Ask yourself this question – does your website design work for you, or against you?
We’ve put together our list of website design essentials. If these questions aren’t clear about your website, then it’s working against you.
What is your websites purpose?
Before we get too deep, let’s start with a fundamental question.
What is the purpose of your website? Do you want it to generate sales or capture leads? Is it to showcase your services and your portfolio of work? If you said yes to the latter, it should be optimised to capture leads.
The modern website should serve one of two purposes, to generate sales or capture leads. The answer to this question should be clear and needs to be reinforced throughout your layout and content.
Let’s break this down further.
Is your website for sales?
Let’s say the purpose of your website is to generate sales. You’ll need a storefront, like WooCommerce (WordPress), Shopify and Squarespace.
You’ll need a payment processor, like PayPal, Stripe or Square. And you need to present your products in a simple, but engaging way.
You should visit your website as a customer and experience the process of finding a product, adding it to your cart and making a purchase. If this isn’t simple and intuitive for your customer, your website doesn’t align with your purpose, and it’s working against you.
Is your website for leads?
Let’s look at lead capture as the purpose of your website. When a prospective customer lands on your website, you have a small window to convince them that they want to work with you.
First impressions here are huge. Your branding, image content and website copy need to be on point. Your website purpose needs to be crystal clear and you need to give them confidence, or they’re clicking straight back to Google.
Does your website just show your services?
If the purpose of your website is to showcase your services and your portfolio, then using engaging copy and strategically placed call-to-action (CTA’s), your website can (and should) be capturing leads for you.
Prioritise Mobile and Tablet Users.
How often have you closed a website because you couldn’t view it properly on your phone? Probably too many times. Open your website on your mobile or tablet and imagine you’re a customer trying to navigate your website.
While you do that, here’s a couple of stats for you to ponder:
- In Q4 2021, approximately 54% of website traffic was via mobile devices (1).
- Users are five times more likely to abandon the task they are trying to complete if the site is not mobile optimised (2).
If your website doesn’t look great on a mobile device, it’s working against you. Here’s what mobile and tablet users are looking for:
- Site loads quickly
- Big, mobile-friendly buttons
- Limited scrolling
- Text big enough you don’t need to zoom in
- Quick access to contact information
- Links to social media
Is your website content on point?
We say this all the time – your brand is so much more than just your logo. Your branding is the sum of all interactions with your business, and first impressions matter!
A pretty website won’t matter if your images and copywriting don’t align with your brand and your customer’s expectations.
Here are a couple of examples:
If you’re a clothing brand, and your target audience is teenagers and young adults, you need fun and engaging website content to convince them to buy your product. That, and AfterPay probably (target audience expectations, right).
If you are a bathroom renovation specialist, and your target audience is homeowners, your website needs to showcase your services, examples of your work and make it easy for customers to reach you for a quote.
Recap.
Websites have changed. They have become more complicated and more simple at the same time. Your priority should be on the user experience (UX) and how it looks on mobile devices.
Here’s what we recommend:
- Audit your website on a desktop and a mobile – paying attention to its purpose, user friendliness and your content
- If your site purpose is a shop, ask a friend or family member to make a purchase on their phone and watch the user experience