Improve your Website Design with these helpful tips
Whether you first launched your site in the '90s, the early 2000's, or even a few years ago, it's likely that your web design is out of date. With new and innovate trends emerging more and more frequently, it's hard to keep up with the latest design trends. Unless you recently redesigned your website, it’s probably time to make some improvements to your web design.
If you’re not sure where to start, that’s okay. That’s what SMILE media is here for. We’ve put together some important tips to follow to get the most out of your website redesign. However, unless you’re a skilled web design and/or web development professional, you may want to work with your local creative agency to get the best results.
Improving Your Web Design
We recommend following these tips to get the best results from your redesign efforts:
1. Create a plan.
Without a plan, you risk a drawn-out, chaotic process, resulting in minimal improvements, or, you could even end up with design that is worse than what you started with. Neither of these results are desirable.
Think about what you want your customers to do when they reach your site, based on which stage of the buyer’s journey they are in. This will help you to design the site to intuitively guide your visitors through each stage of the funnel.
To do this, you will need to collect data about your target audience, such as what their interests and challenges are, and how your product or service can help them. You can then use this data to create a web design strategy tailored to your audience’s specific needs. SMILE can help you to define and analyze your ideal customer, and help you put the right design strategy in place.
2. Encourage Social Sharing.
Many businesses neglect to include social sharing buttons on their website. This prevents those who are following your brand from sharing your message with others. These are typically placed at the bottom of blog posts or highlighted quotes that can be shared via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more. There are a variety of social sharing tools to choose from, and we can help to you incorporate these into your updated web design.
3. Include Call-to-Actions.
Call-to-actions are a crucial aspect of a successful web design. Without them, visitors may not understand what you want them to do next. You need to guide your visitors in a way that is as simple and intuitive as possible, so that their entire experience is anything but complex.
Not all call-to-actions are necessarily “Buy Now” or “Sign Up”. Your call-to-actions should be tailored to the stage of the funnel your potential customers are in. SMILE can help you to create relevant and useful call-to-action buttons that make sense based on your business goals.
4. Remember to Include White Space.
Staring at a screen full of text, images and designs without much blank space in between elements is painful to look at. It can be distracting to the viewer, and may deter them from staying on your site. White space helps to increase the readability of your pages. Without it, your readers may get overwhelmed, bored, or frustrated when trying to find the information they’re looking for. We can help design your site with the optimal amount of white space.
5. Mobile-First Design
If your site isn’t optimized for mobile users, you are missing out on a ton of potential customers. Viewer trends have slowly been moving towards more mobile viewing vs. desktop viewing.
Designing for desktop users first often requires that either an additional mobile site be created, or additional design elements be implemented to allow mobile users to have a similar experience to that of desktop users. Many designers recommend creating a site that is designed for mobile users first, since this will automatically translate into the desktop version. However, there are some who disagree.
SMILE media works with developers who specialize in mobile responsive design and optimization, and can help you to design a website for users on any device.
6. Search Engine Optimization
The above design techniques, combined with strategic SEO efforts will result in an increase in visitors, and ultimately conversions. It’s important to have a design that is in line with SEO best practices. You’ll want to include a variety of types of relevant content, and your web design should support the optimal presentation of this content.
When it comes to finding the most competent of creative agencies, Boston has some of the best in the industry. SMILE media is a Boston-based agency that provides web design and development, in addition to a variety of other digital marketing services. Contact us to find out how we can help you with your website redesign.
