A website is an integral component of a modern business’ sales strategy. It serves as the hub for all the marketing communication, central buying portal and the link for customer care. A properly designed website will engage viewers, develop relationships with customers and ultimately drive sales. On the flip side, a poorly designed website will irritate your consumer base, forcing them into your competitors’ arms.
Balancing White Space
In the recent past, web design gurus would remind us that white space is our friend. This negative space directs the eye and makes your site readable and pleasant. Metrics have changed over the years to include an emotional component. With this, the use of white space has an upper limit. Anything over approximately 50 percent will negatively impact the viewer’s ability to enjoy the website. A good balance is between 30 and 50 percent. Take a look at the Philip House website for an example of good white space balance. They use it to bring your eyes to the images and then to the menu.
Choosing the Best Layout Pattern
When reading, we do not look at each word individually. Instead, our eyes take in groups of words or images and our brain gives the whole cluster meaning. Because of this, the way that a website is laid out is very important. There are a few different patterns that have been studied, each having its strength depending on need. For an e-commerce landing page, the Gutenberg pattern is recommended. For left- to right-reading languages, the Gutenberg pattern says that the eye will start in the upper left corner and fall to the bottom right. If you look at the TireBuyer site, you will see that the logo is at the landing position and a coupon, which will drive sales, is at the terminal position.
Creating Omnichannel Marketing
The Internet has made a business’ website the center point of its marketing. We no longer have the ability to separate marketing from sales or sales from distribution, they all fall under a larger omnichannel umbrella of customer care. You site needs to have a purchasing portal, product information, social media links, customer service and reviews. These elements need to be integrated, delivering the same marketing message at every click, and it must be a dialogue. For instance, Apple recently had a tribute on their website to commemorate the life of Muhammad Ali. This was beneficial, as it opened up the dialogue with the customer as a relationship instead of a one-way marketing campaign.
Crafting Great Content
You may have a nice white space balance, the right Gutenberg pattern and a strong marketing message, but if your readers are not engaged with the content, then you will lose them. Having great writing and vivid images will keep people on your site and get them to return often. If you do not have the time or talent to create riveting content, use a freelance writer network to hire a professional writer.
Measuring the Results in sales
There is a scientific component to web design. After your site is live, you will want to collect data on viewer habits. Analyze the amount of time on the site, the number of click-throughs and extent of consumer feedback that you receive. Google Analytics is still the state-of-art metric, but there are also other platforms that will bring together more than a hundred different analytical tools.
