Keeping it Clean: Re-Working Your Website
Your website is the first impression of your brand — and you know what they say about first impressions. Most customers decide in the first ten seconds whether or not they’ll stay on your website to browse around, and you need to make sure that you peak their interest. Wordiness, difficult navigation and overwhelming graphics are just a few ways that users can be turned off by your website.
Let’s start off with the basics.
Website Copy
You can be the Walt Whitman of wordsmithing, but it won’t be enough unless you can get to the point in a few sentences or less. Pick out a few key words or phrases that highlight your company (bonus points if they raise your SEO) and focus on how you can use those phrases and words to paint a picture of your company on your homepage. Consumers don’t have the time to read novels about how great your company is, nor do they care, so save the lengthy introductions for the “About” page.
Website Design
Take a look at what other people in your industry are doing in terms of the graphic design of their websites. What colors, fonts and pictures are they using? When in doubt, follow these three tips:
- You worked hard on your website copy, so don’t choose a font that will distract from your message. Opt for a sleek and professional font similar to Arial.
- Choose your colors wisely. Using cool tones can give a relaxed vibe, whereas warm colors are more energetic. Decide which palette fits your brand best, and build your site around those colors.
- Pictures are worth a thousand words, but make sure you use them wisely. Highlight your best images and make sure they’re on there for a reason. Graphics can say a lot about your company — just make sure you don’t overdo it.
Website Layout
Don’t forget your digital devices. Websites look very different on your smartphone, desktop and tablet. Scalability and responsiveness are key to making sure your users can stay connected in every way possible. We suggest testing your website on different screens (phone, desktop, tablet) before your site goes live. Make sure images look right on every device, fonts render properly, and links work.
Website Speed
Website speed is critical to a good user experience. We’ve all been on a website that takes too long to load — and quickly bounced away when we lost patience. While this may not always be your fault, there are steps you can take to increase website speed, like using a fast web host. You can also run analytics on your website to see which pages people stay on the longest, where people click through to and the average time spent on your site.
When it comes to your website, less really is more. In a time when consumers have everything they could possibly need at their fingertips, it’s important to remember that they can get inundated by choice. Help make their choice easier by having an aesthetically pleasing, easily navigable website that, most importantly, showcases your business.