Your website is the face of your company in the virtual world. Just as you would never open your business with trash littering your entryway and with an interior that is covered in mold, you shouldn’t make public a site that does nothing to interest visitors and encourages them to buy. Too few companies pay attention to the content, images and graphics on the site. What they end up with is a site that’s less than appealing and falls well short of the desired results it was intended to accomplish. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you’re developing your web design so you can get more from it.
Make Sure to Use Responsive Design
Responsive design is an essential element in modern websites. No longer can you assume the majority of the people visiting your site will be on a desktop computer. It also doesn’t make sense to have a website for the desktop and another for mobile devices. The responsive design makes it possible for your website to be seen on any size screen with any kind of resolution through a more elegant design.
Keep in mind the extreme growth in the smartphone market has led to more than 60 percent of all mobile phone sales being smartphones. Also, think about all the tablets in the marketplace and the fact that tablet users are buyers and you have all the reason you need to make sure your website includes a responsive design element.
Something to remember is that responsive design is more than just the ability for the website to shrink to fit the screen. The entire website needs to adjust so the mobile device can navigate the website just as easily as if the individual were on a desktop computer. Utilizing grid designs as a part of responsive design allows you to move around pictures, graphs and even to switch navigation bars to lists as the screen sizes and resolutions change. Even something small, like switching from landscape to portrait, should alter the view of the website slightly, but still make it navigable.
Create a Great About Us Page
At its core, the purpose of the website is to let people learn more about your business and to make the informed decision to do business with you. The About Us page is a very important element in accomplishing this goal. According to Inc. Magazine, you should never slough off the writing of this page as something you just must have. Just as you have to have a barcode scanner for a retail store, it doesn’t mean you would just buy anything.
The content on the About Us page should do more than just give the core details about your company. It should tell the human story of your company people can connect with. Tell why your company was started and what your goals for the company were. Tell about how you’ve worked towards meeting these goals and how you continue to work towards them. By painting the picture of your company in broad strokes, you make your company more relatable and thus more trustworthy. Following this advice will allow you to have a website that better accomplishes your goals.
Use Engaging Content to Engage with Visitors
When your visitors start reading your pages, you don’t want to bore them with stuffy content they cannot relate to. if you pay attention to the content on your pages, you can accomplish goals such as being recognized as an industry leader, cultivating leads using a wider funnel and sharing more information.
Among the things you should pay attention to when you’re creating the content is the language you’re using. You always need to make sure you’re talking to the reader rather than just boasting about how great your company is. Remember that any product or service you offer is geared towards solving a problem your customers are having. Identifying what these problems are and how your products or services solve the problem can help you to create the kind of content your customers will appreciate.
Whenever possible, try to avoid using big words or technical speak, unless your intended reader identifies better with this kind of content. By focusing on simply written content, it’s easier for you to connect with your audience. Don’t think of it as dumbing down your content, but making the content more casual and conversational. Everything should read as if two friends are talking rather than a technical manual. This way, you’ll engage more and your sales will increase.
Include Infographics throughout Your Website
Infographics are a great way to capture attention even from people with short attention spans. These colorful and fun graphics are loaded with information you want to include in your website. Rather than relying on a wordsmith to come up with tons of content hardly anyone wants to read, you can simply utilize an infographic that has all the same key elements, but can be digested in less than five minutes.
Infographics are not limited to any one particular kind of industry either. If there is any kind of information you want to share with your readers, it can be made into an infographic. The idea is to create an image as the background and inside of the infographic that sets the tone for what the infographic is about. Make sure all the information you’re using is as shocking as possible so it grabs the attention of the reader. Start with the most intense information first and funnel down to the less interesting stuff. By the time readers get to the end of the infographic, they’re ready to move on to the next thing, and even take action. This is the perfect place to include a call to action.
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