What makes good website design?
You’ve probably been told that good website design is really important, but why is that and what does it really mean?
The WEBPRO Creative team has created this newsletter to explain what counts when designing a website, and at the same time, explain what makes a website design fail. This should help you identify weaknesses in your current website design to then make valuable improvements.
Why is good website design important?
Good website design is important because it helps you convert more website leads.
The design of your website will either encourage leads to make enquiries or purchases, or it will encourage them to leave your website to check out competitors. There’s no middle ground; it either works for you or works against you. The design is also understood to be a reflection of your branding, which also influences conversions.
Of course, other aspects of your website influence consumer decisions, such as the website content. But the layout and design of the website are significant when it comes to your market’s decision making.
So, what encompasses good website design?
User-friendly navigation
Making sure the website is user-friendly is at the heart of every decision made by our website designers. This can be achieved by ensuring the website isn’t just easy to navigate from page to page, but it’s also easy to see how to navigate the website. If the website isn’t intuitively simple to navigate, the user is much more likely to leave.
When a website visitor lands on the website, they need to immediately realise how they can move around the website and get the information they need. To do this, it’s so important to keep things simple and not overcomplicate matters. It’s also essential that we promote a hierarchical structure to the website, which is possible through menu bars, fonts and sometimes even colours.
Quick load times
Whether we care to admit it or not, our species is on the whole very impatient. How dare we have to wait a few seconds for a website page to load; the signals only need to travel to near space and back! But that’s the reality of the situation, with most website visitors unwilling to wait more than just three seconds for a page to load without slinging their hook to look for a competitor.
There are different methods that website developers can use to optimise loading times and prevent warm leads from going cold. For example, the number and size of images and videos can be optimised to ensure that pages don’t take longer than usual to load. And there are some more technical solutions available, which can be discussed with our team at your convenience.
Mobile optimisation
More online searches are now made with a smartphone than any other device. The exact data differs between sources and industries, but many reliable sources state that around 60% of online searches are made with a smartphone, and some claim it’s over 70%.
This explains why it’s crucial to own a website that adapts to searches with devices other than a desktop or laptop. If a website doesn’t appear as it should when someone visits from their smartphone, they’re unlikely to hang around. But this isn’t the only reason to ensure your website design is optimised for smartphones.
Google has taken a mobile-first approach to indexing website pages. This means Google will rank website pages higher if they appear and function as they should on a mobile device. In other words, your website is more likely to attract visitors if it’s designed with mobile-friendliness in mind.
Website design services at WEBPRO Creative
WEBPRO Creative has a stellar reputation for designing and creating websites that get results. We offer different semi-bespoke template and bespoke packages to cater to different business needs and budgets. Speak to our team now for more information and a free no-obligation quote.
Recap: Good website design has a positive influence on website conversions. Therefore, a poorly designed website won’t convert as well and could waste your other investments in marketing and content creation. Three of the main principles of good website design are:
- User-friendliness in navigation
- Quick loading speed
- Mobile optimisation
WEBPRO Knows
HubSpot reports that 70% of consumers admit they’re purchasing decision is influenced by website design.