It’s not as simple as just building a website.
If you want to establish a strong online presence that attracts website visitors and converts them into paying customers, you need to think carefully about the website design process.
Interested in the best website design for small business? Keep reading on.
Website design is the creation of a way in which your website can be maintained in the future. The initial design process includes contemplating the structure, layout, fonts, colours, graphics and all other visible features to ensure the overall look, feel and functionality of your website is achieved.
This design is then used to build your site, and continually make improvements and adjustments so your website visitors enjoy spending time on your site, engage with your business and ultimately want to purchase or work with you.
When it comes to creating an online presence for a business or personal brand, a well-designed website can help establish credibility, attract visitors, and drive conversions.
However, not all website designs are created equal, and some can have a negative impact on a brand as well as a large missed opportunity cost associated with them. It may have been cheap to design and build, but equally it’s not going to deliver a business return for you. So those few pounds saved could have been one of the worse decisions you’ve made!
In this blog, we will explore the good, bad, and ugly of website design and how you can ensure your website design is working for you, not against you.
Good website design
Good website design encompasses elements such as user experience, accessibility, and branding.
A good website should:
- Be easy to navigate and understand
- Have clear calls to action
- Have a consistent look and feel
- Be accessible to all users, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, to ensure that everyone can access the information and services offered on the site
- Reflect a company’s brand, values, and mission
- Establish credibility and trust with visitors
- Differentiate your business from your competitors and help it stand out in a crowded marketplace.
In order to achieve all of this, it’s important to set out clear brand guidelines during the website planning process, as well as create a website map and draft content for each page and section. This will ensure colours and fonts are consistent, and your website is easy for visitors to use and find the information they are searching for.
Take a look at this website for a local East Grinstead business we designed recently as an example. You can clearly understand the purpose of the site, and easily find your way around using the menu bar and buttons on the homepage.
Bad website design
Contrary to what you might think, not all website designs are good.
A bad website design can negatively impact a business in a number of ways, such as:
- Making it difficult for visitors to find information or services
- Presenting an unprofessional image of your business
- Display a lack of care and attention to detail (giving way to the question in a prospects mind: does that reflect their service?)
This could lead to your visitors leaving your site for a competitor’s which is not what you want when you invest in a website!
A common issue with bad website design is a lack of organisation and clear navigation.
Visitors should be able to find what they are looking for quickly and easily, but if a website is cluttered and disorganised, they may quickly become frustrated and leave the site.
Another issue with bad website design is the use of outdated technologies and practices, such as pop-ups or large files. These technologies can slow down the site, making it difficult for visitors to access information, and can make a website look unprofessional and outdated.
This often happens when the intended audience for a website hasn’t been fully considered during the design phase.
If their needs, questions, decision-making process, situation, concerns and priorities haven’t been considered fully during the design process not only will they not be fulfilled (leading the prospect to leave your website for a competitor who has considered them better) but also leads to muddled content and structure.
To prevent a website from not performing as well as you would like, planning your website and its content before building is essential so you can create a streamlined journey for your website visitors. You should also use smaller images and reduce the number of complex technologies, so your website loads quicker.
You can check how fast your website is loading by heading to gtmextrix.com – ideally you don’t want to be below a B grade!
Ugly website design
Though there are many key components when it comes to designing and developing a website, an ugly design and poor functionality can be the most damaging.
Things like inconsistent, garish colours, poor typography or low-quality images can have a significant impact on a business’s appeal. An ugly design can make a website look unprofessional, cheap and poorly put together.
As a contrast, look at this website our team worked on lately. You can see high-quality images have been used, the font is consistent throughout the entire site and a clear colour scheme has been chosen. This helps to create a beautiful site that looks professional, and well considered.
An ugly website is not just about the visible appearance it’s also what is under the bonnet. If the javascript and CSS hasn’t been reduced, it’s bloated with plugins, images not been resized, security not top notch and much more, the website is hard to use for prospects, as well as painfully slow, and difficult to maintain for your business.
A website design and development that hasn’t been planned and well thought-out can result in a lack of engagement, less visitors and minimal website conversions.
Create an amazing website!
Making a website look good is only part of the story – it has to function well too with great, engaging content to convert traffic into sales. This is why you need to work with a professional to avoid firstly potential damage to your business brand and reptation, but also to ensure you aren’t missing out on the opportunity available to you (and passing it to your competitors instead!)
We highly recommend working with a professional website design and development team, like ours here at Growth by Design. We’ll work closely with you to fully understand your website goals, and implement design strategies to create a site that is user friendly, beautifully designed and appeals to your target audience. Working with a professional also doesn’t mean it costing the earth either, especially when compared with the return on your investment!
You can find more information about our website design service and try using our estimator tool to get a gauge for what type of website you need.
