The importance of a good website design

Well-designed and functional

It is said that it takes 0.05 seconds for users to form an opinion about a website which will determine whether they stay on a site or leave. Your website is therefore one of the most important aspects of your brand’s online presence and reflects your company, your services and ultimately your brand.

It is therefore essential that when creating a website for your business it should be designed with your audience in mind and ensure that it provides a good user experience.

Consistency is key

A good website design relies on several factors. One of the most important of these factors is consistency. You can achieve consistency through a variety of methods from using an effective brand identity across a range of platforms to the use of good fonts throughout a site.

Is your website consistent? Ask yourself these questions:

• Does your website use the same colours throughout?
• Are website headings consistent throughout the site?
• Do form elements (text inputs, submit buttons) all look the same?
• Are text links the same colour throughout the site?

First impressions matter

Your homepage is like your virtual shopfront for your business. It needs to be enticing, draw people in, and encourage people to delve deeper into your business and services.

The first impression people see of your company is its website, so it’s imperative that it’s a good one. If your website looks outdated, is slow to load, or doesn’t have a cohesive user experience that makes it easy for visitors to find the information they need, your users will make assumptions about your business before they have even made contact.

Easy to use

User experience plays a key role in helping visitors use, understand and stay on your website. It is generally acknowledged that websites which provide the user with useful, well-organised, navigational information in a well-structured layout are more likely to retain users who access them and generate repeat visitors.

If you have an existing site and are unsure whether your website is easy to use, ask yourself these questions:

• Is the most important content immediately visible?
• Do you have over complicated order forms?
• Is your contact information easily accessible to the user?
• Do you have a clear and concise navigation?
• Is the content on your website legible?

Optimised for mobile

Think about how often you view content on your phone… there are more and more people using mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, to surf the web. However, we’ve all landed on a website where we had to try and scroll or pinch to make the content legible. Therefore, making sure your site is optimised for mobile has become even more important.

A mobile optimised site reformats itself for mobile devices. It not only makes sure to properly display on smaller screens but also makes the site much easier to navigate. It reformats content, displays larger navigation buttons and optimised images according to screen size.

Optimising your website for mobile devices will not only improve the experience of your visitors but also your SEO rankings.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Do you know where your website ranks on Google? A well-structured, optimised website that encompasses frequently published, good quality content can affect how search engines crawl and index your website. If your website is well-built and frequently updated, you won’t need to fight as hard for visibility.

In conclusion…

We have established that your website is one of the most important aspects of your brand’s online presence and reflects your company, your services and ultimately your brand. However, there are several factors that determine a good website design, we would therefore highly recommend getting a website professionally designed and built by an expert web designer.

Get in touch with us to see how we can help! You can call us on 01562 747411 or email kidderminster@nettl.com