This is the age of the short attention span. That’s not a judgement call. That’s just how it is. People need their information fast, accurate, and easy and professional websites of all kinds need to keep up if they are going to deliver on those needs. That’s why website design and website development is so important for any contemporary business. Your website might be honest and easy but if it’s designed poorly people just aren’t going to respond to in a positive way. Aesthetics matter, in marketing and in the structure of the items or goods or services being sold. That’s just professionalism. What follows is a short list of things you might want to pay attention to while designing a website. These will help your online business stand out and, hopefully, thrive in a market that craves novelty and exposure. All it takes is a little effort and mindfulness on the part of the developer. So follow along!
- Link placement
Take a hypothetical software company, for instance. What information would be absolutely crucial for them to display first? What do consumers for this potential software company need to know? Most likely, what types of software they develop, whether they are open to selling anything to the public and whether they are hiring. Going to their website, these are the things you or anyone would absolutely want to know. This is where professional website development comes in. This information is going to be primarily conveyed through the location and placement of links on the website itself. You’re going to have consumers coming to the site and looking, almost unconsciously, for link placement. They’ll be assessing how organized this software company is by the level of visible organization on their website. This goes for all other types of business as well. A florist, for instance, would want a clear and precise set of links that lead to what kind of flowers he sells, how much they are and how they can be arranged. This placement should be in order of sales and importance. You should put the best-selling and most in-demand items or services in the most visible sections. Combine those visible sections with the most information conveyed in the least amount of text. This is efficiency with meaning that won’t be wasted on the customer. Not in the slightest. They’ll realize that the owner, your or anyone else, has put a minimum amount of care into presentation.
Presentation
This is the other most important part of website design. Just as a brick-and-mortar store is going to suffer it it looks like it hasn’t been maintained, an online store is going to suffer it looks like it was designed a decade ago. This affects all manner of perception coming from your consumer base and it pays to remember that. It’s the windows principle at work. Pun intended. A neighborhood or block with broken windows encourages everybody within that area, however unconsciously, that this is a place where security is lax. Crime can occur there. The same can be said for website security. People will be more likely to stay away or be cautious of a site that looks like it’s suffering from a lack of website security. Stay away from this. Keep a minimum of aesthetic design and upgraded awareness to site and people will respond. Also, as a point of interest, stay on top of actual security and invest in website security software. Keep your site as secure as it looks and you won’t have to worry.
Impressions
Really, these two ideas come down to impressions more than anything. First impressions are hard to shake, in real life or online. It’s not quite fair but it’s what matters. Stay true to that and you won’t go wrong. You don’t need to have a complicated or fancy website. Not by any means. But, just like the hypothetical software company, you’re going to want to make yourselves clear and present. Do that and customers will respond with their own clarity. Then everyone benefits and nobody loses in the long term.
