“Art is not what you see but what you make others see.” - Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas meticulously describes the 20th century- an era of competition. People all around the world are trying to project themselves as the best in their respective diameters.
Similarly, in this ever expanding field of technologies, the ‘Web’ or the ‘Internet’ has become a vital weapon for the competitors and websites the critical cusps of it.
Web design involves a proper blend and correctly understanding the key features that need to be taken care while designing, namely navigation and layout, brand consistency, reading patterns and Search Engine Optimization, Content, and Trust. These features have a huge impact on the users.
Well, when we talk about the users, we cannot be generic while designing. Understanding the target audience is the first step towards designing a web page. Facebook wouldn’t have never been successful if it was designed to be used by company executives!
Websites today are a more of a mode of advertising and act as our doors to the customer’s interest. A person takes just about 4 to 6 seconds to decide whether he is impressed by what your firm servers or he will move forward and look for other places to fulfil what he wants. This fact justifies the importance of a good web design from user’s prospectus. Some of the common mishaps that will surely cause a negative impact on the users are:
- Too much going on; improper navigation
- Insufficient Information
- Text size too small to accommodate all on the single page
- Complicated web links
- Too much reading or clicking
- Too many steps to retrieve some basic information; such as contact information.
In today’s era where the internet has become a hub for anything and everything one is looking for, the above-stated mishaps while designing a website might lead to a clear loss in customers as well as business. A company’s website will be a reflection of ‘what it is’ to the users.
For obvious reasons, if one has trouble viewing the company’s website or extracting the information that he needs; he will never be interested in doing business with the company! Moreover, difficulty in navigation or unsatisfactory content on the web leads the users to look out for substitutes, indirectly creating a negative impact on users.
Above are DON'T of website design from users’ outlook, let us now focus on some must DO during content design and search engine optimisation.
Have appropriate and great content
To make your content relevant, you need to make sure that every piece of information is under the correct heading. It is not desirable for the users to read the complete patch of writing if they do not need anything out of it. Moreover, front-load the site; i.e. do not publish your site before it has sufficient amount of data.
Users are not going to come back to your site or recommend it to someone if they aren’t satisfied with it. While content writing, emphasis on quality over quantity; because a user surfing on the net will ignore your website if there is nothing unique or attractive.
Lastly, regularly updating your content is a MUST for any website. Users are always impressed by knowing the updates going on in your firm.
Use a smart, creative but simple design
Even if your site is text-heavy, it should be visually appealing to keep people from making snap judgments about the quality. Ensured it by taking reviews of the people belonging to the target audience; as to how they find the design? Would they like to read on such a web content? What is the thing that they do not like about this website or find missing?
Answers to these questions from some people from the target audience will act as a stepping stone to a correct web design; including improvements on navigation, links and layout of web content.
Simplicity in designing a web page is one of the most important part because we certainly do not want our users to feel that they are looking at an over enthusiastic web presentation or wait for our images to load.
Leaving white spaces at certain interval makes the page look cleaner and using the consistent theme ensures the long lasting impact of your firm on the user’s mind.
Optimize the site for search engine
Use proper keywords and try to accommodate maximum keywords in the heading of a web page. Keywords draw visitors by making our page come up in searches. The key point to remember here is that incorrect use of keywords may instead negatively impact the site!
Another way to do it is to include incoming links; that is the link related websites on your page and vice-versa in a way that the links do not look like spam ones.
Lastly, providing a simple, meaningful and easy to remember domain name to your website ensures better user engagement.
In a nutshell, web designs cause a direct impact on user’s subconscious and indirectly acts as a deciding factor for the users. As F. W de Klerk truly quotes, “I believe that first impressions are truly important”, so it the scene in web world!
Lets us know your thoughts and experience about website design in the comment section.
Short Note: If you are planning to have your new website or revamp a website, may be you should consider using Budo.
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