What makes a web design great?
Well, it depends as there’s more to website design than just looking pretty and cool. But an effective website can convert leads—the people who show interest in your products or services—into actual paying customers.
Making a great website is equally an art as it is a science. So when you ask yourself, “How can I further improve my website?” be sure to implement these tips.
- Is my website mobile-friendly?
Mobile browsing is the new normal. Successful brands know this and see the boom in mobile traffic as an opportunity. According to Alexa rankings, 80% of the top websites already optimized their web design for mobile consumption.
Why does mobile-friendly web design matter?
Nobody likes to visit a website that’s cluttered, unorganized and hard to navigate. On average, 8 out of 10 people leave if the website contents don’t display properly on their smartphones. It’s frustrating for you, but who can blame them?
You might have built a website that looks awesome when viewed via a laptop or desktop, but is it optimized to be mobile-friendly? You can use some of these mobile testing tools to make sure: Screenfly and Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
- Be Responsive
94% of people judge a website based on its responsive web design. It’s a tough crowd but good user experience is one of the deciding factors whether or not customers’ would recommend your brand to other people.
Did you design your website to be scaleable—can it fit on all any screen sizes?
If you’re not sure, simply head to your site and resize the window to the narrowest possible width. If it automatically adjusts to the size of the window, then yes it’s responsive.
- Simple Navigation
Make it easy for your visitors to get around. Don’t bother to reinvent the wheel, confusing navigation will only crush your conversion rates.
Put yourself in their shoes. They’re on your website in search of something, if they take too long to find what they need on your site, don’t be surprised if they leave.
Here’s a quick guide that you should follow to simplify your navigation web design.
- Stick to 7 items (or less) on your main menu. This doesn’t include your drop-down options.
- Keep it to 3 clicks—but 2 is better. Your visitors should be able to access your website with ease.
- Be clear with your labels and links. Don’t be clever if it’s only going to be a handful that will get it.
- Keep your navigation bar fixed. 88% of websites maintain a horizontal navigation bar for a reason—it’s tried and tested.
Limiting the choices on your navigation bar will improve your conversion rates—from visitors to paying customers.
- Use White Space To Your Advantage
Don’t be nervous, it’s just negative space. It’s an important design element that visually breaks up a page and improves its readability.
White space lets your visitors take in the important details and allows their eyes to rest. You can use it to highlight important aspects of your web design—bring attention to your call-to-actions, opt-ins, and key features.
- Improve your SEO
You can have the best web design the world has ever seen, but if no one can find it, then it’s useless. While SEO won’t visually impact your web design, it will affect your website traffic.
How? Everything starts with the search engine. Your SEO strategy should go beyond just inserting keywords in your blogs.
Here’s a checklist that will help your SEO:
- Publish relevant content. Google is smarter now, especially with the recent launch of BERT, so longtail keywords don’t have to be rigid.
- Update your content regularly.
- Don’t forget your meta-data. This includes the title of your content, meta-descriptions (concise description of your site’s contents) with keywords for all your landing pages, and articles.
- Have a link-worthy site. Don’t just go for “click here” links, try for descriptive links—anything that will add value to your readers.
- Use alt tags. Describe your visual media with alternative text descriptions (alt tags). They enable search engines to locate your page.
Take the guesswork out of web designing with Motion Cabin. We’re a full-service digital advertising agency, based in the Philippines. Our team of creatives can help convert your website leads into paying customers.
Collaborate with us! For inquiries, just message us at info@motioncabin.com and let’s make your creative ideas into actions.
