Web design services help you say more…what does your site say about you?

What does your web design say about you?

Web design services are undoubtedly in demand. The market size of the UK’s web design industry is reported to amount to £563million (according to IBISWorld).

As we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. Social distancing and the closing of the retail and hospitality sector led to more demand to buy online. In fact, Internet sales, as a percentage of retail sales, reached a record peak of 32.8% in May 2020 (ONS). Businesses without a smooth, or existing, online experience had to adapt quickly.

In today’s digital world, websites act as a shop window for many businesses. They’re often your client’s first impression of your organisation. As consumers become more tech-savvy and less patient, you only have 2-3 seconds to grab their attention. They know what they like and what doesn’t inspire them. It doesn’t take long to lose their interest.

Does web design make a difference to SEO?

At one time, you could think of your web design and your SEO as separate factors. However, as Google introduces the Core Web Vitals update, this will no longer be the case. The dominating search engine is now placing more focus on UX than ever before.

There are three key elements to the update:

• Largest Content Paint (LCP)
• First Input Delay (FID)
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

In human, this translates to:

• How long does it take your website to load the largest elements (usually images or videos)?
• What is the delay between a visitor landing on your site and then clicking on an element?
• Does your website move as it loads?

From this, it would be fair to determine that this update places great emphasis on your web design.

If you weren’t already convinced that web design services have a substantial impact on your business, surely you are now. But do you need to invest? Let’s take a look at what your web design currently says about you.

Does your logo evoke the right response? 

Sometimes, improvements may not be essential to your actual interface, but to your branding itself. Does the average person log onto a website and inspect the structure first? No. The first thing they see is your brand. The colours, illustration, font and style make up their first impression.

Is your logo playful or corporate? How should a user feel after they see it? What should they immediately know about your brand? You might be unsure, but a visitor will assess all this subconsciously within a matter of milliseconds.

Is your website mobile responsive? 

Over half of the searches performed through Google are carried out on mobile devices. That statistic alone should be enough to make you care about how mobile-friendly your website is. Additionally, almost 60% of internet users say they wouldn’t recommend a site that is poorly designed on mobile. As consumers ourselves, we’ve all come across uninspiring, difficult to navigate mobile websites. What was your response? You bounced, right?

Web design services are geared to considering the implications for mobile. A good Web Designer will always conduct thorough tests to endure their creations have the same impact on multiple devices.

A mobile responsive website helps you engage with more visitors and opens up more opportunities to convert. You’re not limiting yourself to only attracting users who are ready and waiting at their laptop. You can engage with more potential customers, no matter where they are or what they’re doing.

What do the colours say to the users?

Subconsciously, colours help us make decisions every day. Humans are visual beings and colours help us to navigate different situations. For example, if you were looking for a financial advisor and you land on a bright red website, would you choose them? Would this be the company you listen to and base your important financial decisions from? Probably not.

Why? Because red shouts danger, attention and aggression – not qualities you associate with finance. Instead, a finance company would most likely opt for purple or blue. These are the colours of wealth, prosperity and sophistication.

You might think we’re reading a little too far into it but think about it. What do you associate with your favourite brands? If you went onto the McDonalds website and it was bright green, would you question its legitimacy? Of course! Yellow and red make you feel at ease, it’s synonymous with the brand so you feel safe there.

If your website isn’t easy to navigate, is your business also complex?

80% (or more) of your online visitors won’t return to a site after a bad experience. This could be the navigation or jumpy content that makes clicking difficult. Consumers want a seamless, easy experience with sites that are effortless to navigate.

If you think back to the shop window analogy, would you go into a shop with a chaotic window? Probably not. Subconsciously, you might assume that the shop itself will also be chaotic and difficult to find what you’re looking for.

Does your website’s navigation reflect the experience you want your customers to have with your business? Are their interactions painless and can they always find the information or products they’re looking for?

These are the important questions you should be asking to decide if you will benefit from professional web design services.

How long do you expect users to wait?

Your visitors will decide within a matter of milliseconds whether they are going to engage with your site. After making the subconscious decision, you have a 2-3 second window to keep them there. Not only must your website load in that time, but the design must also interest them and make them stay.

Most businesses spend a lot of time and resources updating, creating content and optimising their websites. What good is all that if your design doesn’t them inspire them to stay and appreciate it?

Large images and videos are usually to blame for slow loading speeds. There are of course exceptions. Sometimes more technical issues such as JavaScript can be causing a loading problem. However, if you’re not a Web Developer, addressing your images and videos is a good place to start.

There are some simple solutions to get under control. For example, are your images too big or the wrong file type? Most Web Designers will usually recommend using JPEG images wherever possible, due to their smaller file size. However, if PNG is the only possibility for you, there are ways to reduce their size. For example, you could try re-exporting them from Photoshop, ensuring they’re suitable for web.

What are you asking the user to do?

If your website is engaging, fast and easy to navigate, what other potential problems could there be? After spending hours addressing and ensuring all of the above recommendations have been implemented, you might think you’re done. Unfortunately, there are a few other elements to consider.

One factor that is often overlooked is what you’re actually asking your visitors to do on your website. It seems obvious to you. You know what you consider to be a ‘lead’ or a ‘sale’ but your visitors don’t.

Go onto your website with a fresh pair of eyes. Click through each page as if you’re a brand-new visitor. Are the calls to action obvious?

Some common calls to action include:

• Buy now
• Learn more
• Sign up
• Call us
• Book a demo
• Make an appointment

What is the next step you want your visitors to take after they enter your website?

Another thing to consider is how many calls to action you’re offering. Are you giving your visitors too many choices to make? Let the visitor decide which step they want to take but don’t offer too many choices that it becomes confusing.

What happens when a website is confusing? They bounce!

Are you leaving room to breathe?

This might sound obvious, but humans tend not to respond well to huge reems of text. You need to leave your website visitors room to breathe.

If you’re writing blogs, think about keeping body copy between sub-headings under 300 words. If you’re designing page layouts, white space is your best friend. Of course, it doesn’t have to white. Your site could be green, blue, yellow or a whole rainbow. White space is a copywriting expression to describe splitting up the text to allow readers to better comprehend the message.

Also, think about where your text is placed on the page and how closely it comes to the images. Text and images without enough space separating them can make the eyes feel uncomfortable.

Web design services at Vocal

Do you need some support with your web design? We offer a full range of website services, including:

• A full, bespoke website build service.
• Help with a WordPress site build.
• Clickable prototypes
• UX workshops
• Wireframing
• User testing
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Our web design services don’t just look good, they deliver on your business goals. With over two decades of experience in a range of B2B industries, we understand the importance of ROI.

How to get started

Step 1: Introduce yourself

Why not get in touch with us for a chat with one of our team? We’d love to hear about your business goals and ambitions. This helps set our creative wheels in motion.

Step 2: We’ll do the research

After our chat, we’ll brainstorm how we can produce the best website for you. We’ll then go away and investigate with all our might! We’ll use all our experience and creative knowledge to make recommendations for you.

Step 3: Predictions

We know you want results, and we want to deliver them. We’ll provide our predicated outcomes so that you can make an informed decision.

Step 4: Quote

 Once you give us the go ahead, we’ll provide a quote. Then comes the fun part! Our team will start creating the website of your dreams.