One of the biggest and most common mistakes of business owners is to treat their business site like it’s a personal website. Many small and medium business owners fall into this pitfall of web design, thinking that their personal aesthetic provides a good representation of their company.

Although you may feel like your company is your own creation, its identity should be completely separate and distinct from you. Your brand should take on a more professional feel.

It would be much better to hire an actual professional to design your business website. Not only will your website look professional, but it will also invite more business to your doorstep. Here are simple tips on how you can implement an effective web design.

Use a Consistent Logo and Brand Theme

Being online requires you to have consistent visual cues. Your website, therefore, should contain your official company logo and an overall theme for the brand that runs consistent with the rest of your marketing campaign.

The objective is to come up with something that will be familiar, accessible, and easy to recall. That way, it will be easy to make associations with your brand. In presenting these visual cues, make sure to use a high-resolution image. Place your logo prominently on every sub-page, and make it easy for users to easily navigate back to the main page with a single click.

Make Your Layout Intuitively Easy

There’s nothing worse than having a difficult time navigating a website. It doesn’t matter how much quality content you have if your user can’t find them. Keep in mind that online users have a very limited attention span–a one-second delay in loading time can immediately lead to as much as 7% in conversion loss. If you can’t hold the attention of your visitors, you’re not likely to make a sale.

When it comes to your website design, make sure that all necessary buttons are clickable, the ads are seamlessly integrated into your page, and all links are working.

Have an Appealing Aesthetic

Another reason why your website design could fail is the use of loud, strong colors that do nothing to complement the design. If the fonts and colors hurt the viewer’s eyes, expect them to leave. You want your web design to be welcoming and inviting, not harsh and stand-offish.

The kind of theme and layout that you use for your website actually affect its response time. If you pepper your pages with videos (especially the autoplay ones), your website will take too long to load. The same goes if you have a lot of hi-res image files. This should be resolved, however, by a more efficient design.

Why Go to the Pro

To successfully implement all of this, you will definitely need the help of a professional web designer, such as those from JTek Resources. Web design is such a crucial factor in the creation of your business image online that it deserves professional attention.

Not only can professional web designers provide a well-designed layout, but they can also implement upgrades to improve user experience and encourage repeat visits. The longer they stay in your site, the more information they learn about you and your brand. This is fundamental to building good customer relationship.

As an added tip, remember that your website is not only meant to provide information but also to encourage transactions and interactions. Make sure it complements your marketing campaign. Don’t forget to save a prominent spot for your promos and sales, and make them as attention-grabbing as possible.

Your website provides a great opportunity to make yourself known to your market. Invest in it and nurture it–you’ll be surprised at how much benefits it can actually reap for you for the long run.

Sources:

The 10 Essentials of Any Effective Web Site. Forbes.com

13 Simple Tips for Improving Your Web Design. CIO.com