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In a technology-driven age, it has become essential for local businesses to create a presence online. A website allows you to bolster your current advertising campaigns, take control of your brand image online and build long-term relationships with your clients.
If your looking for some solid tips that will stand the test of time and ensure your investment was a good one keep reading.
Before we start, we need to take a look at user behaviour online. Keep in mind that your website is there to guide your customers and potential customers towards a specific action. However, the action needs to address a specific need from the customer. The better you understand the behaviour, the better you will be at addressing their needs.
USER BEHAVIOUR
Designing a Website That Produces Results
QUALITY & CREDIBILITY
Website users appreciate quality and credibility in a website. You can have the most beautifully designed website in the world, but if your content is lacking in
quality and credibility, your design means nothing.
ANALYSING A WEBPAGE
Users scan web-pages. They don't read every single bit of content and search for anchors to guide them through the content of your website page.
INSTANT GRATIFICATION
Your website needs to grab your user's attention in the first few seconds or risk an exit.
INTUITION
Users tend to follow their intuition which makes it very important that your website structure follows an intuitive flow.
EFFECTIVE WEB DESIGN
Applying these principles during your web design process will put you in good stead with your users.
1
GOAL
Each page on your website needs to cater to a specific goal of your user. Whether your user is looking for your contact details or more information on a product or service, your website needs to cater to that in the most effective way.
2
COMMUNICATION
Users tend to consume information very quickly on the internet. It's therefore important that you communicate information very clearly on your website. It needs to be easy to read and digest. You can accomplish this by formatting your text with headers, bullet points etc.
3
COLOUR
Use colour effectively throughout your website. To create harmony and balance, use complementary colours. Provide contrast for the text and background colours to make your website content easy to read. Colors have the power to evoke emotions, so bear this in mind when deciding which palette to use.
4
MEDIA
The text isn't the only form of communicating with your users. Adding rich media to your website like images, videos and infographics can communicate a point across more effectively than any piece of text. It can also be very effective in positioning your brand to your target audience.
5
CUSTOMER JOURNEY
This refers to the actions the user takes when moving around in your website. There is a general "3 click rule" which states that a user shouldn't take more than 3 clicks to get to their goal/destination. Make sure that the website has a logical page structure which has intuitive user flow.
6
USER ATTENTION
Studies have shown that users scan computers in an "F" pattern which places their attention on the top left-hand side of the screen. Good designers will build a website using this flow instead of forcing a different type of flow and prioritize the most important information left to right and top to bottom.
7
LOAD TIMES
Websites that take a long time to load are universally hated by most users. Ensuring that website images are optimized to load faster and making sure the code is optimised will ensure that your website loads quicker.
8
MOBILE FRIENDLY
Make sure that your website is optimized to be viewed across all devices. You will be missing out on a big chunk of traffic if your website is only optimised for desktop usage.