Businesses and web designers are learning to design for consumers and not just what a company wants. What companies want and what consumers need are often two different things.
When working on the web design aspect of your online presence, view several successful online websites. Look at how simple and easy to use their sites are. Yours will want to function just as smoothly.
Cater to technology when building a website. Consumers are more mobile now than ever. This means that more are shopping online from smartphones and tablets.
What you want to do is create a copy of the main website. Some items will need to be condensed and some advertisements or graphics will have to go too. Mobile users should have the same access to features and content as PC users.
Neutral Colors
Be very careful with color selection. A few bright accents are fine. The main or background colors should be quite neutral.
Background colors to consider:
- White
- Gray
- Tan
- Black
- Cream
- Light Gray Blue
These colors are easy on the eyes. No matter what lighting situation a consumer is in, these will be easy to view.
Include Media
Videos and photos are important on a website. Keep the videos short though. Up to two minutes is more than sufficient.
Media and videos helps to breakup text content. Consumers do not like to look at large chunks of content. Where content does exist, keep paragraphs short.
Media can be a video to introduce a company president, the company itself or a feature product/service. Photos should match the content too. Photos of just anything will throw consumers off and will likely make them stray from your site.
Include Social Media Sharing Buttons
Social media sharing buttons add to the appeal to a website. Rather than copying and pasting a URL into a post and explaining what it is, consumers just have to hit a share button.
Linking the website to a profile or allowing sharing abilities makes this process easier. It helps consumers to let their friends and family know that they like your website, service or product. More exposure and additional shares come from this.
Not only does this help get more traffic to your website, it will increase revenues almost immediately.
Keep it Simple
Don’t complicate things. Multiple navigation bars with huge menus and pages upon pages of content will run consumers off. Archive content and include a search bar.
The inclusion of these elements allows consumers to use keywords to search for content. Make sure that you have the search bar coded to search the archives too. By using this method, you are keeping clutter off of the main viewing area.
Keep it Secure
Consumers like a secure website to visit. It is important that their personal information is kept safe. They also need to be able to shop safely without the risk of identity theft.
On the website, display small icons indicating that the website is secure. This can be something from VeriSign or other secure website entities.
Keep in mind, again, that you are designing based upon what consumers want. Clients can, of course, provide their input as to what they want too.
Speak with the client to discuss features to make the website easier for consumers to use. This can be items such as clustered navigation, archived content and a search bar. Keep things simple to use.
Consumers should not have to look through the website for more than two minutes to find what they are looking for. Any longer than that and they are likely to have a negative experience from frustration.