As the working world is becoming closely integrated into the digital realm, upgrading your online presence is no longer an option for businesses—it’s a requirement. Most people check a business’s website before visiting or buying from it, and most of the first impressions are design-related. Poor web design can cost you a sale and a potential returning customer in seconds. For gaining significant traffic, your website and web design are crucial to marketing your products or services to consumers.
Websites and online presence may seem separate from the marketing side of businesses. However, marketing is everything, and everything is marketing. Rather than a separate function or arm of a company, marketing strategy is all-pervasive at every level of a business. Consider how a chief marketing officer’s job description highlights their primary responsibility to generate revenue by increasing sales through successful marketing – whether through market research, marketing communications, advertising, or public relations. A deep understanding of changing market dynamics is also an essential skill, and, considering how the online world is contributing to market shifts is integral to curating appropriate marketing practices. Websites are powerful tools for marketers and can be as vital as other marketing materials and methods. Here’s why top marketers should focus on website design:
It reduces the bounce rate
Consumers don’t take long to build an impression of your business based on your website. Poor web design contributes to your website’s bounce rate, which is the percentage of unique visitors leaving it after viewing only one page. If that rate is too high, your website—and your business, in turn—may have difficulty achieving success. Many triggers can make visitors and potential customers leave your website, but a lack of website functionality and accessibility are major reasons people turn away.
People might be overwhelmed by widgets and promo ads cluttering the site, or unending walls of text that are too laborious to read could be a turn-off. Poor navigation or too many steps that prevent them from achieving their goal can be frustrating. A cohesive and clean design can keep users engaged and make the website easy to navigate, giving a good impression of your brand and your offerings that can translate into sales.
It boosts visibility
Search engine optimization (SEO) is often associated with methods like keyword stuffing or backlinks, but focusing on an organic human experience is also a great way to boost marketing and business. Good user experience (UX) design for your website is crucial for engaging consumers and can strengthen your SEO practices for better rankings. Bots crawl through your website and evaluate its changes in content and usability, which also affects your ranking. A website with easy navigation, fast loading times, easily identifiable content, and visual appeal to users can boost your rankings on search engines. If your website’s content is deemed valuable, you’re more likely to be seen higher on the results page, driving more traffic.
The role of UX designers in establishing a clean website for SEO is centering the user and transforming the experience of interacting with interfaces reflecting a product or service, driving innovation. They can work in tandem with marketers to pursue a human approach to web design that takes accessibility and adaptability into account, keeping customers happy and loyal. An SEO-optimized website also establishes your business as trustworthy and credible to users and search engines.
It builds your brand
Your website’s colors, styles, fonts, and layouts are not just there to be aesthetically pleasing. These elements contribute to your brand imagery and story. A cohesive theme that matches your brand personality can establish a sense of professionalism. That leads to trust and credibility when consumers see that your brand understands what it wants to achieve with its web design. It helps visitors get a clear picture of what you value—whether it’s simplicity and seriousness or fun and vibrance, you can communicate these through the proper branding.
Essential aspects of your business’s offerings can be highlighted on your main landing pages. Colors and fonts play a role in visually communicating your brand identity. For instance, an NGO focused on the environment would likely find cohesive marketing by using natural elements and the color green, while a consulting firm can rely on the color blue to project stability and professionalism. Leveraging your website as a marketing tool is vital for hooking customers in and getting them interested; a design that exemplifies your business brand and vision can keep them on your site for longer.