If there is one complaint that we hear over and over again from new clients about their previous web designers, it is that they could not understand what the designers were talking about.
Simple website design is not quantum physics and should not be made difficult to understand. Our clients don’t have to know anything about programming jargon to use a website effectively, any more than they need to understand electrical engineering to use a toaster.
Here’s what you need to know about simple website design.
It’s responsive
What is a responsive website? It’s a website that works correctly when accessed on a phone or tablet. Your website needs to be accessible to anyone regardless of their device, so if your web designer starts rambling about responsive design, he/she is simply referring to making sure your site loads quickly, is easy to use and looks good on any device.
It’s easy to navigate
Intuitively, everyone knows a bad website when they see one. This is because some basic rules have been ignored. Though all websites will be different in terms of what they are offering or trying to convey, some elements should be the same across the board. Typically there will be a menu across the top, a header, a footer and content in the middle. Don’t mix this up too much. It should be as easy as possible for your site visitors to find what they are looking for.
It’s aesthetically pleasing
Don’t concern yourself with words like kerning, tracking and leading. These are jargon terms referring to how your typography (or font) is laid out on the page. It simply refers to how much white space is present between letters, between words and between lines. Your designer will setup your content in a way that is visually pleasing and easily read.
It’s optimized
When your web designer starts talking about meta descriptions and alt image tags they are simply referring to on-page SEO or Search Engine Optimization. There are small elements that need to be included in your website to make sure that search engines like Google and Yahoo can rank your pages where your customers can see them.
Depending on how your SEO is managed, you can rank higher than your competitors leading more customers to your site ready to buy.
It’s all about your customers
With a quality website, you can dramatically increase the amount of traffic, leads, and sales you get from your online presence. But there is a secret to it.
You have to create a site that is 100% focused on your website customers.
How well do you know your audience? How well does your site focus on the things they want? Does it answer their questions? Does it lead them through the journey to make a sale?
When you truly know your audience, and you shift your web design focus to the things they want rather than what you want to tell them, building a quality website is easy.
But it ALL starts with your customers and site visitors. Figure out what they want, when and how they want it, then give it to them.
Only once you have managed this will you realise how easy web design actually is.
It’s all managed by your agency
Yes, web design has many complicated factors, none of which, however, are your problem. If you have chosen a quality web design agency, the only thing you need to worry about is responding to the customer enquiries and increased sales due to be rolling in.