6 Best Website Design Practices That Convert Traffic Into Leads

Website Design Best Practices

As modern marketing continues to evolve, there are certain things you just can’t take for granted anymore. A prime example is an idea that simply having some sort of digital presence is enough to survive. Businesses now need to leverage every opportunity to engage with their target audiences, and one of the most crucial elements for this is a well-designed website.

But, if you spend a little time browsing other websites, you’ll soon discover that the Internet is filled with a web design that misses the mark on many levels.

Your website is the vehicle that builds traffic and generates leads for your business. Without website design and development that’s been optimized for success in the global marketplace, your digital marketing strategy will sink before you even get started.

As Q1 comes to a close, now is the time to look at current website design best practices to make sure your site is on point for success for the remainder of 2018.

Landing Pages with a Purpose

Landing pages are a basic, but important, a feature of your website. Landing pages are designed with the specific intent of encouraging visitors to act. Unfortunately, there are many websites that aren’t realizing the potential of optimized landing pages.

A well-designed landing page will lead a visitor to make a purchase or supply you with their contact information via lead forms. But, you can also get more creative than this.

For example, a landing page that encourages the user to sign up for a newsletter is common. This strategy is frequently used because it’s successful. It’s also expected.
Brands can keep things interesting by taking the intent of landing pages in a new direction, for example inviting the visitor to a podcast or vlog, rather than a newsletter.

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The key is keeping design simple. Think of a landing page as an opportunity to warm customers up to your brand. Keep it focused, clean, and avoid overwhelming them with too many options.

Optimized CTA Buttons

Websites shouldn’t be difficult to use. Someone visiting your site doesn’t want to work too hard to find what they’re looking for. If any part of the experience is difficult, chances are you’ve lost a potential lead.

Why is this?

Because there’s no shortage of competition on the internet and they are just a Google search away.

To keep users engaged, the website design process should include creating easily identifiable, actionable targets, otherwise known as a Calls-to-Actions (CTAs).

Here are a few statistics that tell us the secrets of CTA design best practices.

• First-person phrasing, as in “my” instead of “yours,” increases the click-through rate of a CTA by 90%
• Colors matter – One company found orange CTAs to increase conversion by 32.5%, while another found that red CTAs boosted their conversions by 21%
• Personalized CTAs convert 42% more customers
• Reducing clutter around a CTA increased conversion by 232% 

High-Quality User Experience

When it comes to web design, a site that’s easy and enjoyable to use can be summed up in two words: User Experience.

User Experience (UX) is a design concept that, if done well, visitors will stay on your website longer and are more likely to make a return visit later.

This happens when you optimize features that make it easy for visitors to use your site, like fast load times, graphic design elements that are visually pleasing, easy navigation, expedited checkouts, and mobile responsiveness.

Content is another major player in a high-quality UX. There are few things worse than a site that’s all surface elements with no substance underneath. Content that’s relevant and valuable to your target market provides your website with the substance you need to attract and convert visitors.

There’s one more thing. Search engines love websites with a high UX rating. Search engines, like Google, benefit financially when users enjoy the sites that they’ve given priority ranking to. A focus on UX in web design can improve your eCommerce SEO results.

Responsive Design

It’s no longer acceptable to assume which device your visitors are using. It might be a desktop, but there’s a good chance it’s a mobile or tablet device. How a visitor experiences your site is largely dependent on their screen size, which is why you need to invest in responsive design.

The fact is that 8 out of 10 users will stop interacting with a site if the content isn’t displayed well on whichever device they’re using at the time.

This is a huge deal for users because they want a seamless experience, regardless of the device. Responsive design that adapts your site depending on device and screen size is a solution that all businesses need to adopt. 

Social Media

While your website is one of your business’s biggest growth tools, it’s not a standalone entity. You should be thinking of your website as the core that other elements of your digital marketing strategy are built around.

One of these elements is social media. In today’s digital age, your audience expects everything to be interconnected. Their experience moving from social media to your site, or vice versa, should be seamless.

This means a couple different things. First, there needs to be some continuity in design and content between your website and social media accounts. Secondly, a visitor should be able to easily access your social media profiles from your website. This makes it easy for each visitor to learn more about you, and instantly increases your brand’s reach, visibility, and traffic.

Visual Hierarchy

Let’s say you have all these great design elements and ideas for your website. Placement matters, so you can’t just stick them anywhere and expect impressive results. There’s something called visual hierarchy, and it’s a concept that crucial to web design.

When a visitor lands on your website, their eyes follow a natural path across the page. How you arrange the elements on your page needs to play into this pattern of movement.


Visual hierarchy allows the visitor to easily move from one activity to the next without interruption, it also helps them to see the overall message of your site, and it puts the most important elements of your web pages in a position of visual priority.

Originally Published At www.chicagodigital.com

7 Best Practices For Website Design To Boost User Experience

Your website is the heart of your digital marketing campaign. Many of the channels you use will be designed to send users to it, and it’s where they can learn about your business, find important information, and take steps towards becoming customers.

In many cases, it’ll also be what makes the first impression on members of your target audience — and web design plays a major role in whether that impression is a good one. Visitors will often make snap judgments about your business within seconds of landing on your site, and design can be the factor that determines whether they stick around long enough to learn what you have to offer.

The design also impacts how people interact with your website. It’s what helps them navigate your pages, read your content, and take actions that get them closer to a purchase.

So while web design may seem like a minor consideration, it plays an important role in your entire digital marketing strategy’s success. That’s why on this page, we’ll discuss a few website design best practices you can use to maximize your results.

1. Create a design that fits your business

Everyone knows they shouldn’t judge a book by its cover — but that doesn’t stop most people from judging a business by its website. Your web design has a huge impact on how people perceive your business and the quality of your services.

If you already have an established brand, maintaining that brand on your site can go a long way in building trust with visitors. You want them to land on your site and immediately think of your business.

From there, a simple and modern design is often the best choice. Busy designs can distract users from your content and damage their chances of conversion.

You should also make sure that your design is consistent throughout your site. This will provide a cohesive feel and provide users with a positive experience.

There other ways you use design to improve your site’s appearance depending on your company’s brand and goals, but you can consider incorporating eye-catching photos and videos, focusing on readability, or creating standout CTAs. Your design can shape how users interact with your site and which actions they take, and it’s important to have those actions in mind as you work out the details of each page.

2. Opt for simple navigation

Users need to be able to quickly and easily find the information they want on your site. If they can’t access the details they need to make an informed decision, they’re unlikely to convert.
This means that your navigation can be a major factor in your success, and it should be as simple and organized as possible. In most cases, this means creating a horizontal navigation bar across the top of the page with straightforward categories.

Your navigation should have simple headings divided up by product type, services, locations, or another logical category type that makes sense for your business. You can use dropdown menus below those headings with more categories if necessary.

Make sure that your categories are logically organized in a way that makes it easy for users to determine which one has the information they need. Think like your audience, and consider how what you’d look for if you wanted information on a specific product or service.
You can also add helpful links to your footer. When people scroll to the bottom of a page, they should be able to consider browsing. This prevents them from having to scroll up and down to find information.

Your navigation plays a crucial part in keeping users on your site and can help users find the information they want and stay engaged with your content.

3. Use responsive design

People are going to access your website from multiple types of devices, including desktop and laptop computers, tablets, and smartphones. You need to make sure that all of them can access and navigate your pages — and the best way to do this is with responsive design.

Responsive design ensures that your website adjusts to the browsers and screen sizes your visitors use. Whether someone accesses your website on a smartphone or desktop computer, the browsing experience will be the same.

So, why is this important?

When you think about how you navigate a site, there are often small buttons and links that are scaled to be used on a desktop computer. If you shrink that size down to fit a mobile phone, those links and buttons can become difficult to use. With responsive design, this isn’t an issue, since the site will adapt to be usable on any device.

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It’s also important because today, users spend more time browsing on mobile devices than they do on desktop computers. This means that a site that only caters to desktop users provides a poor experience for a huge chunk of your potential customers.

With responsive design, you can be sure that you’re providing a great experience for all of your visitors. This can lead them to spend more time on your site, increasing the number of pages they visit, as well as the chances of them converting.

4. Use visual elements

Visual elements add a lot to your website. They’re the eye-catching details that keep users engaged, and pages with graphics and photos are much more interesting to browse than those with only text.

One of the easiest ways to add visual interest to your site is by incorporating relevant photos and graphics throughout your written content. These immediately draw users’ eyes and make them more likely to keep scrolling through your pages.

When you choose photos, it’s important that they’re relevant to the content and your brand. It’s best to avoid using stock photos if possible, as they can often come across as generic, but they can work for illustrating a point in a pinch.

The better option, though, is to use photos of your staff, your work, and your products. This will give your visitors an authentic feel for your business. You can also work with a designer to create custom graphics or infographics for another way to incorporate interesting visuals.
If you have the budget, videos are one of the most effective forms of visual content. Adding one to a page can improve conversions by 86%! This makes them a great addition to improving your website’s performance, engaging visitors, and increasing the amount of time potential customers spend with your content.

In fact, you are 53 times more likely to end up on the first page of Google results if you utilize video on your site. This is because people tend to remain on sites longer to watch videos than they do to read the content.

5. Check your readability

One often-overlooked element in web design is readability. You might have a ton of great information on your site, but if visitors have trouble reading it, it won’t help you reach your marketing goals.

It is absolutely essential for people to be able to easily read the information on your website. The first step is simply to make sure that there is plenty of contrast between your text and background colors. This will make your text stand out and be easy to scan.
Another important part of readability is the font. Your font selection has a major impact on how easy it is to read and skim your content, so it’s important to use a clean one that is easy to read.

While it can be tempting to choose “fun” fonts, they’re often difficult to read. Stick to simple fonts for your body copy, and limit the fancy ones to your titles or headings.
Even so, it’s best to stick to 2-3 different fonts. If you use too many different fonts, your website can look cluttered and unappealing. By sticking to a small selection, you can create a clean, cohesive feel.

You should also make sure that each font is big enough to read wherever you use it. If a font is too small, you’ll drive users away.

Your readability can dramatically impact how users experience your website. It’s an easy element to fix, too — so if your site is difficult to read, a few quick adjustments could make a huge difference.

6. Include social media buttons

Social media is likely part of your eCommerce marketing strategy, and adding social buttons to your site is an easy way to earn followers. You can add them for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and any other platform you use.

Social buttons are easy to incorporate into your design. You can place them in your header, footer, navigation, or virtually anywhere else you think they make sense.

By including these buttons, you make it easy for visitors to check out your social profiles and connect with you on various platforms. If they like what they see on your page, they can follow you for updates — increasing the chances that they’ll later return to your site.

If you have a blog or regularly publish new content, you can also consider adding share buttons that make it easy for people to share your content on their social accounts. The easier it is for them to tweet or post an article, the more likely they’ll be to do so...
This is a simple element to add to your design, but it's effective. You can help boost your social visibility and reach more potential customers.

7. Write strong calls to action

Your calls to action, or CTAs, are what direct visitors to the next step towards becoming customers.

No matter how helpful a visitor may have found one of your pages when they reach the end, they will likely leave. The exception to this is if there is a clear directive that’s in line with their interests.

By including a relevant CTA on each page, you tell visitors what the next step is. You direct them to visit another page, sign up for an email list, or contact your business. This gives your business the power to guide your leads in the right direction.

CTAs are essential for turning visitors into customers. Simply adding one to each page can increase your conversion rate and make your site a more valuable tool for your business.
Even if a CTA isn’t designed to generate a sale immediately, directing a user to another page means they’ll spend more time on your site. The more engaged they are, the more likely it is that they’ll become a customer in the future.

You can get creative with your CTAs, especially from a design standpoint. You can make creative buttons that stand out and entice people to click on them. This is a small piece of the puzzle but can have a huge impact on how effective your site is at turning traffic into sales.

Originally Publish At www.webfx.com

Web Design Best Practices Checklist Recommended by Experts

Let’s face it – web design can be overwhelming if you don’t know what it is that makes for a successful and innovative site. Did you know that 48% of people believe website design is the number one factor in deciding the credibility of a business? The web design best practices is the key. Customers know a good website when they see one, and just as important, they know when a website is bad, because it leaves them frustrated and confused. And you definitely don’t want your customers feeling like that.

We’re going to give you insight on web design standards like navigation, color scheme, and utilization of your social media and email marketing to ensure greater business success and optimization of leads. We’ll also give you tips on how to avoid common design mistakes like lag in your site loading time and cluttered layouts. 

We’ve compiled a list of 10 web design best practices you should implement for greater business success.

10 Web Design Best Practices for Your Business

1. Keep Branding Consistent

Website design that lacks consistent branding is stressful and confusing. There are quite a few brand websites out there that are a bit all over the place. It’s difficult to tell what their brand colors are, what their logo looks like, how they are positioning themselves or even what services they offer.

A best practice in B2C and B2B website design is to keep the branding consistent throughout the entire site. Only use the predetermined brand colors, logos, and verbiage on every page of the website. This applies to images, iconography, typography, and videos as well. A brand’s story should be evident and supported in every part of the design.

2. Create Strong CTAs

Two main goals of a website is to attract a large target market and to tell the customer what you offer. The final goal should always be to entice the visitor to complete an action – whether it is to sign up for a newsletter, download a case study, or set up a consultation. Strong calls to action are essential to converting website visitors into leads or new clients.

Strong CTAs should be part of the initial B2B web design, not an afterthought. They should be positioned in an appropriate place in the layout that makes sense for the target market. For example, a “Learn More” button may be placed higher in the design, while a “Contact Us” form may be placed towards the bottom of the design when the visitor is more educated about a brand or company. These web design best practices can be considered for any brand or industry.

3. Fast Loading Time

A single second of added page load speed can cause sales to drop by up to 27%. In 2013, the average size of websites grew 32%. Websites are getting bigger, and today’s research suggests that the sweet spot number for load times might be inching closer to two seconds as opposed to the current three seconds. According to recent studies, 47% of visitors expect a website to load in less than 2 seconds, and 40% of visitors will leave the website if the loading process takes more than 3 seconds. What can companies do to keep page loading times minimal?

Here are some web design best practices our experts at LYFE Marketing implement for cutting your load times:

• Consider implementing a content delivery network (CDN). A CDN takes a website’s static files – such as CSS, images and JavaScript – and delivers them on servers that are close to the user’s physical location. Because servers are closer to the user, they load more quickly.
• Implement new image formats to reduce the size of your images. It’s said that 61% of a website’s page weight on a desktop computer is images. Switching between different-sized and different-quality images to save bandwidth can help reduce image weight by 20% – 50% without sacrificing quality.
• Your cache. Browser caching stores cached versions of static resources, a process that quickens page speed tremendously and reduces server lag. When a user visits a page on your website, the cached version will usually be served unless it has changed since it was last cached; this saves a lot of requests to your server. And as a result makes it faster.
• Evaluate your plugins. Plugins can bring new functionality and features to your website, but the more plugins your website has, the more work it has to do to load.
• Enable HTTP keep-alive response headers. HTTP requests are simple: they grab and send a single file and then close. That may be simple, but it isn’t very fast. Keep-alive allows the web browser and server to agree to use the same connection to grab and send multiple files.
• Enable compression. You can compress resources to lower the number of bytes a page is sending over a network. You will need to optimize your content for compression by creating consistency across your HTML and CSS code.

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4. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO is one of our simple and effective web design best practices suggestions. It is used to increase the amount of visitors to your website by obtaining a high-ranking placement in the search engine results page (SERP). It does this through using a single phrase, known as a keyword, that is used throughout compelling and readable content on your site.

For the search engines, it’s essential to include all important on-page SEO tags and elements, including schema and XML sitemaps. Too much technical jargon for you? That’s okay because we specialize in SEO too. Contact a team member if you’d like us to optimize your website or leave us a comment at the bottom of the page, and we’d be happy to answer it.

5. Mobile Friendly

You might build a great website that looks good when viewed on a desktop or laptop, but when being displayed on a cell phone or tablet, it becomes very cluttered, unorganized, and hard to navigate. If you’re in this boat, you will lose potential leads. On average, 8 out of 10 consumers will stop engaging with a site if its content doesn’t display properly on their device. It’s frustrating, so do you blame them?

Responsive design adjusts to the size of your browser automatically, making it a lot easier for website users to find all the information they need, stress free. A responsive design serves all devices with the same code that adjusts for every screen size. Mobile devices are projected to reach 79% of global internet use by the end of 2018, a mobile-friendly and responsive website design is essentially becoming a standard these days.

Responsive design has been a part of web design best practices for years. Take the LYFE landing page for example. On both the desktop and mobile versions, you’re getting the information you want but in two adaptable perspectives:

6. Easy Navigation

“Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while you could miss it.” Sentimental words from the beloved 80’s classic character Ferris Bueller, but when it comes to website loading time, this timeless quote means nada. The less time it takes for people to find what they’re looking for, the better. People expect loading time to be minimal and navigation to be simple. Optimizing the viewer experience of your site makes all the difference in web design best practices for your brand.

You’ll also want to make sure that your most important pages have the highest accessibility. Let’s consider a few more website design best practices:

• Limit your navigation menu bar to 4-6 options. 88% of websites have their main navigation located in the header at the top of every page, making horizontal top-level navigation a web design standard.
• Search bars are key, especially for sites with lots of content.
• Contact information should be in the right hand corner and easily visible.
• Sticky “back-to-top” buttons allow the viewer to scroll down to their heart’s content and with the click of a button go back to the top without the hassle of manually scrolling all the way back up. Trust us, nobody has time for that.
• Use breadcrumbs to let your visitors know where they are. This is especially true for eCommerce websites since this type of site has tons of product categories and subcategories. This also applies to websites with lots of content. With breadcrumbs, one can easily go back to the previous page or check out a specific category. It acts like the “You are here” sign we see in malls.

7. Email Marketing

Although an older form of staying connected, email marketing still plays a major role in keeping customers and potential customers in the loop of your services and content. Past experience has shown us that 77% of executives prefer to receive marketing communications through email rather than other forms of marketing. So, what does this tell us?

Email is relevant, and your email campaigns should be too. A site’s email capture forms should sync with your email marketing system for seamless access and connection. Make sure that your audience doesn’t have to go searching for your email sign-up icon. Placing the icon in the header or footer are both web design best practices you’ll want to consider.

8. Social Media

We all know the power behind social media and the different ways we can use our social media outlets to promote brands and drive content. That being said, anywhere you can link your social accounts, you definitely should. This could include (but not limited to) your emails, blog articles, guest posts, other social bios, etc. Did you know that 72% of websites include icons for social media websites in the footer? This alone almost makes this a standard as well as one of our web design best practices that we recommend for the most traffic to your site.

Because your social media icons are going to steer your audience outside of your website, it can cost you traffic, increasing bounce rates and hurt results, which is why we recommend putting your social media icons in the footer of your site. That way, website visitors have probably already explored your site for a while before they find the social icons, causing less skewed data to your metrics.

Quality Photos

According to Hubspot, people can recall up to 65% of information that is visually depicted for a period of 72 hours vs only 10% of information they hear for the same period of time. With 37% of the population being visual learners, featuring high quality photos and logos will help your audience gauge your brand and content more easily.

High-quality images will help convert your online leads by:

• Garnering more views to your site, which means more chances to convert!
• Increasing user engagement, which means users spend more time on your site.
• Decreasing bounce rate, which means more traffic and higher rankings!
• Forming a link between customer and company, which means users are more likely to choose your services.

10. Color Scheme

Your website should embody the personality of your brand, and so should your color scheme. If your background and text colors don’t provide enough contrast, people will have difficulties reading your content and displeased that your site is not visually appealing. The more visually appealing your site is, the more likely your customers will be able to recall your content.

Read Original Article at www.lyfemarketing.com