Just having a web presence for your business is a start but it is not enough. A poorly designed website is a major turn-off for potential customers. If your website is cluttered, the text is hard to read, call to action buttons do not work, there is no clear messaging, or navigation is impossible to follow, all this leads to a poor user experience and your website is doing more harm than good.
You will lose business. Your website is often the first impression potential customers get of your business so it is imperative that it is designed following the basic tenants of web design and development. Here are the top 3 rules to follow in web design and development!
Your Website Design & Development Should be Easy to Read
Rule number one: your web page design should be easy to read. The main colors used throughout your website need to be cautiously planned. You do not want bright colors that give someone a headache, background colors that obscure your text, or colors for your text that are hard to read. Particularly important is to consider the color combination as well as the level of contrast between colors to ensure the content of your website is accessible to everyone (with a disability or not) and on every device. The recommended color contrast ratio is 4.5:1.
Similarly, you need to be careful in choosing the font used throughout your website. You want your messaging to be legible and immediately recognizable. Choice of font and the size of the text all convey messaging and influence the user experience. If it is too small it will be hard to read or if it is too large it feels as if you are shouting at your website visitor.
Another factor influencing readability is the length of paragraphs. The shorter your paragraphs the easier it is for the reader to digest the information. The readability of a website is a ranking factor on search engines like Google, so if you haven’t been thinking about it until reading this, take another look at your website and look for ways to improve the user experience!
Your Website Design & Development Should be Easy to Navigate
Rule number two: you want your web page design to be easy to navigate. A good web design company will always be thinking about the user experience and their journey from landing on your website through completing whatever end goal you have when designing your website – which could be subscribing to an email list, booking an appointment with you, purchasing an e-commerce product, and so on.
If there are too many navigation options, website visitors will get lost or distracted from their purpose in landing on your website. Or, if there are too few calls to action, the user won’t know what to do next.
You want a responsive design that is also easy to navigate. The number one web design complaint is difficult navigation, so this is a priority to have figured out! Clickability and tappability should be clear to your visitors. Link colors in the text should be familiar to your user so they know when something is a live link that will take them somewhere else or if you are using unfamiliar colors those links should be bold or otherwise emphasized so the visitor recognizes the invitation to click on the link.
Your Website Should be Easy to Find
Rule number three: Your website should be easy to find, which is easier said than done for many businesses. Just having a website out there in cyberspace does not mean your customers will be able to find you.
In fact, if you do not promote your website via search engine optimization, people will not find their way to you. That is how you get your website in front of your target customers: making sure your word count on your web pages is high enough, research and writing content to target certain keywords for your market and location for blogs and pages on your website, auditing your website to make sure it is mobile optimized, fast loading, etc.
It is truly a long term game and ongoing process to make sure your website is SEO optimized and continues to be serving your business. A web design agency when building your website should do basic SEO research and recommendations, but it does not end the moment you are handed the login information to your new website. That is just the beginning.
Conclusion
Like everything in life, hiring a professional who knows the ins and outs of online marketing is where you get the most out of your website. We hire lawyers to handle legal issues, we hire doctors to handle medical issues, and plumbers when we have a pipe burst in our home, so why should building a website and online marketing efforts be any different?
How has DIY worked for you so far? In a world where online algorithms are constantly changing and the technology behind web design and SEO optimization is always evolving, hiring a web design agency should be high on your business priorities list.
A google web designer should not only build your website but also do continuing maintenance and SEO optimization while you focus on what you do best: running your business. If you are looking for small business web design, look no further!
At Mountain Mojo Group, we specialize in web design and development. We are located in Flagstaff, Arizona but have clients all over the United States. As a website design company, we would love to chat with you about how we can help improve your website or build one from scratch if you still do not have a web presence. Contact us today and let’s put some mojo in your marketing!