A website that isn't awesome is a website that's destined to fail. Awesome websites facilitate user engagement and user experience and can go a long way toward turning visitors into customers. But how do you design an awesome website for your brand? To know the answers to this question, read on.
1. Dynamic design
Dynamic website design refers to enhancing a website by making it more functional and visually appealing. Its aim is to create positive first impressions in the minds of website visitors. To make your website dynamic, you have to first choose a functional layout and then move on to elements such as font pairings and colors.
Remember, over 90% of first impressions created by websites are related to design. So, it's vital that you start designing your website, prioritizing its appearance and functionality over everything else.
2. Mobile-friendliness
These days, the majority of internet users around the world rely on mobile devices to view websites. So, when designing an awesome website, you can't only have PCs in mind - you've got to take mobile devices into consideration as well.
Quite simply, the interactive elements of your website should be as responsive on mobile devices as they are on a PC. If they're not, you can expect more than 50% of visitors to your website to stop engaging with your brand. On the other hand, if your website is well-optimized for mobile devices, you can expect most visitors to come back to it and consider purchasing from you.
3. Loading speed
There are certain pitfalls of designing awesome websites - one of them is the loading speed of web pages. As interactive websites feature numerous elements, their pages take more time to load than non-interactive websites. Nowadays, the patience levels of most internet users have dwindled, which means that if your website's pages don't load quickly, users will leave your website as fast as you can blink.
Almost half of all internet users expect web pages to load within 2 seconds. However, the good news is that all the interactive elements of your website can be optimized, which can ensure faster loading speeds.
4. Search functionality
Gone are the days when users would manually navigate menus to find the content they wanted. Now, most internet users expect websites to come with their very own search bars, which allow users to find content based on keywords. If the content desired by the user is available on your website, it will appear in a matter of seconds.
However, it's also important to pay attention to the searchability of the content on your website, i.e., the search bar should be able to find the content. Also, the search bar should cater to different types of users, as different users tend to search differently. For instance, some users may only search based on a single word, while others may search based on long phrases.
5. Navigation
Just because the majority of internet users use search bars to find what they want doesn't mean you should ditch navigation menus altogether. There still are many old-school users who prefer navigation menus. Also, having navigation menus that allow content to be found quickly reflects a high-quality internal structure of your website.
Nowadays, a lot of websites feature hidden menus. As soon as users click or tap on 'Menu', it expands and shows all available content categories. This is advantageous because it saves a lot of space compared to websites that have dedicated spaces for navigation menus.
6. Feedback options
As a brand that wants to cater to its target audience, you've got to give users various ways of providing their insights and opinions. That's why including feedback options is one of the best ways to make a website feel more interactive. Commonly-used feedback elements include star ratings and comments.
Additionally, you can also ask visitors to rate their respective experiences following a product purchase. In-depth feedback gathering is also an option through the creation of polls and surveys. You can analyze the results of the polls and surveys to improve the website's overall user experience.
7. Chatbot support
Chatbots have become a popular way of keeping users engaged on websites. Here's how they typically work - when a user visits a website, a chat dialog box pops up and a chatbot initiates the conversation. If the user asks relevant questions, the chatbot can provide instant responses.
However, it's important to ensure that the chatbot doesn't annoy the user with excessive messaging. This can lead to users feeling overwhelmed, following which they may leave the website.
8. Internal linking
Having internal links within your website is helpful not just for users but also for search engines like Google and Bing. From the user's standpoint, internal links can lead to more relevant information regarding a specific subject. When the user clicks on an internal link, it translates to the user spending more time on your website.
When creating internal links, you have to pay attention to relevance, i.e., the links shouldn't just be there for the sake of it. They should be able to lead users to pages that provide them with helpful information.
9. Images and videos
Your website is built on text content, but text gets boring after a while, even if you use the most eye-catching fonts and colors. That's why it's important to include images and videos across all your web pages. When it comes to images, you can create infographics, carousels, slideshows, and more. Image interactivity can be enhanced through image overlay and other animations as well.
Videos are also helpful in engaging users. If your brand has a dedicated YouTube channel, you can simply embed the video codes on the website. Users can watch these videos without going to YouTube, which means they'll spend more time on your website.
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