When an entrepreneur asks about website design for conversion, I know they are serious about their online presence, and about using every online asset they have to generate leads and sales.
There are many people offering website design services, but not all of them understand website design for conversion. There is a difference between sites that look pretty and sites that look pretty AND bring you leads and sales.
There are five factors to consider about website design for conversion:
1) Visual impact combined with Ease of Use: This means that your website looks attractive and compelling and that it’s easy to get around and easy for the visitor to find the information they are looking for. Sites which take a long time to load, perhaps due to large graphics or too many calls to video services, advertising platforms, and so on decrease visitor experience and therefore time on site. Most websites only have about 3-5 seconds to capture and hold a visitor’s attention. There is no point in having a gorgeous site nobody can use, nor is there an point in having a site that is so plain that nobody wants to use it. The goal is to find a balance between visual impact and ease of use for the visitor. Pay attention to your image sizes, fonts, and color combinations. Nobody wants to go back to the early days on the web where glaring red font was put on neon green background.
2) Adapt the psychology of colors. There are entire areas of study devoted to color and its impact on us; but for the purposes of your website, consider what colors would convey your brand message. Blue and yellow tend to convey trust, black conveys drama, purple tends to convey royalty, green can be associated with money, growth, freshness. The cleanest and most attractive websites tend to have two main colors that complement each other, and one third color that creates accent or “pop”. Keep your colors consistent throughout your website, and make sure your logos are clear and fonts are easy to read on computer and mobile devices.
3) Utilize consistent navigation across your site. Website design for conversion also needs to pay attention to the best practices of user experience and optimization. Easy to find navigation, as well as in-content links, can help move visitors through your site. Again, you only have a few seconds to make a good impression, and users will leave if they can’t find what they are looking for in the first couple of seconds. You can have your site tested for user experience and get feedback from real, unbiased users who can tell you if your site is easy to use. This can be worth investing in if you want a non-traditional design, and want to make sure it still works as far as conversion. The other suggestion I have is to get away from drop-down menus and try to design your pages so that you don’t need them.
4) Make sure your site is mobile friendly. This has become increasingly important in the past six months. Your site should be easy to read and navigate on mobile devices, and your signup forms, product buttons and so forth should also be easy to use on mobile. Optimize your checkout pages for mobile visitors as well, so they can easily purchase from their phones and tablets. Still not convinced of the need to be mobile, this article can tell you more, and give you steps to check if your site is mobile friendly. Google Penalizes Sites Which Are Not Mobile Friendly
5. Include housekeeping pages for credibility. In order to maximize your website design for conversion, be sure to include so-called “housekeeping” pages in your site. These pages are typically the about page, the contact us page, the terms of service page, and the privacy policy page. These used to be optional, but if you are using Facebook advertising, for example, you must have terms of service and privacy policy links on your site. When we build websites for clients, we typically place these in the footer. These pages are increasingly important to building credibility online.
While there are many other factors you can consider as far as website design for conversion, these five will give you a strong start to developing a website that grows your business.
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