The times are such that having an online presence is quite important. Not only as an individual but also as a business one must have a virtual identity to mark their presence. For this purpose, every business enterprise maintains its own website.
A website works as a navigational billboard online that partakes in digital marketing and brand building. In this time and age, it provides all the information about the business and usually plays a vital role in disseminating service.
To bring this important tool into the picture business owners get their own websites designed. Generally, a web designer or a team of them is hired to get it done professionally. In the event then there are some common mistakes made by the website designers or owners that directly affect the success of the said website. These little things matter because they, later on, influence your overall online performance.
Hence, there are some key basics to remember before you go on building up your website.
It is granted that if you are pulling up your sleeves to make a website, you know what you expect from it. Or maybe just the overall picture of it. But do you really know what exact roles you foresee it playing and how every single part of the website would be built?
Website owners very commonly forget to brush up and map out the minute details of their project. They design the website on merely an idea and forget to build it block by block to leave no specification undone. You have to ponder upon certain questions and define a specific purpose:
This is a crucial step to establishing your virtual identity. You do not want to give out a mixed message and confuse everyone. Such minute mistakes impact the growth of your online existence exponentially. After that, you will be able to chart out the pages and content you want to put on your website.
Your brand identity is first and foremost represented through the name you choose for yourself. It reflects your core values and the position you will have in the market. In website terms, it is called your domain.
You must consciously designate a well-put-together domain name that is easy to spell and recognize. Also, it must represent your brand’s personality. For instance, Nike is taken from Greek mythology. It is the name of the goddess of victory. It is easy to spell, pronounce and remember. Also, the name is short and simple.
The perfect domain name according to SEO helps in bringing you in searches. If you are easily recognizable, even the SEO bots will give you more preference. Although never forget that updating high-quality content regularly is what ranks your authenticity, but a good domain name keeps you in the loop since you are easy to identify. You can always buy an older domain name. It comes with an SEO rating and a user base.
A simple and attractive design is an imperative requirement. This is a very straightforward concept that a visually appealing design attracts more users. In addition to that, simple and effective navigation is an indispensable part of it too.
You need to incorporate an engaging design into your website that keeps the traffic on for longer. It must also be well thought out as it should represent you as a brand. Complicated designs do nothing but confuse the users, causing them to leave your page immediately.
The colour scheme is also to be looked after in a smart design. Every website works upon a theme that is compatible with the brand. Every theme has a carefully chosen colour palette that appeals to the eyes. Take time to research a colour palette that will blend with your theme and compliment your brand’s logo.
The user should be able to easily navigate through the website and find whatever they are looking for as quickly as possible. Moreover, design your website to be compatible with multiple devices so that the user does not face any difficulties in operating it. The overall functionality of your website marks your brand identity.
Remember to add a feedback page so that users can point out your layout mistakes and their overall experience. This will keep you updated with your performance and inspire you to be better. Taking care of all the mentioned design factors results in user satisfaction, which induces them to visit your website again.
While designing a website one may get overambitious and add too many videos and heavy pictures, graphics into it. They may make your website more impressive, but such heavy elements need time to process. A longer processing or loading time makes the user impatient.
In this fast pacing world, no one wants to wait an extra 10 seconds so that a website should load. The user will jump to another website that loads faster and serves its purpose in no time. To avoid such a thing keep the design simple.
In addition to that, for elevated user experience, test the loading time of your website as a prerequisite. It is highly recommended to periodically assess your website’s loading time in advance so that the user does not have to face any such issues at all.
The key to designing a highly responsive and effective website that improves conversions is to ensure a perfect domain, a simple layout, and fast loading time.