How your website functions is a key component of your business’s success. But, that doesn’t mean that you can afford to neglect your website’s design. On the contrary, web design is also critically important for your project’s success. A stunning design, no matter how simple, can help you expand your business online. But a bad one can harm or even ruin your business’s reputation.
Why You Need a Website
Regardless of how big or small your business is, you need some kind of presence online. Social media can be a great way to get visual content out to people. But still, a website is essential for even the tiniest business out there. It’s basically your digital shop window.
Become More Searchable Online
One of the greatest advantages of having good web design is that it makes your business more searchable on the internet. You will be able to optimize your SEO strategy by targeting specific keywords. And by doing that, Google will be able to bring up your website to help your potential customers find what they’re looking for.
The specific criteria of the search algorithm remain a closely guarded secret to this day. But still, an appealing website design along with a proper site structure will improve your website’s SEO ranking and its position in the search results. For instance, most search engines prefer an authoritative voice, professionalism/expertise, and signals of trust coming from your homepage. So if your web design reflects these attributes, that will help your website get prioritized over other websites. And that means that you’ll be able to reach more potential customers.
Responsive Web Design
Google has made it clear that a website should be made and optimized with humans in mind. But still, you must have a good understanding of the specific elements that the algorithm favors, especially when it comes to web design. In addition, these days, more and more searches are being done on smartphones using cellular data. Unfortunately, cellular data is usually slower than home WiFi.
So what do the above factors mean? Well, it means that having a responsive website design and good page speed is crucial for creating a good experience for most of your visitors.
And speaking of the user experience, you’ll want to make sure that the website design responds to all types of devices. TVs (yes, even TVs), smartphones, desktops, laptops, and tablets. That’s because you want your visitors to have a good experience no matter what device they choose to use. You also need to keep page speed in mind. No matter how good your website looks, people will leave quicker than you might think if it loads slowly.
Promote Brand Awareness
Your site is likely the first point of contact a new customer will make with your company. To create a good impression, all of the branding on your website should be right on point. No matter how short the interaction will be, it’s still critically important for your business to get it right.
It’s important to remember that 75% of visitors will judge your credibility based on how functional, attractive, and usable it is. So, potential customers will judge your site based on how it looks, and if it’s not good, that will put a damper on your other marketing efforts.
While the appearance will factor into the first impression, the user experience (UX) and navigation will play a large part in building trust with customers. If a visitor can’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll leave and check out your competitors. And in the mind of most customers, a website with poor UX and confusing navigation implies poor services and products.
Create Trust and Improve Your Reputation
When someone visits your website for the first time, they’re subconsciously looking for things that validate your reputation and trustworthiness. Red flags in your customers’ eyes include unbalanced images and text, mismatching colors, and low-resolution images.
How easy your website is to use is a key part of building trust. Ensure that you go through your site and iron out all the UX issues. Web design experts who understand your target audience, goals, and industry will help you create a good website that greatly benefits your brand.
Simple and Direct Sales
An amazing advantage of having your own website is selling your services or products directly to your customers. In 2020 there was a massive increase in eCommerce sales in the global retail trade. Online shopping has unquestionably become the preferred method of shopping over the past few years. However, it’s still true that people like to shop in a nice, organized, and clean store. Nobody wants to wait on a website to load or figure out how to shop on most eCommerce websites.
When your web design is up to par, your customers will be able to find what they need and will be less likely to suffer from decision paralysis. When creating your website for the first time, it’s a common beginner mistake to make everything too complex. Too many products, difficult navigation, unnecessary information, etc. Keep it simple and your viewers will thank you.
Saves You Time and Money
Creating your own business website is always a good investment. A website with good web design saves you a lot of time and money. However, a well-designed website isn’t easy to create. It can take a good few months to complete such a project. But once it’s done, the amount of energy you have to put into your website is relatively minimal compared to other advertising methods.
Advertising too much continuously, whether through print media or online advertising, will lower your profit margins. Also, if you operate in a competitive market, there may be times when your advertising costs start to outpace the sales coming in.
For all of these reasons, many business owners prefer investing in their own website and the organic traffic that it brings. Even though it costs money to set it up initially, it’s still preferable to doing continuous advertising.
