Make your website pop with eye-catching design.
By Abigail Thorpe
We've talked in previous posts about SEO and its importance when creating a website and developing content. We emphasized keeping business information up to date and accessible from various platforms and search engines, and we highlighted the importance of reputation management—making sure you have multiple good reviews, and a fast, interactive response to customers questions, issues or comments.
Now it's time to talk about the fun stuff, something we only briefly touched on before—the visual design of your website. SEO, back-end development, location info, reviews, load speed and mobile compatibility are the structural design of your website—the framing of a house, so to speak. But the first impression when a visitor "enters" your website is equally as important. Without the structure and "framing," your website is not going to perform well. But without a beautiful image, no one will stick around.
Seventy-five percent of consumers determine if a company is credible based on its website design. And it takes only 50 milliseconds for a user to form an opinion about your website that will impact that determination and their decision to stay. What does this mean for your online presence? It needs to be attractive, current and prototypical, but also simple.
According to a Google study, viewers are more likely to engage with websites that have low visual complexity, and high prototypicality—meaning how representative a design is of a particular category of website. Consumers want to see what they expect, they want the familiar. Don't let simplicity be a cop-out, however. A good website will be simple, but have elevated design. It will predict where the eye will look first, and make sure that font, visuals, color and even spacing is welcoming, up-to-date, and appealing.
Thirty-eight percent of viewers will stop engaging with a website if content or layout are unattractive, so it's important that the visual care you take designing the home page continues throughout your pages, including search and menu items. There is nothing more frustrating than having to search for a piece of information that should be intuitive to find right off the bat. And don't overwhelm your visitor—placing too much information or too many choices in one place could send them running just as much as having too little information.
Continue a clear theme and style throughout your website. This applies to content, visual style (like color, font and layout), and images and videos. Uniformity is key to making your website seem approachable, simple, elevated and beautiful. Beyond the basics of attracting and retaining viewers, it also serves to gain their trust. A well-designed website is the first step in being viewed as an expert in your field or industry.
If you've got some spare time on your hands, use it to critically evaluate your online presence, and then take the first step to giving your business the extra foot forward it needs--a beautiful website that welcomes customers, instead of driving them away. We have the expertise, knowledge and tools to help with your digital makeover--let Rocket Fish Digital know how we can help.