Tips to Design a Company Website

 

In order to have an effective online presence, a business needs a website; it is the foundation of any online marketing strategy. It provides information about your company, products and services and allows customers to learn more about you and your offerings.

Before starting your website, you need to determine your goals. Ask yourself what you want your website to achieve. Do you want to use it as a platform to sell products or services? Do you want to use it as a way to attract new customers? Once you know what your goals are, you can start thinking about the content and design of your website.

Your website should be designed with your target audience in mind. Take into consideration the age, gender and interests of your target audience when choosing colors, fonts and images. The overall look of your website should be professional and easy on the eyes. Once you have your content settled and an idea of how you want your website to look, you can start the design process.

Make Sure Your Website is Mobile Friendly

In today's world, it is essential to have a mobile-responsive website. This means that the website is designed to look and function nicely on all screen sizes by automatically reconfiguring itself to fit the viewers’ devices. More and more people are using their phones and tablets to access the internet, and it is predicted that by 2025, 3.7 billion people will prefer using their mobile devices for such purposes. If your website is not designed with a mobile-first mentality, you will lose potential customers. Negative mobile user experiences also have a detrimental influence on search engine rankings, making it more difficult for visitors to locate your site via “Google” search.

Make Your Website Easy to Navigate

There are many ways you can go about making your website easier to navigate. Some things every site should do include:

  • Tailoring your navigation menu to your audience and your business. If a particular item is far and away your most popular, make sure it is front and center. Spoken simply, give people what they are looking for first.
  • Making sure your buttons and hyperlinks stand out. You put them there to be clicked, so make sure your online visitors know it is an option.
  • Using your website's footer as a map to popular pages.
  • Adding internal site search, if possible. If you can do this, make sure it is obvious to your visitors. Search functionality is easily overlooked if not highlighted properly.

Make Your Website Easy to Read

A site with thoughtful typography is much more pleasing to the eye than one with a mish-mash of various fonts. Too many different fonts can be jarring and difficult to read. Stick to two or three fonts that complement each other, preferably your brand-approved fonts. Your headlines and subheads should be clear and easy to read. Use font sizes large enough to be legible on all devices, particularly if you serve a more mature audience. Make sure your fonts are colored in a way that they have enough contrast with the background.

Include Customer-Oriented Content

When laying out the content for your website, it is imperative to keep your end user in mind. You know your customers and how to best approach them, so allow your content to reflect that. Keep the information you use relevant and fresh, even if that requires occasional updates. Strong content makes a huge difference.

Prioritize Calls to Action

A call to action (CTA) is a button or link encouraging website visitors to make a desired action, such as subscribing to a newsletter, downloading a white paper or making a purchase. CTAs should be placed prominently on your website and stand out from the rest of your content. Use strong verbs such as "download," "sign up" or "buy now." The text around your CTA should be clear and concise, telling your visitors exactly what they need to do. Placing a CTA above the fold on your homepage is a good way to increase the likelihood visitors will take action. It is also best practice to include CTAs throughout your website, but make sure they are relevant to the page content.

Having a usable website is absolutely vital today. Hopefully with the help of these tips, you can create a site that is both visually appealing and user friendly. Keep in mind, there are a myriad of free tools online to help business owners create everything from small pieces of content all the way up to entire websites. You don't need to be a tech expert to create a great website, you just need to be willing to put in the time and effort.