It may be a time-tested cliché, but we all know the importance of making a good first impression. This applies to online interactions as much as offline face-to-face meetings. In today’s increasingly digitally connected world, web design has inevitably become vitally important for companies large and small. Previously unknown businesses — of all sizes — are using web design to create memorable websites that not only boost brand recognition but make a name for themselves on a large scale.
No matter how small your business is, you can no longer afford to go unnoticed online. If you don’t have a website yet, or if you do but it’s not getting much traffic, it’s time to look at your web design. This is because with so much online competition out there, it’s not enough to merely have a website; it needs to be an eye-catching, professional-looking website that is well-designed. After all, it’s one thing to get noticed but quite another to be remembered and trusted.
Good Website Design is Accessible Even for Small Businesses
If you’re going to spend your hard-earned money on creating and growing a strong online presence, your website plays a prominent role. Whether you’re just starting out or want to upgrade your site, web design will make a big difference in how others perceive you and your brand. It needs to feature specific design attributes that will make current and potential visitors trust, remember, and rely on you and your services. Even if you can’t afford it or lack the coding skills, good web design is still accessible, doable and affordable, even for small businesses. Platforms like Wix offer intuitive tools and online tutorials to help you create a custom website design that will capture and relay your brand’s identity and professionalism.
Why Website Design Matters
Remember, your website is essentially your business card. It’s often the first interaction that customers or clients will have with your brand. Therefore, if your website design looks unappealing or unprofessional, it may turn off and away potential customers or clients. This is where good website design comes in. It helps you achieve the following:
Builds Trust. As a small business owner, you want to build and maintain trust with your customers or clients. Attractive, thoughtful website design helps do this by making visitors feel comfortable with and impressed by your brand. A beautiful website that offers a positive user experience will elicit an equally positive first impression and emotional response from visitors. This can translate into positive feelings about your business, even without knowing too much about it. If viewers find your website reputable, they’re apt to think the same about your business. Not only will they want to find out more about it, they’ll also want to share what they know about your business with others.
Shows You Appreciate and Respect Customers/Clients. A well-designed website featuring strong and consistent online branding communicates that you’re dedicated to your business and to serving your customers’ or clients’ needs. Furthermore, a well-designed website that’s easy to navigate and that clearly states important information (like your contact details and hours of operation) shows that you have thought about your clientele and respect their time and needs. If customers or clients feel appreciated, they will more likely appreciate and trust you, which leads to increased interaction.
Boosts Search Results. Your website design can help people more easily find you online. Good design, including content and advertisement placement, can boost your position in Google search results. Also, adding blog posts and/or an online store are additional design elements that can enhance your SEO efforts.
Keeps You Relevant. Today, most websites feature solid, thoughtful design. In fact, good web design has become the standard. Therefore, not using it may make your website stand out for the wrong reasons. Your customers or clients will notice the difference between good and outdated web design. And if it’s the latter, they may perceive your business to be equally obsolete. To avoid looking irrelevant, your website will need to contain intentional, trendy design tactics. Some of today’s popular website design trends include:
- 3-D. Many websites are moving from flat design to 3-D to add elements of realism to their graphics. Integrating video, gradients, motion graphics, drop shadows, and scrolling effects are just some of the design techniques that can add depth to your website design to entice visitors.
- Parallax Scrolling. This is a continuing design trend that adds movement and depth to a user’s browsing experience. Parallax scrolling provides a more dynamic user experience, which typically results in the visitor spending more time on the site. With parallax scrolling, a site’s background images move slower than those images in the foreground. This provides the illusion of depth and captures the attention of users. With this technique, as site visitors scroll down the page, they see new images or information. This creates a three-dimensional feel on a two-dimensional site. Large “hero images” also work well with this technique.
- Video Headers. Video is fast becoming a central design element on websites, even overtaking the usual sliding images. In fact, marketers who use video receive 41% more web traffic from search engines than those who don’t. There are many options of how to incorporate video into your website site. Whether you prefer video with auto-play or prompts, with or without volume, or with added text over it, the sky is the limit with what video on your home page can convey — and how engaging it will be for new and repeat viewers.
- Large, Eye-Catching Text. Your website is competing against a vast number of other websites — in and out of your niche — for viewers. Therefore, it makes sense to use large, bold, eye-catching text on your website to catch and keep your viewers’ attention. Then, they can read the smaller text for additional information, as needed. Just remember to advise your b2b website design expert to keep it from overwhelming your site visitors — and to provide the necessary details in a clear manner.
Design Elements to Consider Before Diving In
If you’re ready to design — or redesign — your website, there are a few things to consider before diving in. It might be beneficial to first look at your competitors’ websites for design inspiration. Think about what design elements you like and don’t like. If you’re updating a current website, perhaps ask your current customers or clients for feedback about their user experience. Are they getting the information they need in a user-friendly way? What do they think about your site’s overall look and tone? Lastly, is your current site easy to use on their mobile device? With mobile accounting for approximately half of all website traffic, it’s vital that your website is designed to be mobile-friendly. The bottom line is that good web design will may help you create a professional-looking website that not only attracts but converts visitors into long-term, repeat customers or clients.
