ConversionsMarketingWebsite Design

It’s time. And it’s long overdue – it’s time for a website design or redesign. There are few things more important than your website for your business. A well-designed, professional looking site is key to attracting customers and keeping visitors coming back.

Unfortunately, most website designs forget about their customers. How do you create a website that resonates with the user and then converts them into your customer? Here are five essential principles for designing a converting website:

1. Simplicity

Your website must be simple. In a world where people have less and less time to do things, you need website design that looks clean and doesn’t intimidate your customers with an overload of information. A great example is our project for Regent5 The visuals must be simple and clear so as to not confuse those who visit the website. An effective way of ensuring a web design is simple is to utilize a monochromatic color scheme, which means using a single color throughout the design.

Next, an effective website will feature minimalistic designs that use negative space sparingly – leaving out unused areas – and that follow one main topic or focus. You will want to arrange material so that there is no clutter in sidebars. Exclude all content that does not actively guide your customer’s journey to your service or product. Never take away from the focal point of your page – how your service/product helps your customer be the hero.

2. Navigability

Your website navigation must be easy. You don’t want your visitors trying to guess how to get around on your website; instead, craft a website for your target audience – not for your website designer! A simple menu at the top or left hand side of website helps users easily navigate from page-to-page. As well, using drop down menus and breadcrumbs can help even more by guiding users through your site without confusion.

Always determine your navigation before implementing any design element. Why? Because navigation should always be one of the first things on a website to avoid confusion for your users. If you have a lot of pages on your site, don’t jump directly into subsections but rather show sections first! In this way users can get a feeling for what they can expect from these sections before actually getting there. Consider including a search bar within your navigation menu because it gives people an option to look for information without navigating to the main page of your site. That way they can find what they’re looking for quickly.

Your website is a tool you should be using to guide your user to your service or product – if they cannot navigate your site, then they will never make it to your service or product.

3. Prominence

Your website design needs prominence in order to attract search engine crawlers as well as new visitors looking for what you provide. To increase your ranking, prominently display your finely crafted content. However, do not place website content in a way that makes it difficult for users to read or understand what the website is providing. According to Google, there are 300 factors that affect the ranking of websites (and probably more by now).

One good way of making your website prominent is by adding it to directories. Addme is an example of a directory submission service. The cost of joining a directory ranges in price, and you’ll find these directories listed under your business category. For example, what if you sell cupcakes? Google lists the appropriate directories under “gourmet cupcakes” for searchers. Being associated with the directory will increase the likelihood searchers will find you.

Another way to increase your ranking on search engines is by writing articles. For example, let’s say you’re selling possum catchers. You can create a blog on your website where you discuss topics related to possum catching (e.g., possum lures). Other websites may then pick up these articles and post them in their own blogs. Although Google doesn’t prefer blog posts over general articles anymore, it still helps your website become visible by pushing it higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

4. Clarity of Calls-to-Action (CTAs)

A high-converting website design involves call-to-action buttons (or CTA buttons) so your website visitors know what you want them to do next. Having one or more clear and easy-to-find CTAs on each page can have a great impact on customer engagement with your website. For example, you might create a custom button just for subscribing to an eNewsletter or download an app instead of simply saying “Click here” for website visitors interested in your product pages.

It’s not about the number of buttons you have on your site, but rather how easily your visitors can complete their next action. This can be converting into a lead or making a purchase. Your call-to-action button does two things. First, it tells your user what they need to do. Never assume the user knows what to do. You always need to tell them. Second, your CTA button instantly gratifies the user by reinforcing the concept that getting started is both simple and fast.

Simply put: high-converting website design involves clarity in an elegant interface which guides users through the user flow (i.e., desired path) without any hesitation or confusion. You don’t want to lose potential customers by giving vague options; instead, provide exactness, clear language, and visual cues for each step of the way so they know exactly where to click.

5. Quality Content on All Pages

Finally, you need to have quality content on every page of your website. The focus on a site is to engage the visitor and entice them to spend more time on your website (see our latest project for Troveworks). Blink does this by writing stories. Human brains are wired to frame their reality into a story where they are the hero. How do you present your service or product in a way that solves your user’s problem? How does your customer become the hero?

Not only does writing about things in a story-like manner make for great content, but it can also increase backlinks and boost SEO . If someone likes the article that you have written, then they may link back to it using their own website. The more quality content that you have on your site, the greater the chance of receiving a backlink from a reputable source.

Conclusion

Using these five principles for converting website design will help you get the most out of your website so you can improve search engine rankings and customer engagement while increasing sales. But, why not let the experts redesign your website for you? Whether its SEO, videography, or heat-mapping, Blink has all the digital marketing tools to elevate your digital brand. Schedule a meeting today to learn more.