46% of potential customers will jump ship if your website design doesn’t look professional. Why? Because it’s a huge credibility marker.
If your site looks slapdash, with design faux pas such as white text on a black background, or a site structure that’s dating back to 2003, people will assume that you are a scam, that you are no longer in business, or that you simply aren’t trustworthy.
Sometimes, all it takes is a niggling feeling of distrust to lose a customer.
If you’re wondering how to improve your website, gain leads, and decrease the bounce rate, you need to start implementing web design tips.
- Limit Choices
Wondering how to design a website? It starts with keeping it simple. This governing principle will help you avoid design missteps, color palette disasters, and more.
People are often overwhelmed by the number of choices available. This is a consumer’s world, and there are hundreds of versions of the same problem. When overwhelmed, people tend to grasp a few buying criteria.
- Affordability
- Reviews
- Quality
- Shipping time
- Brand values or credibility
These factors help play into buyer decisions, but they should also dictate your site design.
Try going for a basic color palette, with two main colors and one accent color. Don’t try to make a statement by combining lurid orange and lime green in the hopes that your site will stand out. It will, but not in the way you want it to!
Avoid the temptation to throw all your products into a never-ending carousel on the front page, too. When it comes to design, less is often more.
- Prioritize Hierarchy
One of the most important UX design tips is having a clear goal in mind. Picture it: someone searches a term, and your SEO has catapulted you to the top of Google search results.
They click on your link and go to the homepage of your site. They click on a header and start navigating through your site.
You’ve snagged the proverbial fish, but how do you plan to reel them in? Design is a huge part of directing the visual flow of how information is processed.
Once someone reaches the bottom of the page, there should be a clear call-to-action. There should be no doubt in a browser’s mind on what action you want them to take.
You might want to push them further down the sales funnel by having a potential customer click on the Products button. Or, you might want them to sign up for your email newsletter and receive a free eBook in return.
No matter what you want to do, ensure that your design flow is clean enough to dictate actions with no uncertainty.
- Add Calls-To-Action
Often abbreviated as CTAs, they’re an important part of building that hierarchy. It’s tempting to overexplain, especially with such a wild world of web design tips at your disposal.
CTAs have to be short and sweet. There are so many ads, websites, and graphics competing for your viewer’s eye. You don’t have a lot of time to snag someone’s attention and even less time to maintain it.
Click here, buy now, search this. These are all short CTAs with a simple command, and there’s no room for error.
Each landing page on your site needs a clear CTA, which demands action as you think through which CTA makes sense where.
- Keep It Short
It’s a cutthroat world out there, which makes your website an exciting launch point for visitors. Have you heard the claim that the average adult has the attention span of a goldfish?
That’s eight seconds. When someone comes to your site, you have eight seconds to make a first impression.
Consider what their eyes will fall on first. Does that eight-second impression hold enough value for them to keep going, or will they click off your site and move on to something else?
That’s a question that quality web design can answer for you.
- Consider Mobile Devices
Wondering how to build a website? It’s absolutely crucial to consider how it looks on a mobile device.
Just because it looks great on your desktop monitor, doesn’t mean the design doesn’t look messy or unnavigable on mobile.
Check it out on a mobile device, in multiple browsers, to see how it looks. A simple design is especially crucial when it comes to displaying well on a phone.
- Conduct A/B Testing
Potential customers might respond better to one ad over another. Maybe it’s the colors, maybe it’s the ad copy.
Running tests early on, before you make elements a permanent part of your site, can help save you money.
If a certain ad is offputting and you’re getting low returns, try replacing it. A/B testing can save your site before you even truly launch!
- Consider Your Color Palette
Different colors evoke different emotions. For instance, consider all the cultural baggage that comes along with the color red.
It’s used to insinuate love, violence, passion, and similar strong emotions. By contrast, blue is often used to evoke peace.
Before settling on colors, consider the messages you’re inadvertently sending. Do they match up with your brand messaging and the mood that you’re trying to target?
If not, keep playing with combinations until you find the right one that fits your brand and is easy on the eye.
- Invest in Heatmapping
Some parts of your site will perform better than others. While some pages may be a little neglected, others will be popping with activity.
As you make web design decisions, it’s important to know where you’re falling short of the mark. That’s where heatmaps for businesses come in.
With heat mapping tools, you’ll be able to utilize a warm-to-cold sliding scale that shows where the activity is occurring. For instance, your CTA button should be glowing red hot if it’s doing what you want it to do.
How to Improve Your Website
If you’re still wondering how to improve your website, investing in the right web design tools is important. This means focusing on simplicity, analytics, and the end consumer experience. It will take a lot of trial and error, but it’s worth it in the end!
Keep an eye on how these changes start affecting your stats and see your revenue, click rates, and interest increase.
If you’re interested in more great articles, check out the rest of our blog today!
