Web design

Effective Web Design Principles

artistic-web-designBeing the owner of a successful company website is not a difficult task. The key to having a website that receives multiple views every hour is discovering more about your target audience. You need to learn how your customers think, what questions they have about your products or services, and what information they would like to learn about your company. Does your audience require your website to be simple and easy to use, or do they expect you to supply them with a modernized site with updated features? This is a question asked by many web design companies. Here are the basic answers:

Do Not Make Your Website Difficult for Users to Understand

Visitors to your website should not have to stare at the screen, completely unaware of where they should start first to get the information that they need. While it is fine to have a modernized design for your website, your content should be self-explanatory and answer any questions that your customer may have. Your audience needs to concentrate on considering the pros and cons of the product your company is offering and if there are any alternatives that will be better for the job. Place text and visual clues that will steer them in the right direction and cause them to realize that your product is best.

Gain the Customer's Attention First and Foremost

Today's websites are designed to promote both static and dynamic content. While images may be more appealing to the eyes than basic text, there are ways that you can make your text stand out. Using a clear and easy to read font or bolding your text will help you to get your point across without the use of multiple images. It is important to remember when designing a website that the human eye is a non-linear device. This means that while browsing the web, we can automatically recognize strong edges, simple motions and patterns. This is the reason why videos and intense animations can sometimes be too busy or distracting to website visitors. However if your primary goal is capturing the attention of your audience, these distracting additions can sometimes be worthwhile.

Make Your Content Entertaining and Engaging

Getting customers to visit your website is one thing, but keeping them interested enough to stay around can be a completely different hassle. While focusing on the design of your website you may neglect the actual content. A popular company website requires information that is constantly updated and interesting images that will hold the visitor's attention. Consider adding a blog to your website and designate an employee to the task of adding daily blog updates that contain relevant content that is both informative and intriguing.

Here is a nice video inspired by behavioral psychologist, Dr. Susan Weinshenk, speaking about the importance of persuasive website design:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP9_x1-Cjq4]

Go for the Quickest Load Time Possible

Your customers do not want to wait forever for your company's website to load. All the trendy animations, bold headers and videos can drastically slow down the amount of time that it takes for your page to load. Even if your visitors have the fastest internet connection available, being overzealous with content can cause their connection to become sluggish which could cause them to not visit your website in the future. Stick to the basics, use CSS instead and and make your website stand out with out a lot of unnecessary clutter. If a video or two are necessary, add a link to them on the home page or do not allow them to instantly start loading as soon as the visitor opens your page. Save your precious bandwidth space for high quality images that will quickly gain your visitors attention instead.

If you have any questions, please ask below!