Various methods and techniques are used to create and combine words, fonts, colors, graphics, and images to communicate your message or story to relevant customers.
A few of the reasons why web design is so critical to online success:
1. Content
The content of your site is important for reasons besides the fact that it literally communicates your company’s brand position and promise. Making the message short and to the point, yet warm and welcoming (depending on the industry) helps the reader to remember the message easier.
2. Navigation and usability
This might be the most important reason to invest in quality web design.
Users judge your website within mere seconds of arriving on it. If it’s at confusing, chaotic, or cluttered, all they have to do is hit the “back” button and navigate directly to a competitor’s website. A good rule of thumb is for your navigation to be as intuitive as possible. Customer attention spans are short, and if it takes too long to figure out how to get to the contact page, you might as well consider them a lost lead.
3. Customer service and trust
You can also think of your website like a customer service representative. It’s the digital face of your business, and you want to make a good first impression.
A poorly designed website is akin to a rude, unhelpful customer service rep. A well-designed website, on the other hand, is like a polite, friendly rep that goes out of his or her way to help customers in any capacity.
As for trust, the concept is similar. Humans are visual creatures, and putting your best web design foot forward is absolutely critical in moving potential customers further down the sales funnel.
4. Competition
At the most basic level, you should invest in some level of web design because your competitors are most likely already doing it. If your site looks shoddy and amateur, and a direct competitor’s site looks professional and trustworthy, potential customers will choose your competitor. Splurging on web design even a little bit for a stellar design is a fantastic way of setting yourself apart from competitors.
Most businesses within an industry have essentially the same pool of resources to pull from when building their services. You all have access to the same information, studies, pricing tiers, and so on. Web design is one of the only areas where you can go above and beyond, making your business appear to be the obvious choice through a gorgeously crafted website.
5. Consistency and coherency
People like consistency, especially online. If every one of your pages looks different, uses different fonts, and is laid out differently, many users will move on to the next option. Any website that’s even mildly successful uses the same set of format, style, and typeface guidelines that serve as the backbone for all pages. This ensures a sense of consistency as users navigate through your website, and makes the entire experience more coherent and streamlined. One of the underlying goals of web design is to minimize distractions on your website, because even the slightest discrepancy or inconsistency can result in a lost lead.
6. Reading Patterns and SEO
Most people are comfortable reading a web page the same way they read a book, from top to bottom, left to right. Many designers make sure to place the most important information on the upper left hand column. This will help get the message across more effectively for website visitors who could be current or potential customers. But what many people do not know is that placing important information in these areas of a website also improves search engine optimization (SEO). When you include important company-related keywords into the html-based text, search engines such as Google and Bing are able to crawl your website easily, increasing your search engine placement and giving your website and firm more overall visibility.
Web design is also more than the visual presentation of a website.
It also consists of usability, user interface and site architecture, which are all things that are underneath the surface.