In today’s hyper-digital world, around 50% of consumers believe that web design is essential to the success of a company’s overall brand. Websites are no longer simple pages on the internet where businesses post photos, product descriptions, and announcements.
Consumers these days rely on a website’s overall look and feel to judge whether or not a company or brand is worth doing business with. This makes web design an integral part of any digital marketing plan.
In this article, we’ll discuss the impact of web design on digital marketing and highlight some key elements that make up a good website design.
Web Design’s Impact on Digital Marketing
Web Design Creates a Good First Impression
One of the primary goals of digital marketing is to reach as many potential online customers as possible – and quickly. Having a functional and well-designed website is a vital digital backbone to attain that goal.
No well-thought-out digital marketing strategy leaves out the creation of an effective website. That’s because your business website is the primary point of contact for your future and current customers.
Your business website creates first impressions of your company to customers. Your website showcases your brand’s reputation, professionalism, and expertise. It is intrinsically tied to your brand’s overall image.
Investing poorly in how your website looks and feels can convince customers to take their business elsewhere. Worse, customers can convince other online users to skip and ignore your site completely – simply because your website doesn’t look and feel good.
Web Design and SEO Must Work Together
Another vital impact of web design on a digital marketing plan is how it directly helps search engine optimization (SEO) strategies. SEO is the most effective method to drive traffic to your business website and turn potential customers into leads.
Apart from excellent content, a website design optimised for search influences your search engine rankings. Taking your SEO strategy for granted or being content with having a subpar website may leave you trailing behind in the search engine results pages (SERP).
It’s common knowledge that the websites closer to the top of the SERPs, or on the first page, are more likely to be visited. If your website gets buried underneath more optimised websites, you’ll attract very few site visitors.
Web design and SEO go hand in hand. Investing in both can give you the edge you need to stand out from the online crowd.
Key Elements of a Good Web Design
Having an attractive and functional business website can make or break your brand today. To help you understand what makes up a well-designed website, the following are the major key elements of an effective web design.
User-Friendly Experience
Functionality must always be on top of every web designer’s head. An effective website should be fast, accessible, easy to navigate. Otherwise, potential customers would feel like they are wasting their time figuring out how to navigate your site. They might move to your competitors’ sites.
When designing a website, make sure the loading speed is fast. Videos and images should be of high quality but not too heavy that they slow down the page. Every link should work and must take customers to their intended page destinations.
With the rise of mobile browsing, it’s also essential that your website is flexible and optimised to work on smartphones and tablets. Mobile optimization not only benefits customers who use mobile devices but also contributes to your site’s ranking potential.
Conversion Optimization
Having good web design has a significant impact on conversion rates. That’s why it’s important to optimise your business website by taking advantage of certain relevant elements:
- Navigation: Navigating websites should be simple and clean. Websites that allow customers to seamlessly navigate the site encourage them to browse longer. It can lead to higher chances of closing a sale or signing up a customer for a subscription.
- Colors: Using the right colors on your website can help sway people’s attitudes and emotions. For example, if you are in the business of providing party-related supplies, black and other dark colors might not be an appropriate choice. Parties are more associated with bright, happy hues like yellow, orange, or neon green.
- CTAs: Calls to Action or CTAs can directly influence conversion rates when properly used. Words like “Free” or “Buy One Today” are known to spur customers into action and boost conversation rates.
Branding
Web design is a crucial part of brand building that enables you to establish trust and positive connections with your customers. This is where customers develop their perception of your brand and image.
One of the best things you can do to integrate proper branding into your business website is to maintain consistency. That means your website’s look and feel should be consistent with the rest of your marketing materials and must integrate the following:
- Official Images
- Official messaging (CTAs, quotes, etc…)
- Official font design
- Official colours
- Official logo and art
By staying consistent with your overall branding, users will be able to distinguish your website as an official part of your company’s overall brand.
Web design is an essential part of every digital marketing strategy. Ignoring its significance can negatively affect your plans to build your company’s brand, online presence, and market reach. Ensure that your website is well optimised and utilise the key elements of web design.
ZipZipe provides effective, creative, and responsive web design services in Sydney. If you are looking for a competent web design agency to help with your digital marketing plans, contact us today to schedule a strategy talk with our team.
