When it comes to making a good first impression, a website is often the first thing a customer sees. If not the very first impression, it’s their first interaction with a company’s ethos and products. And the more inviting that website is, the more likely a customer will spend time exploring and learning more about everything that company has to offer.
Here at SOULO, one of our goals is to make sure our clients’ websites are inviting, easy to use, and convey the wide range of products and services our clients offer. A great website design might seem like magic, and while the results may be magical, the technique is not.
Here are a few elements that help make a website great:
Serves as a business tool
What should a website accomplish? Depending on the business, a client may wish to sell products directly from their website, while others simply want a website to persuade customers to reach out. A website should be a functioning tool of a company’s business. Deciding what role the website should serve is important in designing a useful website.
Easy to use
This one is deceptively simple. What might be intuitive for the designers may not be so for the users. It is important to test the website to see how easily a customer can navigate and find what they’re looking for.
Visually pleasing
Regardless of the website’s purpose, making it visually appealing and true to the brand is a must. While little details like color use and font may not seem important in the long run, each design element of the website helps curate a look that represents the identity of the company. Many web design companies can design a good-looking website, but SOULO goes a step farther to ensure that our clients’ websites embody the brand standards that make the business recognizable. We make sure that color matching, logo usage, font styles, and the overall mood of the brand is consistent throughout the website. This not only presents a professional feel to new customers, but gives a sense of continuity to existing ones.
Displays correctly on desktops, tablets, and mobile devices
Customers should be able to access a website easily no matter what device they’re using. No business wants to lose leads simply because the designers only programmed for desktops.
Content that is up to date and relevant to customers
If a website is using out-of-date information or content that is no longer relevant, it makes a poor impression on both new and existing customers. Any information displayed on the website should be concise, correct, and relevant to customers. Content should be regularly updated and revitalized for the entire life of the website.
Anticipates what customers are looking for
This goes beyond having an easy-to-use website. A good website should anticipate what customers are looking for and design the website with that in mind. This could mean adding better labels to menus, strategically placing photos and videos, and making sure the contact information is easily found from anywhere on the site.
Consistency across platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google My Business, etc.)
Just as a professional website should match the brand collateral of its company, so should the multiple platforms be consistent in their color, font, and logo usage. When new content is designed for the website, versions should also be created for each of the other platforms. That isn’t to say a business should use the same content for every platform, but the ethos of the business should be represented accurately and consistently across all platforms.
Search engine optimized (SEO)
When a customer searches online for a product or service, we want our clients’ websites to be at the top of the list of results. No one wants to be on page two. That’s why SOULO optimizes our clients’ websites with keyword recognition and other tech tips.
Accessibility
Customers interact with websites in different ways, especially if there are accessibility concerns. A good website should anticipate those needs. This could mean adding captions or descriptive text for videos, making the site keyboard-friendly, having clear headings and subheadings, or using properly contrasted colors for screen readers and those with colorblindness.
Bug-free
Possibly the best way to ensure that customers have a good experience with a website is to make sure there are no bugs that will prevent them from using the site. This seems like a simple and obvious tip, but the more elements added to a website, the more things that can go wrong. Before deploying a new website, it is critical to test every button, link, video, etc. to ensure that technical difficulties are not going to turn potential customers away.
SOULO is a full-service marketing and communications agency that helps client partners get the most from their projects through signage, printing, and digital marketing. Ready to get started? Contact us today!
