Users Are More Likely to Trust Your Business and Convert If You Have a Well-Designed Website
While quality content is an important part of successful website marketing strategies, design is equally as important—if not more so. This is primarily because people pass judgments based on first impressions and appearances. If you want to impress users who visit your website, you have to make sure it looks good. Like, really good. And this is where design comes in. For the most effective website marketing strategy, a business should combine quality content with professional, user-friendly website design to impress and gain the trust of their users.
Credibility with Design
According to website design research, people trust websites more based on design instead of content, with the majority of people (94%) stating that they don’t trust certain websites because of its design elements or lack thereof. Design elements that increase user trust include:Make your trust-checklist!
White space
Clean design and layouts
Terms and conditions
Privacy statements
Industry seals
Memberships
Guarantees
Business details (i.e., phone number, address, e-mail)
Testimonials
Clean design and layout prevent noisy clutter that irritates users. A website with effective white space can give users a chance to examine, judge, and make use of the information while navigating the website.
Easy Site Navigation
… seriously? Users want to quickly find what they’re looking for. If your website isn’t intuitive or if the users are not able to navigate the site easily, you risk losing them for good. For simple site navigation, your menus should be clear, easy to read, and straightforward. If you’re unsure of your website’s ease of use, ask people to navigate your site and rate it based on user friendliness. Also, include User Experience (UX) design and User Interface (UI) design as part of your website marketing strategy to ensure that your site will be easy for users to navigate.
The Influence Colour Has on Users
all blue, everything Since we judge things based on how they look, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that consumers will make purchases based on visual perception, and that colour is often an influencing factor for purchasing decisions. Effective design uses colours to improve a website’s readability and user comprehension. Different target audiences have different colour preferences, so do your research. For example, men like green, blue, and black the most, while women prefer blue, purple, and green. And for almost everyone, blue is the most visible colour. So when considering your website design, make sure the use of colour combinations is simple and attractive while the calls to action are clear and noticeable.
Look Professional
A professional-looking website will instill more user confidence in your business than a shoddy looking website. Users want to purchase products or services from business they can trust and who appear professional. Depending on your industry, there will be specific expectations and standards for your online appearance. Make sure to meet or exceed those standards to ensure that your site looks professional and your business can be trusted. Regarding effective website marketing, appearance isn’t everything, though it’s pretty close. Combining quality content with effective, user-friendly, and professional design will help to keep visitors on your website, gain their trust, and get them to convert.Put in the effort, or someone else will!
Content and design are both crucial components of any website. Content refers to any media that a visitor may consume: text, audio, video, and even interactive web elements. Design, meanwhile, refers to the elements used to present the site’s content: layout, fonts, colours, and much more.
These two website components are closely related, but how? Do content and design rely on each other? Which is led by the other?
Your first instinct may tell you that design leads and content follows, but this isn’t necessarily the approach that produces the best results. In reality, they should guide each other, and content production should be incorporated during the design phase.
Why Content Is Important for Website Design
User Experience
No matter how carefully you curate the design of your website, it won’t be the first thing your visitors remember. Content is what sticks with them. For that reason, it’s important to make sure that your site’s content has the same “wow factor” that your design elements give off.
Design Frames Content
Think of your design elements as a frame. Design can enhance your content, but ultimately, the content’s substance does not change. As a result, strong, meaningful content is necessary for your design to do its job to the fullest.
SEO
Having a well-designed website isn’t going to make your site pop up in Google searches – you’ll need to count on search engine optimization to do that. SEO is one of the most important concepts to consider in promoting your brand on line, and content is where it all matters.
As a designer, it’s important to measure the balance between creativity and simplicity. You want your site to stand out, but you don’t want to overwhelm the visitor. One key tip is often overlooked: make sure your content is easy to read. This means using reasonably-selected fonts and colours, and staying consistent for the visitor’s benefit.
Accessibility
Your content should be accessible to everyone. That means a visitor’s personal circumstances should not limit their ability to interact with your content. Consider visitors with visual or hearing impairments, learning disabilities, internet accessibility, or anything else that may affect how a visitor interacts with your content.
Appearance
Your content may be strong, but if it is presented poorly, it will instantly lose its magic. Professional content deserves to be paired with professional design. Choose design elements that look great, and visitors will form a more positive opinion of your brand as a whole.
Why Content Should Come Before Design
You might think that the most obvious approach to building a website is to first make decisions surrounding the design, then to add in content at the last minute. For better results, you should incorporate your content creation into the design process. This will allow both components to complement each other, ultimately leading to an effective website.
Good websites have strong design and content, but great websites have design and content that strengthen each other.
Think about it – if a visitor perceives your design and content as two separate entities that don’t match each other, they may get the sense that your brand is disjointed and lacks unity.
How to Incorporate Content Production Into the Design Phase
The key to encouraging content and design to mesh together is communication. The following techniques lend themselves to effective communication that should bring out the best in your site.
Create a Roadmap
When it comes to building a website, planning is everything. You may end up making several changes throughout designing and developing your site, but a base plan is totally crucial. That’s why roadmaps are so great. These planning accessories allow you to envision how your journey towards a complete website will unfold. By sharing a roadmap with your team, everyone will understand what role they are playing in your site’s success.
Communication and Project Management
Having a good project management system is a must when content and design teams work together. Among other benefits, a project management system will allow the design team to access content in real-time, allowing them to access tangible examples of what will appear on the site they are designing.
Develop Content Outlines Before Writing It
Earlier, we mentioned that planning is everything. That statement doesn’t just apply to website design, but to content as well. By planning out content in advance, creators will understand the larger role that each individual piece of media will play in your project as a whole.
It turns out that content and design are not as different as you may have thought. Both give your site’s visitors a strong impression of your brand, and both components rely on each other to shine. Consider how these components interact with each other as you build your site – you’ll end up with a site full of gears that turn in perfect harmony.
Why SEO Strategy Shouldn’t Ignore UX, and 5 Common Design Mistakes to Avoid
Good set-up, quality content, and a pretty design are the formula for successful SEO… right? If only it were that simple. We’ve said it before: SEO is not a fill-in-the-blanks process. It requires a unique mix of creative thought and data-backed research and work to be truly successful. Nowhere is this more evident than in the unique interplay of user experience (UX) and the role it plays in search engine optimization. In fact, UX plays a more important role than ever before, extending beyond the visual. When was the last time you thought about user experience? And what steps have you taken to ensure your site is thriving with the best possible UX design? UX design can make or break a website. Search engines have evolved to make use of advanced algorithms and machine learning that take UX into account. Simply put, poor user experience now has an impact on search engine results. SEO companies and agencies strive for a winning combination of SEO and UX. Collaborative design and set-up are essential for successful rankings and initiatives. It just so happens that your conversion rate will see benefits too, a happy side effect of effective UX design! If you’re not already doing it, using SEO services to improve UX is something you can’t afford to skip. Here’s why:
User Signals and Behaviour
What signal is this user’s behaviour sending? User signals factor into search engine rankings, Thus, any problems with UX will affect organic search results and conversions. Since users don’t always enter a site at the home page, you should consider the various channels and entry points users take to your site. Use analytics tools to determine landing and exit pages; this will give you insight into how users are interacting with individual pages. And, of course, keep in mind that if a user is searching for a specific keyword, the page they’re landing on had better give them the info they need. Don’t make your users jump around to find something on your site!
Avoid Common UX Mistakes
If a user can’t find what they’re looking for in a minute or two, chances are they’re going contribute to your bounce rate. At best, you’ve lost a customer; at worst, your priming them to switch to the competition. Thankfully, there are simple and straightforward solutions to these issues. Here are a few familiar challenges and what you can do to overcome them:
Tabbed Content
We can’t stress this enough: never hide the content a user is looking for! Tabs and dropdowns are another step (and therefore potential frustration) that get between users and successful conversions. The solution? Find visually distinct means of conveying and highlighting the important stuff. Remember how design operates on three distinct levels? Create a good first impression visually, deliver on the promise your site makes, and give users a good reason to visit again. Visual designs must account for how a user’s eyes are going to move about a page, so make sure people are seeing what you want them to see right off the bat. And stop hiding content!Infinite scroll pages just keep going and going…
Infinite Scroll Pages
These pages have one URL but multiple topics on a single page. When you land on one, you’ve got to keep scrolling to find what you’re looking for. And because the content isn’t loading until you start scrolling, using your browser’s built-in search function isn’t going to help. It’s a time-consuming and frustrating experience for users. Break up site content (visual or verbal) into more digestible chunks. Remember, users scan and want to find info quickly. If the page can’t be broken up, then implement some sort of navigation system or table of content for quick jumps to what users need to find.
No Visual Hierarchy
If done well, eye-catching web design can convert your users and leave a lasting impression. But sometimes, the UX design of a website is ineffective. This is where visual hierarchies come into play. Imagine a pyramid of your goals based on how you would ideally like your users to interact with your website. The top of the pyramid is a type of conversion functionality, such as a call to action button. This call to action should be the first thing users see when arriving at your landing page. Lower down the pyramid is interactive videos or compelling content that entices them to discover more about your brand and business. The design of your page should prioritize visual content based on your visual hierarchy, with conversion rates being the most eye-catching, and so on. Simply put, visual hierarchies prioritize visual content based on your goals.
Poor Checkout Process
For e-commerce businesses, finalizing an online order is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But if your checkout process isn’t fast, clear, or easy to use, your customers will likely abandon their carts. To optimize your check-out process for a quick, easy, and straightforward experience, consider using these UX design factors:
A guest checkout option—since many users don’t want to register because it’s time consuming and means they may get bombarded with unwanted e-mails;
A clear, detailed view of items in the shopping cart;
A progress indicator to show where customers are at in the checkout process; and,
The total cost of the order, including taxes and shipping fees, is detailed and visible prior to finalizing the purchase.
Outdated Web Design
Your users deserve a pleasant, stress-free design and experience. First impressions are huge when it comes to websites. The aesthetics of your design can directly impact how your business is perceived. If your site looks outdated, lacks a consistent theme, and isn’t up-to-date on current design trends, then it’s possible that users will be skeptical of your business and decide not to trust you. Furthermore, Google will likely rank your site poorly since it doesn’t adequately accommodate the visually-appealing aspect of user experience. It’s important that Google prioritizes the user’s experience when it comes to your website, so to ensure you rank high on Google’s search engine, you need to adapt that same priority. There are ways you can improve your web design to account for UX. Consider having:
Visually-appealing designs that follow a theme;
Less clutter and more white space—this is more attractive and can help guide users’ eyes to your call to action; and,
Fast page loading times to keep users satisfied and more likely to stick around.
There are many aspects of UX design that contribute to offering the best possible user experience. SEO companies collaborate with business owners, marketers, designers, developers, and content creators to provide optimal SEO services that account for UX. With this collaboration, you can include UX in your SEO strategy, get your site up to speed, and boost both conversions and rankings.
Written by: Lia Categories - 
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