admin Whether you are looking for services in New York, or are trying to find great website design in Dallas all you have to do is put your words into a major search engine, such as Google, and you will instantly be rewarded with thousands of options to choose from. However, just all of these choices become available to you, does not mean you will choose all of them. In most cases, you will choose one. The one you choose will be the most appealing to you.
And so it is with the rest of the people searching the internet. They have the entire planet at their fingertips, but they will only choose one option to do business with. This is where strategic website design comes into play.
The Way People Think
It is true that no two people are the same and that every one of us on the planet Earth is independent and thinks on our own. However, many of us think alike. If one of us finds something unattractive or unpleasant to look at, there is a chance that many more will have the same opinion.
When people are brought into an environment that feels welcoming and looks like it is a safe place, they tend to feel comfortable there. When people feel comfortable and safe, they are more likely to spend money.
Some of the most important tools that web designers use when they create websites are:
- Colors
- Images
- Headings
- Placement
If the website has an interesting look and feel, when people first visit it they tend to be more willing to scroll down and look beneath the fold. If there is nothing at the top of the page that prompts them to look deeper into the site, they probably won’t.
Not everybody -but most people- when they are browsing the internet are looking for something and all they want to do is find it so they can move on. When they are faced with tons of options they will tend to rush through the search result websites in order to discover the best match for what they are looking for.
When they click on a search result and land on a page that is not interesting or does not offer a solution for their query within the first couple of seconds, they will leave and move on to the next one until they find whatever it is they are looking for.
When a professional designs a website they keep this train of thought as a guide to help them create a space for visitors that is welcoming, safe, interesting and has plenty of options.
Above the Fold
Many web designers and digital marketers are familiar with the term “above the fold.” Although there are no actual “folds” in a website, there is an area of interest that people look to when they first land on the site.
The first bit of space that the visitor sees when they land on a website page is where they will direct their attention. The first couple of seconds of interaction between the user and the web page will determine how the rest of the visit will go. The user will either stay on the page to see more, or they will bounce away like a dodgeball.
It is crucial that the person that designs the website takes advantage of this first critical view by adding:
- Inviting colors
- Interesting graphics
- Intriguing headings
- Straightforward content
- At least one call to action
When the designer takes the extra bit of time to understand the target audience of the site and the way that they could naturally flow as they navigate the pages the end result can be powerfull and effective.
Conversion Rates vs. Visibility
Although it is true that you can’t have conversion rates without search engine visibility, search engine visibility on its own does not do a lot of good. If you spend thousands of dollars on your search engine optimization campaign but fail to optimize the website itself for conversion rates you could just as well flush your SEO money down the toilet…especially if you have a lot of competition.
- Search engine optimization gets you seen in the search results
- Conversion rate optimization puts money in your bank
- The combination of the two is unstoppable
This is exactly where the skilled web designer comes in handy. The websites that are seen in the search results are awesome and have a good chance of getting conversions, but the sites that actually convert are the ones that carry the most weight.
Search engine visibility is when your website shows up in search results for the keywords that pertain to your website. The conversion rate is the percentage of visitors that actually convert from browsers to customers by buying a product, signing up for a service, or whatever the goal of the website might be.
Getting Attention
Just imagine if when you went to a website you didn’t even know what the site was about. No pictures, no headings, nothing but big chunks of boring-looking text on the pages. How long do you think it would take you to bounce away from the site…even if it were a friend’s website?
When a new visitor hits a site they have no idea of what they are going to see until it lands in their face. If all they see is a bunch of blocks of text, they will most likely bounce promptly away. However, if the designer of the site knew what the target audience was looking for and put it right in their faces front and center as they entered the site things would be a lot different.
Hey You! Want it FREE?
Sometimes it takes creative measures to catch the attention of browsers and a combination of design and marketing can lead to impressive results. Words that offer solutions and images that promote good vibes are helpful tools that give a website more of an edge than many of its competitors might have.
Effective website design consists of:
- Strategic on-page SEO
- Commanding attention
- Use of words
- Engagement
A website that is designed to engage the audience that visits it will have a much better chance of converting than a website that has nothing to offer its visitors.
More Than Looks
Many of the talented web designers that are out there today are also brilliant developers. The design of the website is merely what it looks like on the surface through a browser. However, there is much more to creating websites than placing pretty pictures on a web page.
In order for a website to be functional and give the user a flawless experience, it has to be built in a way that gives visitors a smooth and easy flow as they browse the pages. When pages drag or bog down and take a long time to load it can aggravate visitors and give them an excuse to bounce to another site.
For every person that leaves your website before they purchase something, it is a lost opportunity for sales. If you use the way that your website is constructed as a tool to bring users in and keep them engaged until they buy, you are in a good place.
In addition to the site being nice-looking there are other factors that will prompt them to leave just as quickly as they came:
- Slow page loading time
- Overlapping text or images
- Not mobile friendly
- Broken links
- Bugs from poorly-written code
When a web designer develops a website they have to keep many of the deeper functions of the site in mind as they build. Images with a faster load time, perfectly scripted text and mobile device functionality all have to be perfectly balanced so that when users visit the site all they have to do is follow the prompts, and buy whatever it is.
Details Matter Most
Although it is not so obvious to the untrained eye, when a web page or a file that the web page is attached to has a mistake in the code it can cause big problems. It may not be an obvious problem such as the entire page being blank (although it could be) there could be smaller issues that are hard to see.
For example, if a website has any links that go to pages that don’t exist it can dramatically affect the way that search engines rank the site. The search engines want to give users a high-quality selection of potential answers to their queries. If a site has mistakes in the code or has links that point to pages that are not there it is easy for the search engine to demote the credibility of that site, and promote credibility to a site that has no errors.
A skilled web designer will know exactly how to structure a website and the links that are within it to avoid any errors and provide as flawless of a user experience as possible. In this sense, they will be able to bridge the gap between artificial intelligence, and user intelligence.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that it takes a high level of skill and knowledge to create a website that is functional on every level. The human level, the code level, and the level of search engines. Without a balance of these three critical components, it is not possible to build a website that will be effective for visibility and conversions. Brilliant web development is a key factor for the success of any online endeavor.
