Building a functional and visually appealing website is both an art and a science. Your website acts as the online face of your brand. As a business owner or brand manager, it's paramount to understand which web design features can make your site stand out and which ones to steer clear of. Luckily, The Good Fellas Agency is here to guide you through this intricate journey with professional insights. Dive into our comprehensive list of the top features to include in your website and design mistakes to avoid.
Web Design Features to Include
Intuitive Navigation
A hallmark of a successful website, intuitive navigation ensures that visitors effortlessly find what they're hunting for. Incorporate features like dropdown menus, clear labels, breadcrumbs, and clear CTAs to enhance user experience. Think of your website's navigation as the roadmap to your online content.
It should be simple and get visitors to a conversion action in 3 clicks or less (We fondly call it the rule of 3). Always evaluate how you can make your navigation better since Google uses this for your SERP ranking.
Web Design SEO Best Practices
A non-negotiable for modern websites. Ensure your site ranks on search engines by embedding vital SEO elements such as meta page titles, meta descriptions, alt tags on images, XML sitemap generation, internal linking, and a robots.txt file. We offer lots of SEO services for your small business here.
On-Page SEO Strategies
These SEO strategies focus on optimizing elements that are directly on your website like meta page titles, meta descriptions, and focus keywords that users are likely to search for in main title tags (H1-H4). Alt tags on images are another crucial aspect, making your site accessible to people with visual impairments and helping search engines understand what your images are about. Updating your XML sitemap is vital for helping search engines discover and index your pages. Internal linking, where you link to other pages on your site, can also improve SEO by enhancing navigation and spreading link equity.
Off-Page SEO
These SEO strategies refers to actions takenoutside of your website that impact your rankings within search engine results pages. This primarily involves acquiring backlinks from other websites, which signal to search engines that your site is a credible and valuable resource. Other strategies include social media marketing, guest blogging, and influencer outreach. The combination of on-page and off-page SEO strategies ensures that your site is discoverable and ranks well on search engines.
BONUS: Local SEO
Local SEO Strategies in your web design can significantly boost your brand's visibility in location-based searches. By showcasing your geographical location, store hours, and local reviews, you increase your chances of attracting local online traffic and foot traffic to your physical store. This is particularly beneficial for businesses serving a specific community or region, as it makes your brand more accessible and relevant to those in your vicinity. Most People call this Google My Business Optimization, and your profile acting as an extension of your website can be an extremely powerful tool.
If you want more information we have another post that can help you see how SEO helps your business, located here.
Value Propositions
A value proposition is a clear statement that communicates the unique benefits that your product or service offers to customers, and how it outperforms those of your competitors. It succinctly articulates why a customer should choose your brand over others, providing a compelling reason to opt for your product or service.
What makes you stand out?
To establish what makes your business distinct from the crowd, consider the following questions:
- What unique product or service are you offering to your customers that your competitors aren't?
- How does your brand excel in delivering exceptional customer service?
- Does your business have a unique or compelling story that can connect with your audience on an emotional level?
- How do your business values align with those of your target audience?
- What customer pain points does your product or service solve more effectively than others on the market?
- What evidence can you provide to convince potential customers of the superior quality or value of your offerings (e.g., testimonials, case studies, awards)?
- How does your business incorporate data-driven strategies to enhance customer experience and business growth?
By answering these questions, you can identify your unique value propositions and communicate them effectively on your website.
Mobile First Responsive Design
Considering the current digital landscape where approximately 80% of web traffic originates from mobile devices, it's of paramount importance to ensure that your website design is mobile-first. You must include responsive designs to make sure your website looks uniform across all devices and is easy to use on each device.
Google has also adopted a mobile-first indexing system, which means it predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. Consequently, if your site isn’t optimized for mobile interfaces, it will significantly impact your Search Engine Results Page (SERP) ranking. Prioritizing mobile-first responsive designs will greatly enhance your site's visibility, user engagement, and overall performance. This example below shows the differnt layouts you deed (credit to pinimg).
Interactive Elements
Elevating user engagement has always been crucial for a successful online presence, and one highly effective way to do this is through the integration of interactive elements on your website. These can take many forms such as quizzes, calculators, surveys, and interactive feedback systems.
Not only do these tools offer a unique, value-added experience that can captivate and hold your visitors' attention for longer periods, but they also serve a dual function by providing you with valuable data and insights about your users.
The content generated from these interactive elements can be repurposed and used in other areas of your marketing strategy, including email campaigns, social media posts, and even product development.
Tired of making the Same Web Deisgn Mistakes?
Learn common pitfalls in web design and learn strategies to enhance user experience and search engine rankings.
Web Design Features to Exclude
Auto-Playing Media
Forcing user actions on your website can drastically detract from the user experience (UX), causing an increase in your page's bounce rate. When users are compelled to perform certain actions – such as dealing with pop-ups, filling out forms before accessing content, or being bombarded with auto-playing media – it creates a sense of intrusion and disrupts their browsing flow.
This negative experience often pushes visitors away from your page, resulting in them leaving your site prematurely. This behavior is reflected in increased bounce rates, which negatively impact your search engine rankings. It is essential to ensure that any interactive elements enhance, rather than detract from, the user's journey through your site.
We always want videos to support your content, not be the focus of your content.
Overwhelming Pop-ups
When correctly implemented, pop-ups can be a beneficial tool in your digital marketing arsenal. One effective strategy is to trigger pop-ups when a user has scrolled more than 50% down a page. This indicates that the visitor is engaged and finds your content interesting, making them more likely to respond to your call to action.
However, pop-ups that appear immediately upon page loading can trigger frustration and often result in minimal interaction. Therefore, timing and strategic placement of your pop-ups are crucial in enhancing user experience and increasing engagement rates.
Use them sparingly at most and make sure that the content they show is directly relevant to the page where it is shown.
Excessive Text
In line with the current online consumption trends, it's crucial to structure your content into skimmable, easy-to-read chunks. Internet users typically scan through web pages, looking for pertinent information rather than reading every word.
Breaking your content into smaller sections, using subheadings, bulleted lists, and infographics can significantly enhance readability and engagement. This approach caters to the modern reader's preference for digestible information, facilitating effective communication of your key messages.
Inconsistent Design
An inconsistent design can confuse your audience, lead to a disjointed user experience, and ultimately dilute your brand identity. It's crucial to maintain a uniform design throughout your website, leveraging a consistent color palette, typography, and design elements that align with your brand ethos and aesthetics.
By ensuring design coherence, you instill a sense of familiarity and trust in your audience, encouraging them to engage more with your brand.
Hidden Contact Information
A seamless user experience is paramount in any web design, and it extends to how easily your audience can navigate to your contact form. The ease with which users can locate and interact with your contact form substantially impacts their likelihood to engage and convert. A hidden or hard-to-find contact form can increase user frustration, negatively affecting their overall experience, and possibly leading to abandonment of the site.
It creates an environment of trust and convenience, characteristics that are essential in nurturing a positive relationship with your users. More importantly, by making your contact form easily accessible, you are effectively opening a line of communication, allowing you to gather valuable feedback, understand user needs, and build stronger customer relationships.
Conclusion
Crafting the ideal website involves balancing aesthetics with functionality. By integrating the right design elements, your website is poised for success. However, avoidable pitfalls can thwart your efforts. If you're grappling with design dilemmas, The Good Fellas Agency is your partner for success.
With our profound expertise in web design, we'll assist you in forging a website that deeply resonates with your audience, amplifying engagement and conversions.
