How great is the web design of your website? More specifically, why does good web design matter?
About 66% of people prefer to browse a well-designed website. Additionally, 75% of internet users form their opinion about a website solely on aesthetics.
More importantly, your competition is leveraging the benefits of good web design. More than 73% of businesses invest in web design to gain an edge on their competition.
If you still doubt the importance of good web design read on.
1
Responsive web design enhances your online presence
An online presence is no longer an option. Why? Approximately 81% of consumers search for products online before making a final purchasing decision.
Once a customer learns about your products or services, they will want to get more information from your website. The lack of a website might make a customer doubt your credibility.
A website is the focal point of your online presence. All other online marketing platforms, such as social media and email marketing, should lead people to your website.
But a poorly designed website beats the purpose of having a website in the first place. Instead of enhancing your online presence, poor web design harms it.
2
Allows you to create a good first impression
Picture a customer who doesn’t know about your business. They do not have a prior impression of your brand. So, what they see or experience the first time they land on your website influences how they perceive your brand. To drive the point home, it takes less than a second for an internet user to form an opinion about your website.
So, if your website looks dated or unappealing, a potential customer will form a bad first impression of your website. Translation; you lose a potential lead. And, that lead will likely land on your competitors’ website.
So put simply, good and responsive web design creates a positive first impression that keeps first-time leads on your page.
3
Custom Design
It is not good web design if it is not customized to reflect the personality of your company. A custom web design is unique and completely looks and feels tailored to your brand.
The point is, you cannot achieve good web design by going DIY with content management systems and DIY web builders such as Square Space and Wix.
These tools use pre-made templates. So, first, you risk your website looking like another website. Plus, your site might look standard and cheap since templates make the process of customization much more difficult.
You need to hire a professional web designer for a stress-free experience with your website, now and in the future, as your business grows.
4
Builds trust and credibility with your audience
Do you feel confident shopping in a poorly organized store? Similarly, internet users do not trust a poorly-designed website. It creates the impression that a site is shady, or your business is not serious enough.
A well-designed website, on the other hand, makes customers feel comfortable. They will trust your brand enough to check out more information and navigate to more pages on your site. Remember, the more leads spend time on your site, the more the opportunities for converting those leads into sales.
5
Helps your search engine ranking
Web design is an integral part of SEO. Some aspects of web design, such as user experience (UX) and load-time, have a significant impact on search engine ranking.
Remember, web design is the basis of off-page SEO strategies. Web design determines how you publish content, which in turn influences how easily search engines can crawl and index pages on your website. Off-page SEO is so fundamental that if you do it wrong, the on-page strategies will be fighting a losing battle.
In simpler words, website coding also needs to be SEO-friendly.
6
Mobile responsiveness
Data from April 2019 indicated that 48% of web page views were done on mobile. For that reason, you need to make sure your website is website responsive. A good website designer will make sure of that.
Mobile responsiveness means that your website is easy to view and navigate on mobile devices. For instance, a user does not have to zoom in to see the content on your website. Lack of mobile responsiveness leads to an increase in the bounce rate, which harms your SEO.
7
Optimal balance between UX and UI
Everything about web design boils down to two things; user experience and user interface.
UX refers to how easy it is for the user to accomplish their goals of visiting your site. Be it finding information, getting contact information, making a purchase, and so on. A website with good UX does not frustrate a user.
UI refers to the aesthetics of your website. Good UI means your site has good visuals and layout.
Unfortunately, focusing on one might harm the other. UX results in simplicity, which might translate to poor aesthetics. Complex aesthetics, on the other hand, might result in a less-navigable site.
So, you need a good web designer to find an optimal balance between UX and UI.
8
Fast Load Time
Speed and good web design go together. The average user is likely to abandon a page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Just a second of delay translates to 11% fewer page views and a 7% loss in conversion.
For online stores, load-time is particularly important. Businesses lose $2.6 billion each year due to slowly-loading pages. According to a report by Aberdeen, of an online store earns $50,000 per day, a second of delay in loading will amount to a loss in sales of more than $1,000,000 annually.
9
Enhances Your Brand
Web design should be a reflection of your brand. You want customers to get familiar with your brand. So, your online branding should match your offline branding. So to achieve that, you need professional web design.
More importantly, there should be consistency across your pages. The layout, fonts, styles, and color combinations should be the same in all your pages. Different-looking pages create an unprofessional feel of your website. Additionally, it makes it difficult for customers to know what colors to associate with your brand.
10
Increased Sales
All the above increase sales, which is the whole point of having a website. And, the whole point of investing in good web design is to increase traffic, and, by extension, sales.
For instance, as mentioned earlier, great web design translates to good UX and UI. 90% of people will continue shopping on a website due to great UX.
Conclusion
Mobile responsiveness will ensure people can access your online store at the convenience of their smartphones. Improved SEO makes people easily find your business. Fast-load times means the process between finding a product and checkout is seamless.
The point is all the advantages of good web design work towards one primary goal: Increasing sales.
Responsive web design is the most fundamental aspect of your online presence and SEO strategy. However, you cannot afford to skimp on web design if you are to remain competitive in this digital era.
For web design in Phoenix, consult Liquid Medium Media. We are industry leaders in Digital Solutions and experts in web design. So wait no more and get in touch with us!
