Effective Website Design

By Kevin McKnelly

One of the biggest challenges of a business website is to turn a visitor into a customer.  So how do we do that?  You only have a few seconds to grab the attention of your prospect, keep it long enough to build your credibility, and make them choose you over your competition.  How do we convert these potential customers into a sale? 

You do it with effective website design.  

Your website design determines whether they like you, and whether they want to do business with you.   It’s as simple as that.  If you can build enough interest, there will be a “tipping point” that turns them from visitor into a customer.  Let me share with you some effective website design elements that will do just that.  

Branding

When I sit down with a client who wants to build a website for their business, I ask them if they have a logo.  This is a good starting point to see if they have created any kind of  branding for their business.  What’s a brand?  It’s a visual element (or a group of elements) that helps your target market identify you from your competition.  When the market sees your brand, they think of you. 

For example:  When you think of the insurance giant Aflac, what comes to mind?  The duck, right?  You might also think of their logo with its specific font, specific shade of blue, and of course, the duck with the orange beak (Aflac has asked me to remove thier logo so it is no longer shown here). This is great branding.  People see this, and they think, "Aflac"! 

Grafton Seasons is a great example of website branding.  Grafton Seasons is a gift shop located in Grafton, Vermont. At the top in the header is their logo which matches the Grafton Seasons sign in front of their store.  (see below)

The leaves that wrap around their building are incorporated into the site, and become part of the brand. The color palette complements the logo, and the leaves beautifully.  This is effective branding.  They can use these visual elements seamlessly with their advertising, business cards, etc.

Good Quality Photos

Something that is related to your branding is the kind of photos you use. The professional photo shown below is also a good example of branding.  The company logo appears on the truck, on the lower right side of the photo, the man's shirt, and even on his hat.   Whether they be photos of you, your business, your truck, or your products make sure they are professional quality.

Below are some actual photos I pulled from real estate websites. Which photos give the better impression?  The ones on the left, or the ones on the right?  Right off the bat, who do you trust more?  Which realtors have the most professional image? Take the time.  Spend a little money.  It goes a long way.

Call to Action

Another element of effective website design is having a "call to action" on your web pages.  When people browse your website, what is it you ultimately want them to do?   Either buy your product, or get in touch with you, right?  So, make it easy for them by providing very visible ways for them to do this.

I love fly fishing, and I found this fly fishing website, "The Fly Shop" as a good example of call to action.  This website has three calls to action:  The “shop online” link takes you to their online store.  An easily identifiable phone number makes it easy for you to call them, and a “contact us” tab takes you to their “contact us” page.  This is the way to get your visitors to act, to interact with you, and become your customer.

Easy to Navigate

Have you ever gone onto a website that was hard to navigate?  You clicked on a page, then couldn't get back to the home page, or you just plain got lost?  Nothing causes people to bounce from your site faster than poorly laid out navigation.  Again, looking at the Grafton Seasons site, this is an easy site to navigate, with all the major page links on top. 

They also have links on the left to their other pages.  Make sure you have everything laid out logically so that your pages are easy to find.  Be careful that your visitors have a way of getting back to the home page from wherever they are.  In your footer for the website (which can appear on all of your pages), you can put a link back to the site map which allows them to see an index of all of your web pages.  From here, they can click on any page of your site.    

So, follow these four tips for effective web design: 

1. Have some kind of branding for your company like a logo.

2. Use good quality photos.

3. Place "calls to action" on your pages.

4. Make sure your website is easy to navigate.

If you implement just these four easy elements, you will convert more of your visitors into actual customers... and get more sales!

Hope this helps!    

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