Why Should You Make Great Website Design a Priority?

First impressions are 94% design-related so you should ensure that your website makes a positive impact within the first few seconds of being opened. Great web design should not only be visually appealing, informative, and easy to consume, but it should also express the spirit and ethos of your brand. A beautifully designed website expresses a business’ wish to stand out, lead, and innovate. It also lends your business credibility, with research indicating that 75% of a website’s trustworthiness can be gleaned from its design. What are the elements of a well-designed website and what strategies can help yours fit the bill?

Mobile-Friendliness

Around 74% of people are more likely to return to your site if it is mobile-friendly and 80% of the top-ranked sites are well suited to mobiles. Mobile compatibility is no longer a luxury, but rather, a necessity at a time in which the majority of searches are being made from tablets and smartphones. People don’t just window shop on their phones; some 70% of searches on smartphones actually result in purchases. Therefore, you should give due priority to factors such as ease of navigation, optimal swiping functionality, intuitive interfaces, simple backgrounds, functional animations, and more.

Visual Appeal

As stated by this Austin web design services firm, sleek, modern, mobile-compatible designs reflect a brand’s commitment to excellence and lead to a higher conversion rate than outdated styles. A report by academics at Stanford University, meanwhile, showed that around three-quarters of people judge a company by its website design. Factors that should be appealing, consistent, and easy on the eyes include your layout, font choice, and colors. All content should be consistent with your brand since, as stated in the report “Not all sites gain credibility by looking like IBM.com.” Your website content is part and parcel of your brand identity and it needs to speak in a language that resonates with your target audience. Your site should be well organized so that users can quickly find information such as contacts, contract terms, your membership with the chamber of commerce, and the like.

Accessibility is Key

Your website should be accessible so that people with hearing, visual, and learning problems can navigate your website. The W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines provide key insights into what all companies should aim for in terms of accessibility. They contain specific information regarding features to include—such as text alternatives to all non-text content, flexible orientations (portrait and landscape), audio control, minimum contrast levels, the avoidance of flashing content, and more.

Fast Loading

Your website should load within four to six seconds in order to avoid users getting annoyed and logging off. It is also useful when it comes to boosting your search engine rankings. Tools such as Pingdom and GTmetrix can be used to test your site’s speed. If your site is slow, efforts you should undertake include minimizing your HTTP requests, removing unnecessary formatting from your files, and using asynchronous (rather than synchronous) loading for CSS and JavaScript files.

Optimal website design is vital for businesses that wish to remain at the top of their game. A slow, unattractive, or inaccessible website can hamper the user experience but also affect your company’s reputation. Opt for attractive, consistent, accessible content that is mobile compatible. Prioritize fast loading speeds to avoid users turning to your competitors for faster service.