Web Design - What do you want your website to do?

It sounds like I am stating the obvious, but I find that a lot of business owners struggle with the question. What do you want your website to do for you? In terms of website design, this is the first question that you must be able to answer, in order that you will get the best results for your website. A website can serve a number of different purposes. It may be for lead generation, it may be a product showcase, it might be for e-commerce, it may be to provide business or product information, or it may be to provide resources for your customers or members. So, what is it that you want your website to do?

One of the keys to successfully utilising your website is to make it very easy for visitors to identify what it is that you want them to do. It should only take them 2-3 clicks once they arrive at your site to find their desired information and perform their desired actions. Navigation is a critical element for making your site easy to use. Your navigation menus should be easily identified, and clearly state the purpose of the page that the visitor is going to land on. Test different locations for the menus on your site to see what effect they have on your ‘bounce’ rates. Test different fonts and appearances to see if they affect how your visitors navigate your site. In copy links can also assist your visitors to navigate to their desired information.

Colour is an important element for getting people to do what you want when they visit your site. Proper use of colour can attract people’s attention to the important areas of your site. Overuse of colour will negate any benefits that colour can bring you and make your site look like a mish mash of different elements. However if you identify the most important element on each page of your website you can highlight this area through the use of colour. This can be done by changing the colour of the text or the colour of the background, or by the use of a background image in this area of the page.

Another great use of colour is to identify for your visitors what areas of your site have been updated. Give your site a fresh new appearance by altering the colours on your site. If your website design involves CSS then it is a relatively simple process to change its appearance by modifying your CSS file, or attaching a new CSS file. Give your site a fresh new appearance, or change the appearance to suit the season by modifying your colour schemes.

If you are collecting information from your visitors you must make it easy for them to submit their information. The most important thing for you to do is to outline to your visitor why you need to collect their information and what you are going to do with the information after you collect it. A Privacy policy is an important element if you are collecting information so that your visitors know that you are not going to pass on their email address to a third party. You should only collect the information necessary for your needs. A FREE gift is often useful in helping people to decide to give you their information. But the most important thing for you to do is to outline to your visitor what you are going to do with the information after they have given it to you.

If your website is designed to showcase or sell product the most vital element is that people can find the product that they are looking for. Photos should be high quality and item descriptions should clearly outline the benefits of your product. Your shopping cart should be secure and easy to use.  A guarantee is a vital element when selling product, and testimonials can significantly increase sales. What will your product do for your customer, and how does your product outperform your competition. Answering these questions for your potential customer will greatly increase your sales conversion.

Finally, the most important element in having your website deliver your desired result is to constantly be testing different elements of your site so as to improve your results. One of the greatest things about the internet is that you can track how changes to different elements of your website affect the results that your website achieves. Because the internet is changing so quickly it is vital that you constantly test and retest the elements of your site to stay ahead of the competition.

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