An impressive, eye-catching website can make a big difference to your overall business success. In fact, about 50% of customers say a website’s design is the main factor they use to determine a company’s credibility. Another 38% will leave a website if it’s unattractive. With more people staying home in light of COVID, you need to reach customers online. Hiring a professional website company can help you stand out and expand your reach. Otherwise, you could risk falling behind the competition. Still on the fence about spending money on web design services?

Here are nine amazing benefits you can experience by hiring a team of web designers right away. Discover how web design can boost your business with this guide today!

1. Strengthen Your Digital Marketing Strategy

What do you have in store for your digital marketing strategy this year? Are you trying to reach more search engine users using search engine optimization (SEO)? Perhaps you’re using pay-per-click (PPC) advertising instead.

Either way, your website is an essential part of your overall marketing strategy.

Consumers won’t choose a business they know nothing about. They want to learn about what you have to offer. Many will explore your website to determine who you are and what you do.

Remember, your web design can have a big impact on your company’s credibility. A messy, confusing website could scare off potential customers.

If people leave without clicking around, it could impact your bounce rate, clickthrough rate, and dwell time. These metrics can impact your search engine ranking.

You could waste valuable time and money on SEO and PPC if your website is old and out of date.

SEO and PPC both help you reach more online consumers. The higher you rank, the more often shoppers will see your brand. With these digital marketing strategies, you can:

• Build brand awareness
• Become a thought leader in your industry
• Outrank the competition
• Attract more website traffic
• Build brand trust and loyalty

People will see you as a credible resource.

If your website is old, slow, or insecure, however, you’ll miss your chance!

By choosing web design services, you can build a website that accomplishes your digital marketing goals instead of hinders them.

2. Appeal to Your Audience

Who are your customers? What issues are they experiencing each day? How can your business help solve those problems?

An experienced web design company will understand that it’s essential to create a website with your distinct target audience in mind. Otherwise, a generic website could fail to appeal to their needs and interests.

Working with a web design agency can help you reach customers, draw them in, and generate more leads. They’ll research customer demographics like age, gender, and location. Then, they’ll build your website with those customers in mind.

Instead of struggling to attract relevant leads, you can reel them in! 

3. Support Your SEO Efforts

Remember, your digital marketing strategy could suffer if you’re using an old, outdated website. Google considers your entire website when determining your search engine ranking.

Unfortunately for some, Google updates its algorithm numerous times throughout the year. If you’re not up-to-date with the latest SEO trends, your ranking could suffer.

Over 90% of all online activity begins on a search engine. Meanwhile, over 70% of searchers never look beyond the first page of a search. You need to reach that first page to draw in fresh web traffic.

A talented web designer can help you achieve your SEO goals.

For example, Google now uses mobile-first indexing to determine rankings. They can update your website to ensure it’s mobile optimized. Then, you can reach mobile users (instead of losing a chance at fresh leads).

4. Remain Competitive

What are your competitors doing to improve their own web design this year? Are you falling behind?

Your web design company can help you remain competitive. If you’re a small business, a stunning website could even help you look like a big corporation. They can help you wow customers and draw them in before competitors can.

If your website looks old and outdated, however, your competitors will take the lead. Consumers will choose bigger, more successful businesses over ones that look like they’re failing.

Remember, your website’s design can help support your SEO efforts. You can improve your ranking to appear ahead of big corporations. Positioning yourself ahead of these businesses can help you look like a big business, too.

Then, you can attract those customers before your competitors get the chance!

5. Keep the Lights On

It’s likely your business doesn’t run 24/7. That’s okay. With a stunning website, you can bring in fresh leads and sales whether your store is open or not.

Your website design agency can help you market your business, even when the doors are closed for the night. For example, they can make sure you have plenty of lead opportunities on each page.

Website visitors can fill out a form or subscribe to your newsletter. Without a functional website, however, you’ve missed out on these leads!

You can also ask your design team to add a chat function to your website. Visitors will see that you’re eager to help and answer their questions.

If they don’t have a way to communicate with you, however, they’ll leave and take their business elsewhere.

In fact, your website could help you draw more traffic into your brick and mortar store, too. Nearly 90% of consumers use the internet to find local businesses. Once they review your website, they’ll realize you have exactly what they’re looking for!

Are you trying to boost e-commerce sales this year? Your website can either help you or hinder you.

About 70% of online users abandon their shopping carts because of proof web design. Some people struggle to use your website because it’s not mobile-optimized, too. Since mobile conversions are 64% higher than desktop, you need a mobile strategy.

Working with a talented web design agency can help you get those sales!

6. Improve the User Experience

Considering user experience (UX) is essential if you want to keep people on your website. In fact, UX can influence your SEO success as well. 

Think about how people interact with your website. Can they find everything they need easily? Do your pages load quickly?

A messy, cluttered, confusing website page design can confuse your customers. They’ll leave without clicking around. Your SEO ranking will take a hit as a result.

Improving the user experience will keep people on your website. They’ll explore, find what they need, and convert.

Ask the web design agency you choose if they have UX design experience. They can improve your website with the users in mind.

For example, it’s important to make sure your website loads quickly. Old plugins, heavy images, and clunky pages can slow the site down. In fact, a website that takes 10 seconds increases the probability of a bounce by 123%.

Adjusting your website’s page design can improve your content’s readability. You can use shorter sentences and paragraphs to make your content easier to skim. Headings and subheadings can better organize your content as well.

What about your page navigation? Is it easy to explore your pages? Does the navigation make sense?

Considering these design elements can help you keep people on your site.

7. Keep Up With Trends

Web design trends change every few months. If your website is behind the times, consumers will take notice. They’ll think of your company as old and outdated as well.

For example, you can add:

• Big, bold headlines
• Motion and animation
• Personalized pages
• Dark mode
• 3D and visualized data
• Chatbots and assistants

Consumers will start expecting these features across every website. By working with an experienced web design company, you can keep up with these trends.

They’ll make sure you never fall behind.

8. Build Trust and Loyalty

Remember, your website page design can speak to your company’s credibility. What message do you want to convey to your target audience?

For example, you might have a fun, playful brand. You can use an array of colors, fun animations, and cute doodles across your site.

Do you want to look professional instead?

Either way, your web design company can help you achieve these goals.

Using a DIY website builder, on the other hand, can make your company look small and cheap. Conveying the right message will help you build brand trust. Ensuring visitors find what they need with ease can encourage consumers to trust you as well.

In time, that trust will turn into loyalty, allowing you to retain long-time customers.

9. Improve Your ROI

How can people convert on your website? Do you have a form or chat option? Is the button big, eye-catching, and easy to click on?

Think about your links, too. Broken links could cost you conversions.

Your web design team will improve your website with lead generation in mind. They’ll make sure you capitalize on every opportunity to gain a conversion.

With their help, you can boost leads and conversions, improving your company’s ROI.

Design It Right: 9 Reasons You Need a Professional Web Design Agency

Don’t fall behind the times! Instead, update your website with help from an experienced web design agency. With their experience and expertise, you can stand out from the crowd and boost sales.

Without them, however, your website could fall flat.

Ready to get started? Discover the website you’ve always wanted. Get a quote from a team of talented web designers today!

We live in an increasingly connected world; the internet has shaped every aspect of our lives, and is so pervasive it’s almost impossible to avoid doing anything online. Social media and web design are the easiest ways for a brand to connect with a wide audience. However, the web can be a difficult place to navigate for consumers with disabilities. Hearing or visually impaired users may find there are large swathes of content online that are inaccessible or difficult for them to use. Making sure your website is accessible is one of the most important ways you can avoid alienating potential customers. 

“Accessibility” is an umbrella term that is used to describe aspects which influence a person’s ability to function within an environment. In web design, this translates to how easily your site can be navigated by someone of differing ability.

It may be a legal requirement for your business’ website to be accessible. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), businesses that fall under two different distinctions (Title I and Title III) must have accessible websites. 

Title I businesses are defined as businesses that have 15 or more employees and operate 20 or more weeks per year. Title III businesses are categorized as “public accommodations” such as banks, public transport, or hotels. 

The ADA does not have specific guidelines for web accessibility, but there are many ways you can ensure your website is accessible to all users. These 7 tips below will get you started:

1. Add Alt Text to Images

Images on your website help to visually break up text and add meaning to your content, but what about users who are visually impaired? Any important images or graphics used on your website should have alt text embedded into the code, so people who use screen reading software can have a meaningful description of the image. This is especially important for infographics; make sure your alt text includes not only a description of the visuals of the infographic, but a transcription of any words contained in the infographic, as well. 

If an image used is purely decorative, you can leave the alt text empty. This will allow a screen reader to ignore the image entirely.

2. Add Captions or Provide Transcripts with Video or Audio 

Any video or audio that appears on your site should contain text captions. Many online platforms offer the ability to generate captions automatically, but adding captions to your produced videos is the best way to display an accurate script for your audio. This ensures users with hearing impairments (or even people who prefer to watch video without sound) are able to understand your video content. If you cannot add captions or your content is audio-only, you can provide a transcript of the audio the user can download to understand the meaning of your content. 

3. Use Proper Headings for Organization

Screen readers can pick up on headings and subheadings to better organize website text. Marking sections with <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, etc is a simple way to ensure visually impaired users will be able to hear your content as intended. Don’t skip around in numerical order, however. Going from <h1> to <h3> might look nice visually, but it can confuse someone using a screen reader and make them think there is content missing. Keeping content in a logical sequence makes it easier for screen readers to follow; skipping numbered heading formats may be disorienting or confusing. 

4. Simplify Navigation

Organize your menu options to be the same on every page. This makes your site predictable and easier to navigate. Some users are not able to use a mouse due to movement difficulties. Including the ability to navigate your website by keyboard could make navigation easier for them. Users should be able to follow internal and external links with ease, and be able to go forwards and backwards through content without getting stuck. Test your web page by trying to navigate without using your mouse to check that navigation is intuitive and simple.

5. Be Mindful of Color

Using color to distinguish parts of your text may give your website a polished look, but solely using color can run you into trouble for accessibility. Approximately 8% of men and .4% of women around the world have some form of color blindness; red-green color blindness is the most common deficiency. Add other design elements, such as patterns or different fonts to better visually distinguish different parts of your content. You can also utilize borders or whitespace to separate out sections. And be sure to use enough contrast between the background of your page or image and your text; there are many tools available, like this color analyzer, that will test contrast levels to make sure they are within accessibility guidelines. 

6. Use Readable Font

Set your default font size to something reasonably large. Users can use their browser’s settings to increase or decrease as needed. However, your design should ensure that enlarging fonts won’t interfere with readability or functionality. Choose a typeface that is simple with distinct letters and wide enough space between letters. Users with dyslexia will have an easier time tracking text that is spaced further apart. Use plenty of space between paragraphs, as well. 

Avoid using images of text instead of text for headers or other text assets. Screen readers won’t be able to read them without a well-written caption, and it makes editing content more difficult.

7. Make Links Descriptive

A simple “click here!” might be catchy clickbait for some links, but it can be confusing to screen reading software. Make your links descriptive with phrasing such as “check out our about page to learn more” or “contact us here”. A little bit of description goes a long way, as screen readers typically don’t read links within the context of the rest of the page. If you’re using an image as a link, include a description of the destination page as the image’s alt text. 

What More Can I Do?

Many content management systems, such as WordPress, have accessibility settings built-in to themes and templates. This can help get you started, along with the previous tips above. In addition, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has created a system of guidelines to better help developers with accessibility. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG, are a detailed list of actions you can take within your web design to make your website fully accessible to users with disabilities. There is even a quick reference guide with examples you can use to get a better idea of the types of accommodations that can take your website to the next level of accessibility.

Of course, if you need assistance, you can always contact us for help! We can be there with you every step of the way while you build a website that is sure to wow and be accessible to everyone. 

Are you establishing your online footprint for your business, but you’re having trouble attracting attention? It’s time to let your website do the work. A well-designed web page helps you solve business goals because of a combination of high-quality content that speaks to your audience and an emphasis on clear, defined goals. 

Then, it’s all about knowing a few design rules of thumb in order to create an attractive web page that people want to visit and engage with! If you’re ready to improve your website, we’re here to help. 

Read on to learn how to design a web page the right way in order to attract more traffic and encourage engagement! 

Start With Purpose

Designing web pages is similar to designing entire websites. You’ll want to begin by determining the purpose of the page first. Each web page of your site should have only one goal. This will help create a simplified experience for your users so that they don’t encounter information overload.

Defining one purpose also helps you include a call to action on every page. When you include a clear call to action, this can help reduce bounce rates on your website by giving viewers a clear path forward. 

Here are a few common purposes of web pages to get you started: 

• Sign up for a mailing list
• Increase organic traffic through SEO
• Encourage viewers to make a transaction

Consider your own purposes when you’re browsing online. When you type in a search term in a search engine, you’re usually trying to learn more about something, navigate to a specific web page, or you’re ready to make a purchase. Consider these goals while creating your content strategy! 

Create a Content Strategy

Now that you know the purpose of each of your web pages, you’ll have an easier time creating a content strategy. A content strategy helps you with the following: 

• Defining your target audience 
• Deciding on the kind of content that your audience will connect with
• Developing the content
• Scheduling the content 

Remember that since each of your web pages only has one goal, you should focus on creating high-quality content that’s easy for viewers to read and ingest. Simplicity is always the answer. 

If you have blog posts on a web page, remember to break up the posts with visuals and keep the sentences short and easy to read. If you have a form that you’d like customers to fill out, try to keep the number of form fields down to five or less.

Page Structure

Once you have a solid content strategy in place, it’s time to design the actual web page. The easiest place to start is to decide on the page structure. The structure of a page determines where each element will go, such as blog posts, headlines, forms, and graphics. 

The most common way to determine a page’s structure is to start with wireframes. Although this is a common method designers use, you don’t need any knowledge of software, design, or coding in order to get started. All you need is a sheet of paper and a pencil. 

You’ll draw and label boxes as you imagine that the paper is your web page. For instance, on the top, you may want your website’s logo with an image on the left side of the page. You’ll then have your content on the right side. This continues until you have all your elements accounted for. 

Creating Visual Hierarchy

Keeping visual hierarchy in mind will help you determine your page structure. Because you don’t want viewers to feel overwhelmed by your web page, it’s important to design with scalability in mind. This gives people the ability to scan through the web page and move on to the next without needing to stay longer on the page than they’d like. 

Scannability is easier if you establish a visual hierarchy. For instance, many designers agree that an F-shaped pattern is better for text-heavy pages. Users will scan the top of the page from left to right, then they’ll scroll down and repeat the movement. Next, they’ll scroll down the page while scanning the left side, creating an F-shape. 

Since you know where people’s eyes will commonly go on a web page, this clues you in on where to place each element on your page. With the F-shaped pattern, you’ll know to place important pieces of information or calls to action on the left side of the page. 

Negative Space

You can see how the content on your page as well as where it’s placed makes a huge difference in whether you’ll have high or low bounce rates. However, the lack of content on a page is just as important as the content itself.

When you navigate to any popular website, you’ll find that there is blank space as well as active space. If every single area of a web page was filled with content, your audience will quickly feel overwhelmed. Remember to incorporate negative space in your page structure in order to encourage users to keep scrolling downward.

A good rule of thumb is to include ample negative space in order to divide different elements on a page, such as between text and images.

Quality Call to Action Buttons

We’ve already addressed how important calls to action are on each of your web pages, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to create them. Each call to action needs to contain a clear and simple direction so that users know what to do next. Here are a few examples: 

• Sign up here
• Download our trial
• Schedule a free consultation

Along with the right copy, make sure that each button is prominent on the page. It also needs to be clear that the button is clickable through visual cues such as a changing color when you hover over the button, drop shadows, or simply an instruction to “click here.”

Quality Images and Graphics

You’ll also want to ensure that the images and graphics you’re using are a good representation of your business. You’ll want to start by first ensuring they’re properly sized so that they aren’t too small, blurry, or pixelated. You also want to avoid uploading full-size on to your web pages because you still want the page to load quickly for users. 

When it comes to choosing imagery, focus on colors and visual representations that make sense for your company. For instance, if you know your target audience is women in their 30’s to 40’s, you’ll want to find stock images that represent this demographic. 

Measuring and Tracking Performance

You’ll never know how well a web page is doing if you’re not measuring or tracking its performance. The way you measure and track your performance is based on the overall goals of your business and the web page.

For instance, if you have a web page that’s solely to encourage people to sign up for your mailing list, you’ll want to see how many people are signing up each month. If the number is lower than you’d like, you know it’s time to improve the content on that page or determine what your target audience really wants.

Here are a few other KPIs (key performance indicators) to determine how well a web page is doing:

• Bounce rate
• Average time on page
• Unique visitors
• Sales
• Sessions
• Percentage of new visitors
• And more

If you don’t keep track of at least a few KPIs, there’s no way to determine whether a web page is doing the work you need or not. Remember that it’s not realistic to expect all your web pages to be successful the moment you publish them. You’ll need to constantly come up with new ideas, test them through A/B testing, and develop those ideas. 

How to Design a Web Page: Start With a Plan

When you learn how to design a web page, it’s important to begin with a plan in mind. For instance, consider what would happen if you designed a beautiful web page but weren’t thinking about your target audience. Even though your web page might draw traffic, it won’t be traffic that converts into paying customers. 

Ready to look into award-winning web content, design, or SEO services that can bump your website up to the next level? Killer Spots Agency provides quality, in-house services with a strategy and ROI culture. We deliver our customers complete customer service and measurable results.

Contact us today to get started! 

People are busy, always on-the-go while looking for the next big thing. Consumers expect companies to keep up with their needs. Otherwise, their digital experience won’t fit in with their life in the real world. 

So how do you give customers what they want?

With a user-friendly website, you can make your customers’ lives a lot easier. UX design could also boost your business.

According to research, a well-designed user interface could increase conversions by 200%. Meanwhile, a better user experience design could increase conversions up to 400%.

By now, you’re probably wondering what user-friendly web design entails. Keep reading to discover what makes a good website through user-friendly design. 

1. Start Responsive

Most people keep up with the world from their smartphones. 

According to research, 61% of site users will choose a competitor’s mobile-friendly site over one that’s not. Meanwhile, 45% are less likely to visit a site a second time if they had a poor user experience. 

To develop a user-friendly website, you first need to keep your mobile users in mind. 

Make it easier for people to use your website from their smaller screens. This can include creating a mobile-friendly or responsive site. 

To optimize for mobile users, keep navigation, font sizes, and buttons in mind. Photos and videos should all scale for smaller screen widths.

Otherwise, your mobile users will end up pinching and zooming out, trying to see your content. 

2. Simplify the Nav

People can’t explore your website if the navigation is difficult to use. 

For a user-friendly website, simplicity is key. Make sure the navigation is easy to use and understand. Try not to complicate the nav with multiple tiers, either. 

Instead, minimize the number of sub navigations you use. Make sure each page is named appropriately and clearly. That way, your site visitors can get around without struggling.

3. Show Your Logo

How will site visitors recognize your website is yours?

Branding is also an important component of user-friendly web design. People expect to see your logo in the top left corner. They should also have the ability to click on the logo to return to the homepage.

For additional branding, keep your color scheme and imagery in mind. 

Keeping branding consistent throughout the design will help avoid confusion. If people switch from one page to the next and encounter a completely different design, they might think they’re on a different website.

Branding helps improve user experience by creating a seamless path from one page to the next. 

4. Speed It Up

30% of consumers expect a website to load in one second or less. 

If it takes forever for your pages to load, people might leave. After all, they’re busy. When one website takes too long to load, they’re likely to leave and take their business elsewhere.

Use this tool to test your website speed. The site will also give you recommendations so you improve your site speed. For example, you might consider using Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP).

AMPs follow a set of standards meant to improve the mobile web experience. 

AMP helps speed up your pages by optimizing your content. This feature is best for websites that don’t require additional javascript or sophisticated functionality.

If your website is a little more complicated, you can create a Progressive Web App. These pages create an app-like experience for mobile users. The web page will look and feel like a mobile app without directing users to the app store. 

Both of these page types are designed to improve user experience by speeding up that experience.  

5. Set Up Search

Make it easy for your visitors to find what they’re looking for. 

Set up search functionality on your site. Most user-friendly websites display the search bar in the top right, above the navigation. 

Adding search functionality will streamline the user experience. Instead of wasting time searching through pages one by one, your visitors can immediately find what they need.

Great websites that simplify the user experience also show site visitors your company is ready to help.

6. Clarify CTAs

Your CTA, or call-to-action, clarifies what you want people to do on that page. For example, you might want visitors to fill out a form or call your company.

Placing visible CTAs on the page will help you direct your visitors to take action. When you make the CTA clear (and easy to find), visitors won’t have to wonder about what you want them to do.

Use an eye-catching color for your CTA button. 

Meanwhile, make sure the button also resizes for mobile devices.

7. Clear Up the Content

Seeing a lengthy paragraph will make your visitors tired before they start reading. 

Instead of giant blocks of text, break it up. Try to condense each paragraph to a few sentences, or shorten your sentences. You can also use headings, subheadings, and bullets to break up the text. 

Reorganizing your text will improve readability.

Since people are always in a rush, making the text easier to skim and digest will keep your site visitors from leaving. 

8. Balance It Out

Once you improve the text for your user-friendly website, consider your imagery.

It’s important to create the right balance of high-quality images and text. Otherwise, you could risk overstimulating your visitors.

Stay careful not to overcrowd the page. Many companies are moving toward minimalistic design. This design uses more white space, allowing the content to breathe.

9. Make It Easy to Share

Use social media to your advantage. Make it easy for visitors to share your site content. 

To do this, add social sharing buttons to your content. Making it easier for visitors to share your content will invite new customers to your site. 

10. Add Accessibility

Accessibility for disabled, blind, or elderly users is important as well.

Consider following these guidelines to improve your web design for these visitors. That way, your site is easy to use for anyone who visits your site.

Website Goals: 10 Tips for a User-Friendly Website

Give the people what they want! With these tips for a user-friendly website, you can improve the user experience for anyone who visits your site. The better the user experience, the more likely visitors will become paying customers.

Contact us today for your user-friendly website!