Does This Website Make Me Look Old?
We all know an old website when we see one. The bulleted list below highlights some of the most common outdated features on a website. How does the web page design of your site compare?
- Slow page loading times
- Excessive copy
- Low-quality images and video
- Dull color schemes
- Inconsistent branding
- Loud/busy color schemes
- Lack of imagery
- Broken links and landing pages
Mobile Friendly
There was a time when smartphones were a luxury and people rarely viewed a website from anything other than a desktop computer or laptop. However, since smartphones have become mainstream, they are being utilized as computers more and more.
Stats report that 70% of online traffic comes from mobile users. Therefore, creating a mobile-friendly site is now a crucial part of web page design today. If your site is slow or the format is thrown off on mobile, it’s a strike against the credibility of your business.
Focus on SEO
These are questions often overlooked when creating web content. Getting seen on the internet is not as easy as it once was, and the algorithms evolve with the market. If a customer is looking for red earphones, for example, the wording they use, the search engine, their demographic, and your targeting efforts will all impact whether or not they ever find your website.
Do customers look up “red earphones,” “red headphones,” “headphones that are red,” “discount red headphones,” or any combination of these words and more? Are they using Bing or Google? Chrome or Internet Explorer? Have you used the right keywords in your blog? Believe it or not, this stuff determines whether or not your business will show up on those first couple pages on Google when your customer does a search. Trust us, you want to be on that first page.
Keep Your Copy Simple
Let’s talk about website copy. When you are writing website copy, you need to remember these few things. Number one, your copy should be informative, but it should also show some personality. A mistake many make is flooding their website with as much copy as possible. Realistically, no one is going to read all that information, and if they do, they will likely be overwhelmed.
Secondly, think about the web page design of your site when you are composing your website copy. There are going to be areas on your site that are designed for long and short-form content.
White Space Is Not Always the Enemy
It’s easy to overcomplicate your web page design, but more is not always better. Cluttering your page with excess imagery and content can look messy and overwhelm the consumer. In fact, over the past few years, it has become trendier to stick with a clean and minimalistic approach to your web page design.
Clear Navigation
Before you start throwing things together, you need to take some time to plan out the navigation of your website. You want the navigation to be as easy to browse as possible. Ask yourself these questions before mapping out your site’s navigation:
- What are most people visiting our website looking for?
- Where are the most logical places to list these items?
- If I didn’t know where everything was located on this site, would it be hard for me to navigate?
- Are the bread-winning products and or services on our website easy to find?
Web Page Design & Your Business
Web design has dramatically changed over the past 20 years. It used to be impressive if a company had a website and now it’s become a must-have resource. The design and functionality of your website may be the first experience a customer has with your brand. You want to make sure that what you have online is a fresh and clear representation of what your company is all about. The trends in web page design today are not just cosmetic, but they dive into the user experience as well.
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