6 Quick Design Tips for Making Your Website Effective

In today’s day-and-age of the digital landscape, your website is one of the most important pieces your business. Many years ago, people used to do something called “window shopping.” Window shopping is a very simple concept: business put their featured products in front windows of their business so that when people walked by, the display would grab their attention, and hopefully, this attention grabber would result in many sales for the business.

Simple concept, right?

But here’s a question to think about: How do you get people to window shop when no one walks around the town square peering into store windows?

Because we are living in the digital age where more and more people shop online, a business owner can no longer pray and hope that people will happen upon their store. Now, business owners must go to their potential customer base and convince them to purchase their selection of goods and services.

One of the easiest ways to lose costumers is to have a website that, rather than established your business as a reliable company, causes people to instantly discredit you as fraud or irrelevant.

So how do you build a website that not only builds your credibility but also gain you sales?

1. Have a Beautiful Hero Image

What is a hero image? A hero image is the first image that people see when the first land on your website. Optimizely.com says that “[b]ecause people are highly visual, having high quality, fullscreen imagery at the top of your page can help create a positive first impression.”

This image should answer the question of “what is this website all about?”. In the hero section, you can include a photo of your product, people using your product, or a video showcasing what your business is all about. Every website needs a big, beautiful hero image section if you expect to establish authority and credibility.

Here are some examples of some beautiful hero images:

2. Have a Clear Call to Action

A Call to Action (known as a “CTA”) is the one single action that you want your customer to take. This CTA can be as simple as “order now,” “start your free 14 day trial,” or “view project gallery,” but no website is complete without a crystal clear CTA.

The CTA is should be featured in the hero section so that people IMMEDIATELY know what action to take.

3. Have an Intentional “About” Page

The About webpage is usually one of the most overlooked pages on a company’s website, but if you want to establish yourself as a serious business, you need to have an about page.

What needs to be included in an about page? Here’s a quick list:

• History of the business
• Location of the business
• How to contact the business
• Who runs/operates the business
• Awards or accreditations your business has received
• Pictures or videos about people working for the business
• A contact form so that people can contact you

4. Have a Clear and Simple Way to Contact Your Company

Do you want your customers to contact your via email, contact form, text, chat bubble, or Facebook messenger? If you don’t know, neither do your potential customers. Create a “Contact Us” page on your website so that it’s the one-stop-shop for all ways to contact you and your business.

5. Use a Tasteful Branding Scheme

Something that often gets overlooked on a business website is a branding scheme. What is a branding scheme? Seth Godin puts it this way: “A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.”

So what all goes into your website brand?

• Color palette
  • No more than 3 colors
• Font choice
  • No more than 2 fonts
• Image/picture style
  • Images of the peoples or products need to have all the same feel and color tone
• Webpage Layout
  • Consistency across all pages to display a high level of professionalism

6. Less is More

Marie Kondo has revolutionized today’s world by helping people simplify their lives and decluttering their living spaces. Honestly, we feel that most websites deserved the decluttering process, too!

Some business owners may feel like they need to put everything in front of their potential customer base, but often times, this results in many paragraphs of texts, multiple galleries, and hundreds of Call to Actions (remember how we talked about having only one CTA?).

When people land on your website, you want to “spark joy” and breathe life into your potential customer’s life. Show them what they came to see and guide them all the way through taking a clear action.

Soon, you may find that potential customers become loyal patrons.

Are you afraid that your website is losing potential customers for your business? Fill out the form below to request a free website audit today!