As a business person, you’ll know that having an active and appropriate online presence is vital for your success and longevity; even if you have a physical store that customers can visit, they’ll still expect to be able to buy your products and/or services online, or simply browse your brand and find out more about it.
In recent studies, it was found that a gigantic 97% of consumers conducted an online search to find a business, and almost as many of those who actually visited a brick and mortar store, still looked it up online before they visited.
So, a corporate website is certainly important, if not essential, but how do you create a really effective one that will attract visitors and ideally convert them into paying customers? The following ten design principles should help you create an effective and successful corporate website:
It Must Be Mobile Responsive
With more and more customers accessing corporate websites from a variety of devices, most commonly their cell phones, if you want your eCommerce website to be successful, it must be able to cater to mobile users. Many users even use their smartphones while they’re in a retail store, to help them decide which product to choose, and if they don’t have a good experience while on the site, they might be tempted to take their custom elsewhere.
- It must be easy to find
You can have more than one domain to direct users to your site if necessary, but it must accurately describe your business so that potential customers know what you’re selling, or be your company name.
- Make your contact info readily accessible
If you want people to be able to reach out to you (which you should if you’re running a business that depends on customers), then you must ensure that they don’t have to jump through a series of hoops to be able to contact you. Make your contact details easily visible and don’t force visitors to have to scroll down to find them.
- It should be easy to navigate
Make your menu as straightforward as possible, and give users a clear way to get back to the homepage no matter what page they initially land on.
- Declutter
When a site is crowded with too much information, visitors get confused and their minds become overloaded, causing them difficulties when trying to retain the new information that they’re seeing. Try to use a good balance of both text and graphics to present viewers with a clean, uncluttered site that is informative without bombarding them with too much information.
- Keep your information accurate
In this modern world of fake news, if you want to attract and retain visitors to your site, you’ll need to ensure that every piece of information you display is both accurate and true. Incorrect figures or outdated information will force users to go elsewhere to find more accurate information, and your reputation is also at risk if you consistently provide false news and data on your site. Check your site regularly to ensure that the information contained within it is up to date and accurate.
- Keep your speed up
Slow websites are an instant turn off for all users, and only those with exceptional levels of patience will persevere with a non-responsive or slow loading site, no matter how much they want to buy the company’s products and/or services. If your website isn’t fast enough, visitors will quickly go elsewhere, and the chances are that they won’t ever come back. Regularly update your software and optimize videos and images for quicker download speeds and use a website host that can handle your bandwidth needs.
- Call your users to action!
To keep readers interested and engaged in your corporate website, every page should have a call to action; requiring that they sign up for something, purchase something or download something. A button, link or clear verbiage should help users know exactly what they need to do, and this should be easily accessible so that they’re not forced to scroll and scroll to find it.
- Embrace simplicity
A corporate website that is an assault on the eyes of users, will only ever be a deterrent, and studies have shown that a clear, uncluttered and simplistic design is far more likely to entice users and encourage them to visit and remain on your site. Keep text concise and consider using bullet points to make the information easier to read and retain, while limiting the use of distracting fonts, colors and animated GIFs.
Personalize Your Brand And Site
No matter what you’re selling or providing customers with, they want to know that there’s a person behind the brand, and they want to know what you represent, what your opinions are and generally, know more about you so that they can make more of a connection. Include a photo of yourself to help visitors see and identify with you, and do the same with your team members wherever possible.
If you have a corporate website, keeping the above points in mind when designing or updating it, will help ensure that you can maximize your potential online, while giving users a positive experience that they’ll be keen to recommend to others. Creating a seamless and pleasing experience for users is just as important as selling your products, in fact, the two are co-dependent.
To revamp your corporate website, or create a new one that will help give your business a boost, why not contact a professional web design agency, who will employ all the latest techniques and tricks of the trade, to make your business stand out from your competitors and offer users a memorable and unique experience that they’ll want to repeat. With so many great, affordable web design companies Toronto available today, with a little research, you should easily find one that will fulfill all your needs.
