The 10 Most Important Elements of a Website Design
If you are a business owner and you have a website, it is among the top essential tools you have to help you get more and better customers and clients. What differentiates a quality website from a poor one, or a good one from one that is great? Here are 10 things that great websites require.
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1. Website Navigation
The website design should be easy to navigate and the menu items should easily accessible at any time. The viewer should always be aware of where they are and easily reach where they would like to be. A site map is a great idea and should be utilised when it is it is available. This sounds elementary but most sites could benefit in this area. Keep in mind that there's a line that separates an active menu, and an unwelcome one, therefore functionality should be the primary goal.
2. Visual Design
People are visual creatures and using great images can improve the look and feel of your site. Your website has about 1/10th of a second to impress your visitors - and potential customer - and make them feel that your site - and company (by proxy) is trustworthy and professional. It's crucial not to overload your website with excessively. Scrolling text, animations, and flash intros must be used in a limited manner in your web design and only for highlighting an element for maximum impact.
3. Content
This is the basis of your website. The content you provide contribute to your website's search engine ranking, it is the reason most visitors are seeking from your website in the first place. Your website text should be clear, simple to read and concise. A well-thought out web text and content can be more effective than any other to make your web design engaging, effective and popular.
4 Web Friendly
No matter how informative, beautiful and easy to use your site's design may be but it's not worth it until it's compatible with the web. It's essential that your web developers know the keys to ensure that your site works across all major browsers and that they make use of meta tags, alt tags, are fully versed with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). There are many factors that affect the search engine's placement as well as the appearance of your website, so make sure your web developers know their stuff.
5. Interaction
A truly effective website design engages your visitors immediately and continues to hold their attention through EVERY page, as well as encourages them to get in touch with you. This is referred to as conversion, and is probably the ultimate goal of your site. Also, there's a fine line between `interaction and annoyance so the level of interaction must never outweigh the benefit.
6. Information Accessibility
Not all visitors to your site are interested in, or have the time to peruse the entire site. They may need to access only a telephone number or address, or some information. For this reason it's important to include important information on a plain site, in an area that's easy to access. We've all experienced the frustration of not being able find the necessary information on a website, and the result is always a frustrated user. The experience can be frustrating at best, and a disgruntled customer won't be on your site for very long and is unlikely to visit again, much less do business with you.
7. Intuitiveness
A great website anticipates what the user is thinking and is able to cater directly to their needs. It includes elements in a way that makes sense. If a visitor is searching for one of your products or services on a search engine or directory in which your website is listed, it's important that your website have a landing page which is directly related to what they searched for instead of forcing them to filter through all of your information. Keep in mind that the longest distance between two places is straight lines.
8. Branding
The website you create should reflect a clear reflection of your company and your image. The visitor should instantly connect visually between your logo, print material, and brick-and-mortar location. A website that does this will not only increase the recall of your brand and adds an element of trust and credibility as well as a better perception for your entire business.
9. Turnaround Time
The top complaint from clients of websites is the length of time to get their site operational. A company which takes an unusually long time to finish a website is par for the course. The longer it takes to create your website the more business and value you lose. If your website isn't available accessible on the internet and isn't working properly isn't going to bring you any business!
10. Conversion
Your website can be the biggest source of client traffic your company can use, and you must put the main importance on bringing in new customers and making the services available to current customers by raising awareness about all your services. Giving them the tools needed to conduct business with you in a straightforward and enjoyable way will increase the number of visitors to your site and get you the type of results you want.
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