You may think that your website design doesn’t matter much if you’re not running a business in a flashy industry. However, we can assure you that it absolutely matters regardless of the industry you’re in.
Just in case you didn’t already know, poor web design can negatively impact your conversions and sales. That’s why it’s essential that you approach your website redesign with the attention it deserves.
In this article, we’re going to discuss why your website design matters and the top tips for strategizing your redesign.
Why your Website Redesign Matters
As you start planning for your website redesign, you may be questioning just how important the overall design of your website is in the first place.
For starters, it’s very important.
The entire layout and scheme of your website will become your audience’s first impression of your business — and it only takes a few seconds for them to judge your business. So, if your website is seemingly outdated or even the slightest bit unappealing, your audience will automatically exit your page and head on over to your competitor’s website.
Your website design also influences your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and Core Web Vitals (CWV) scores. Aside from your published content, there are specific web design elements like your HTML coding and CSS JavaScript that directly affect your SEO rankings and your CWV scores.
Lastly, people don’t trust poorly designed websites. If both your website design and information is outdated and looks like it’s frozen in time circa 1995, users aren’t going to stick around long.
That’s why it’s critical that your website design reflects how you view your audience. It should be lively, inviting, interesting, and easy to navigate. You want your audience to enjoy scrolling through your website for information and you want them to trust you enough to give you their business.
It also goes without saying that your competitors already know all of this and are therefore updating their websites as you read this.
So, to get started with an effective redesign, here are some top tips from the experts:
Get Rid of the Distractions
On average, your audience only has an eight-second attention span. Therefore it needs to be made crystal clear what your visitors will learn and gain from the page they’re on.
One way to ensure that they get the message is to remove anything that detracts from your business’s message. That means eliminating any complicated animations, generic website images, and drawn-out content that takes forever to sift through.
You’re also going to want to delay any pop-up advertisements or offers for at least 30 seconds or longer if possible because they’re probably the most hated thing to exist on the internet right now.
The same goes for your font styles, colours, logo usage, and imagery. Keep everything relaxed and naturally flowing by figuring out where it is you want your audiences’ eyes to go when they arrive on your page.
Factor in your Social Proof
Most people won’t buy a product or subscribe to a service without reading multiple four or five-star reviews accompanied by others’ experiences. These types of reviews create trust among your audience as they’re proof that your products or services deliver on their promises.
That means you’ll want to include testimonials in your site redesign. You have a lot of options in terms of the format of your testimonials, but we’ve found that the most popular are video testimonials.
Make Use of CTAs
Once your audience lands on your page, they’re going to need some guidance. You can’t just expect them to read through your entire website down to the copyright information.
That’s where a call to action (CTA) or five comes in handy. You’ll mostly need a CTA on your landing page, the home page, and blog pages, and they should be strategically placed at the top right of your navigation or the bottom of your page.
Just make sure you don’t overdo it. Only place a CTA where there’s content that leads to action. Otherwise, you’ll just be harassing your visitors to buy into your business without allowing them to learn more about what you’re offering. If you decide to monetize your site, it’s important that your CTA buttons and ads are distinguishable from each other to prevent Google’s two-click penalty.
Ensure your Navigation is Intuitive
There’s arguably nothing more important than helping your visitors find what they’re looking for in the simplest way possible. That means using navigational hierarchy for the categories on your site, streamlined content, and ensuring responsiveness.
So, avoid overstuffing, using confusing hypertext, and leaving everything out of order. Otherwise, if your visitors can’t find what they’re looking for, they will leave. Keep your website’s navigation simple and to the point.
Use White Space to your Advantage
White space, also referred to as negative space, is the empty area that surrounds your visual elements. It’s also what allows you to break up your website’s visual elements.
Use white space to your advantage by structuring it to show which sections of your webpages are separate and intentionally guide your audience’s eyes to where they need to be.
Be Mobile-friendly
Roughly 60% of all internet searches are conducted via smartphone. Therefore it’s non-negotiable that you optimize your website for mobile use.
What does it mean to be mobile-friendly? It means your website needs to function responsibly within the parameters of a smartphone screen. Think about how you would want your website to look on your phone, how you’d want it to function with each tap of your finger, and use that information as your guide.
Test and Audit Frequently
The last thing you want is to let your website go static. It’s part of your livelihood, just like your business — and businesses need to keep up with the times. And whether or not you believe it, your website can always be improved upon.
As part of your website redesign, you’re going to need to frequently take audits of your content and conduct A/B testing to expose any weaknesses.
Treat your Website like an Experience
When you’re planning your website redesign, you need to treat it less like a website and more like an experience. You want your visitors to have an experience that makes them want to not only read your content, but buy your products and/or services.
Once you finish your website redesign, it’ll be time to monetize your pages. That’s where we come in. Sortable doesn’t help you redesign your website, but we do know the best ad layouts to maximize your ad revenue. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you maximize your ad earnings.