Web Design Tips for a Professional Website
Since websites are now considered to be a very good resource for information and shopping, web developers and designers from all over the world have been making changes to their craft in order to keep web visitors engaged.? This is not an easy process since the average attention span is getting shorter.? If a visitor does not find what they want in a few short seconds, they are going to backclick and check out the next website and you are out of luck.? Today, we are going to look at some of the top web design tips for a professional website.Minimalism Is Good for Your Homepage
If you look at websites that were designed around five years ago, you will notice they all had one thing in common.? That commonality is that the homepages were packed with all sorts of information for the visitor.? However, this isn?t what you want to be doing today. Instead, you want to keep things minimal so that your visitors? eyes are drawn to the most important elements of your site. When too much information is included on one page, visitors become confused and are likely to bounce off your site.? An image, heading, or phrase describing where they are, and a menu bar is usually all you need to include on the homepage.? Depending on the type of website, you may choose to include a ?call to action? as well.Visual Hierarchy Is Important
Now that screens are getting smaller and attention spans are shorter, it takes just a few seconds of time to grab a visitor and keep them engaged.? Being able to design a website using software developed for web design specifically usually has these factors programmed in already.? Create breadcrumbs for the visitor to follow, but remember to keep the content clean and easy to read.? Keeping each part of your website organized into categories, and then displaying them that way, will give your visitors a path to follow the information they are seeking.Keep Personal Preference Out of Your Design
Remember that you are designing a website for your visitors, not for you.? Having a master?s degree in software development is a great tool to have when designing a top of the line website, but you should keep in mind that your personal preferences might not be what your visitors want to see.? If the content is good, easy to find, and easy to read, the visitors will be happy.? Sometimes, web design gets to be too complicated with all types of pop-ups, sliders and other gadgets that the visitor gets more annoyed than engaged.? Just because you learned how to code a cool image slideshow while earning your online software development degree, does not mean that you need to use it in your design.? Keep it simple and your visitors will thank you.Colors and Fonts Need Attention Too
Now that you have all the content on your website, take a minute to make sure the colors and the fonts correlate as well.? There are resources online that you can use to determine which color combinations work best for your visitors? eyes, and even which fonts can be read easily on mobile devices.In the end, a website that you are designing must conform to the client?s expectations, but the above tips should help you along the way.
How to give your retail website a makeover
No matter how big, or small, your retail business, it?s important that your website is fully functioning and provides an optimal user experience if you want to obtain those all-important sales. With events such as Cyber Black Friday, Thanksgiving and Christmas if you have a slow and poorly designed website, then potential customers won?t even give your company a second thought ? even if you are cheaper than your competitors. ?Often, your website won?t need a complete redesign, but by using a few tips and tricks you can give your retail site a much-needed makeover right in time for one of the busiest times of the year.Check your brandingThis is a relatively simple fix to start with. Your company?s branding, such as your logo and colors, don?t just need to be rolled out across stationery and merchandise. If you haven?t made sure that your company?s website is consistently branded then you could be letting yourself down. A customer is less likely to trust a site that looks unprofessional and dated. Factors such as an obvious logo, imagery, and a consistent color scheme are easy to update ? plus, they will have a huge impact on any potential spending power. So if your branding isn?t consistent, then chances are that you have confused customers who cannot fully commit to your business.ContentBlog posts, long-form articles, and social media posts are all important items of content that you should include in your editorial calendar. Remember, when you put content on your site, you can?t forget about it. Any responsible business will make sure that content is updated and checked regularly, to ensure that it continues to meet with business goals and key retail targets. You could even get any budding writers from your workforce involved too, and ask if they would like to help you create new content for your site. So if you aren?t posting relevant, timely content, then your disinterest will be wearing off on your customers. Make sure you implement a monthly editorial calendar and stick to it if you want to see results.Easy to useIf you want to ensure that your customers continue to come back to your site, time and time again, then you will want to make sure that it is easy and simple to use. Complex and confusing sites are an instant no-go for potential customers. Similarly, if a user is after a specific item or piece of information, then they will want to be able to find it quickly and easily. Sites such as www.ticketsales.com provide a great example of a simple user interface. So if you are seeing sales drop, and you aren?t sure why then your site could be overcomplicating matters.It?s easier than you might think to give your retail website a makeover. First, check that your company branding is consistent and used across your site. Next, focus on relevant and interesting content for your website visitors to enjoy and consume. Finally, check how easy it is for a visitor to navigate around your site. Once you have all three of these factors in good shapes, your sales are sure to rise.
How to reduce your Website?s Bounce Rate
Websites have always been and are still being used as one of the primary tools for leveraging businesses. It is almost rare as a unicorn to find a business that is making insane profits without having a website. And that is because, for a prospective customer, a website is a door to the company?s products & services. Now some people may argue that choosing mobile app development could have been a better option, but then a website, somewhat, builds a foundation where you can connect with your customers in a much broader sense. But then there are times when you wonder why in the world your website isn?t generating business as expected, despite spending a fortune on it. You start doubting your product, as well as your business potential. But most of the times, the real culprit is ?Bounce Rate?. What is Bounce RateThe simplest definition of Bounce Rate is - it is the percentage of visitors that leave a website after viewing the first page. Even simply put, your product or service didn?t seem interesting enough to them. The effect of Bounce Rate on your business could be disastrous if, over the time, nothing is done about it.According to a research, 26-40% Bounce Rate is great, 41-55% is average and anything above it is not what you should be aiming for.So how do you reduce Bounce Rate of your website? If you are looking for an answer, this guide is a must-read for you:ReadabilityThe connection between Bounce Rate and readability is quite apparent; the better they understand, the more they are interested. If you have a WordPress website, you get a free SEO plugin from Yoast. Install it and follow the corrections it suggests to improve your content?s readability. According to Yoast, a piece of content has good readability when:- Not more than 25% sentences have more than 20 words.
- Punctuations and grammar have been well taken care of.
- There is sufficient use of transition words.
- Passive sentences are less than 20%
Five Reasons All Retailers Should Have a Website
Local stores have the benefit of being able to sell directly to their demographic with ease. You can become a pillar of the community, and become a business that is well-loved by your neighbors and the community at large. The problem with only selling locally, however, is that it doesn’t allow for growth. That is why you need to have a great, modern website that is not only aesthetically pleasing, but can also sell worldwide. With a website, retailers can benefit from:- People Buying Online
- Selling Globally
- Marketing More Effectively
- Creating a Community
- Increasing Your Customer Service
5 Biggest Mistakes In Web Design
Are you into web design? Maybe you have been designing websites for a while now, or you are new to this creative world, but you have probably already heard about people calling certain websites ?sticky?. What this basically means is that someone has made a website that makes visitors want to stick around, and quite probably bookmark and visit again. Every web designer aims at following contemporary trends and making their websites like this. However, there is also a lot of mistakes that they make that have a totally opposite effect. In this article, we are going to discuss some of those mistakes.
Overusing graphics
A whole bunch of graphics on your website creates clutter. This is when two things happen. First, people that have a slower internet connection will take forever to load the page. The fact is that it takes about 30 seconds for people to become annoyed and leave in order to check another website. Today, everything is immediate, so if you don?t get the attention of your users right away, you are going to lose them. Second, a cluttered page is a mess that makes it hard for people to navigate your website and decide what they even want to do.
Disabling the back button
A while ago, some web designers found out the way to override the browser?s back button. When a user clicks on it, instead of going back to where they were, they are redirected to an undesired location, a new window pops up and covers the screen, or the browser simply stays put because the designer decided that they don?t want you to simply leave. Don?t be that web designer. There are so many creative ways to keep users on your website, without annoying them.
Creating poor navigation
Everything that?s happening online is fast. So if a visitor comes to your website and can?t find out where they should go next in a few easy steps, they?ll look for what they need somewhere else. People tend to get frustrated if they have to backtrack a bunch of pages in order to get to another area of your business website. Your every page needs a navigation bar that intuitively leads users to where they want to go. It should be positioned along the top of the page, or along the left side, so that it?s always clearly in sight, no matter what the resolution is.
Too many different font styles and colors
If we take a look at some of the best web design in Sydney, we will see that the main goal of your every page is to have a consistent and unified look. Unexperienced web designers tend to get overwhelmed with the possibilities of using so many cool looking fonts and a variety of colors, that they make their web pages into visual hell. Your main task is to make your users aware of how stable and solid your design is, not show them wild artistry. It is also essential that your fonts and colors look proper on all available devices, such as desktops, smartphones, and tablets.
Too many ads
If you?re building a content website or a blog, the fact is that you will be making money off ads and not products that you are selling. However, a mistake that web designers often make is that they put in so many ads that the user can no longer tell the difference between what the content and what the advertisement is. If your user has to search your site in order to find the article, or the rest of the article that they were reading, then it means that you have just way too much advertising on your page. A couple of ads on your page is fine ? more than that is probably going to annoy people.
If web design is something that you like doing, then you need to make sure that you avoid some of the pitfalls of bad web design. This includes using too many graphics on your pages, creating poor and unintuitive navigation, disabling the back button in order to force your visitors to stay, and overcrowding your website with different fonts and colors, as well as advertisements. The idea is to follow good web design practices that will entice your users and make them want to revisit your website.? Try to invest in your knowledge, find relevant courses online and do a lot of practice and research. It will be worth your time and money.


