How Website Design Affects Conversion Rates | Web Host Industry ...

An important strategy for growing your business? sales is to get new customers ? this is what marketing and promotion are all about and for many businesses this revolves around their websites. However, many business owners make the mistake of focusing on the amount of traffic and the number of visitors they get. While these are important metrics, they don?t mean anything if that traffic isn?t converting into sales.

In a previous post, we?ve gone over some important points for boosting your website usability, which goes hand in hand with conversion. Things such as making your support and contact information front and center, and keeping your forms as simple and clean as possible are all important ways to help turn that visitor into a customer. We?ve also discussed how having an out of date website can affect your business.

Let?s look a little more closely now at how web design specifically. The look, feel and general user experience on a website are also crucial to conversion. This all comes down to the talents of your web design team ? there is no underestimating the power of a professionally designed website!

While websites are all visually unique when it comes to design and layout, there are general recommendations that apply to any site and can help your business boost conversion rates:

Highlight Important Content

Good web design focuses on putting your most crucial information front and center. Eye Tracking Research?conducted by Jakob Nielsen, reveals that users? attention is focused at the top of web pages. This means that you must have your important information above the fold, where 80.3% of users spend their viewing time.

Fast Read Information

When a visitor lands on your site, they want to quickly find the information they are looking for. They will continue scrolling down your web pages if what is initially communicated above the fold makes them believe that it is worth their time to continue reading. It is also important that your web content is easy to read and scannable to encourage them to dig deeper, one of our top 10 tips for getting web usability right. Break up your content and use white space to your advantage.

Good web design also highlights your offerings and showcases the features and benefits of your product or service. Visitors are presented the information they need to make a purchase decision in an enticing and visually appealing way. They don?t need to dig around for the details they need.

Strong Calls to Action

Good web design uses calls to action throughout website pages to encourage visitors to take a desired action. Don?t assume that visitors will do what you want them to. Make the desired action explicit. The visitor should always have a doorway to move forward.

Consistent Look and Feel

One of the most important indicators of good web design is a consistent look to a website, no matter what page or what section a visitor is on. Stick to your color scheme and use similar types of images and graphics. Keep things looking clean and polished ? don?t distract a visitor from your offering with a website design that is visually unappealing or so busy that a user doesn?t know where to go next or what action they should take.

First impressions and user experience on a website are crucial to conversion rates. Ensure your website design works to support your sales and business goals.

About Hartland Ross

Hartland Ross is an online marketing strategist, entrepreneur, and founder and president of eBridge Marketing Solutions - an online marketing agency and consulting firm catering to technology companies.

An expert in the principles of marketing, strategy and business development, Hartland began his entrepreneurial career in the building materials industry as a successful franchise owner and operator. He followed this up with a stint in the pulp and paper industry before landing positions with two different internet marketing startups in the online advertising sector. He then took his online success and moved on to become VP of Sales and Marketing for a national training and development company.

Considered a pioneer in the online world, Hartland has been working in the sales and marketing of web based technology companies since 1999. He is well recognized and regarded in the hosting industry and to date has worked with over 150 web hosting companies providing business growth, marketing strategy and industry direction advice and recommendations.

With 15 years of business development experience, plus over 10 years experience in working specifically with technology companies, Hartland is a sought after speaker and online authority who is often interviewed and quoted in various industry related case studies and articles.

Corporate philanthropy is also top of mind for Hartland who believes it's important to give back to his community. Hartland is a past board member of Young Entrepreneurs Association and is an active mentor for Junior Achievement helping our youth become the business leaders of tomorrow.

A graduate of UBC, Hartland holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master degree in Business Administration with a focus on Business Strategy.

Source: http://www.thewhir.com/blog/how-website-design-affects-conversion-rates

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