4 website design tips to help you connect with your audience

website-design-tips-to-connect-with-audience-seekthem

Most website owners make a monumental error. They believe that a site is all that takes to get customers to flock in.

Nothing is further from the truth. Two decades ago, a website was a novelty. Now there are billions. A school kid who knows HTML can put together one in less than a day.

The website needs to be attractive. It has to focus on the right elements of design that make it different from an also-ran. This calls for a decent website design agency who knows the market trend.

What is the best way to design a website so that you can connect with your audience? We will make a thorough analysis.

4 web design tips to help you engage with the audience

1. Keep it simple

The design has to be as simple as possible. 

That might seem to be easy, but when you design a site, there is an overwhelming urge to pack in a lot of stuff.

Too many images and text that are meant to be compelling but end up being annoying, terse, and meaningless CTAs are off-putting.

It does not matter how many words you place on the Home Page. What matters is the quality of writing.

Get a good content writer to create text that is persuasive and sophisticated. Have a creative branding agency provide an expert input. 

Claiming that you have thousands of happy clients is not the best way to make a good impression. After all, what stops someone who has a hundred happy clients from adding a zero at the end?

Such stats never convince. If anything, they deter people from signing up.

Add as few elements as possible and slowly introduce the customer to your service and experience. Do not be afraid to use white space liberally. It breaks up the monotony of large paragraphs and the constant bombardment of information.

Remember that the website is an important part of your brand cultivation. It has to tell a story through its elements, colors, and pages.

Read More: Why there is so much “less is more” in website design

 

2. Focus on aesthetics

You would think that at a time when thousands of well-designed templates are available at the click of a mouse website owners would have no problem satisfying this aspect.

Yet it is surprisingly rare to come across a site that is aesthetically pleasing.

Don’t believe it?

Type into Google a random keyword, e.g. “how to train a puppy”.

Open any blog page that comes up. Visit the home page and you will usually find a few pictures of puppies on an off-white background and not much more.

Off-white does not equal good aesthetics!

Pleasing aesthetics is that which creates a lasting visual impression. The Eiffel Tower is quite ugly up close. But you are never likely to forget it due to its graceful proportions. Most Rolls Royce passenger cars look like a well-painted brick. Yet you are likely to turn your head when that brick passes you.

Aesthetics is complex and employing a graphic design artist and a brand strategy agency is a good idea. They have a better idea of color hues and palettes that make sense and draw one in emotionally.

Graphic designers who have a background in fine arts would also be able to help you with the website layout. UI/UX is not a matter that coders alone should decide.

 

3. Tailor it for mobiles

More than half the searches made on Google are from smart devices.

Choose a mobile-responsive theme that loads easily and looks well on the small screen.

Most templates and website builders optimize any site for mobile viewing. This means all the elements of any page are easily viewable on a smart device. This does not mean that the theme is suitable for mobile search.

To expand further—smartphone screens do not work well in sunlight. No matter how expensive the device is, its screen dims considerably.

Before you launch the site or even embark on altering a theme, publish and check if it is visible in every condition.

Besides, you have to use large and legible fonts that can be easily read.

Configure pop-ups so that they only work on laptop and desktop browsers.

You could even try having a mobile version of the site in a separate subdomain.

 

4. Ease of navigation

Every website needs navigation. Unfortunately, most web developers make a mess out of it.

Keep the website layout consistent. An ideal example is Wikipedia. Millions of pages discuss diverse topics but have the same subheadings and sections.

The focus is on letting the user find information quickly and with as few layers of navigation as possible.

The first step is to decide the site hierarchy.

Design the first layer and then decide how they are nested. Does footwear get a section of its own or does it get tucked inside Men, Women, Kids?

Once you have decided on the hierarchy, compress it as far as possible. A simple pencil sketch on paper is best.

Make category headings different from subcategories so that users do not get confused between layers of navigation.

If you are short on ideas, visit similar websites. Are there features you like? Take a screenshot. If there are things you don’t like, note them down as well. You should likely spend several hours on similar websites before deciding how yours will look.

What else matters?

The above are the four major points you need to focus your energy on. They are not exhaustive and we shall add a few more that are not crucial but require your attention.

  • Use clean fonts—A website should be easy on the eye. If you don’t want a huge bounce rate, go for fonts such as Helvetica and Arial. Newer fonts such as Roboto and Open Sans are great looking too.
  • Clear CTA—Make sure that the CTAs are in the right place. Most content writers place them as an afterthought. Not the right approach. Make them prominent.
  • Include a chat box—Robot chat boxes can be easily included if you are using Wix, WordPress, or Weebly. A chat box is an exceptional tool to engage with leads and provide them with information. Customers prefer to converse rather than wait for you to reach out.

Your site must be engaging and functional. Keep the intended user in mind at all times. Someone browsing Amazon has a different intent from someone on Huffington Post. Get help from a branding design agency to help you be consistent. 

Test it constantly using A/B testing and you will soon have a site that attracts hundreds daily.

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