The first impression of any business depends on its carefully designed website. A good amount of thought, time, and money needs to be invested in the designing and if needed step-wise improvement of website design. Hiring professional website designing services can be a good option to save time and make it cost-effective.
Following is a list of 12 ways to improve your website:
1. Website Navigation
The ease of navigating your website will allow the user to find exactly what's been looked for. It will also boost the search engine rankings of your website. A descriptive website that tells the user what's on offer in fewer clicks is popular with the users and can help to convert the user into potential customers.
2. Call To Action Text (CTA)
Clear calls to action are specific and self-explanatory viz. 'Download', 'Sign up free', 'Reviews', etc. They are in first-person telling the visitor what to do. The CTA is in colors that compliment the website background.
3. Carousels
Should be used only if it is of any relevance and value addition. The number should be restricted to 1-3 to retain the interest of the user and they should not be auto-forward slides. According to Smashing Magazine, using a carousel for image galleries on a product detail page may be very useful to users that are browsing on a mobile device.
4. Social Proof
To convert users into customers a message or a quote or a testimonial by an influential personality acts as social proof of the credibility of your site and product.
5. Testimonials
Good things or opinions expressed by great, famous, loyal clients should be made very visible. Videos, Tweets, etc. should be scattered throughout the site such as the product page, case studies section, etc.
6. Team Pages
The success of a business depends to a large extent on how well a connection is there between the people of the company and its clients. The website pages should give the company profile, employee details, work culture, etc as they project transparent communication.
7. Live chat
This offers an instant insight into the interest of the client garnering immediate feedback on the site and striking effective communication with the clients and prospective customers.
8. Mobile friendly
Mobile-friendly web pages offer a good user experience. The visible links and ease of navigation are a must-have which will enhance the mobile search ranking of the site.
9. Internal Linking
To keep the clients moving through the site, provide various links so that they do not hit a dead end and lose interest. e.g. Link the home page to various services which in turn can be linked to the contact form.
10. E-mail sign-up forms
The sign-up process must be crystal clear as to why the user is signing. The forms should be prominent, offer social proof, and promise something concrete that will interest the potential customer.
11. Forget the Fold
Stuffing all information above the fold will make it complicated to scan through. The only important message should be on top. A good reason to scroll will enable the users to go down the fold.
12. Thank You Page
To maintain the interest of the visitors and give them a reason to revisit and stay on your site, a thank you page can be effectively used viz.' Sign up through this page or 'Offering best fortnightly deals' or 'Look for more news, etc.
Written by: Jitendra Raulo
Jitendra Raulo is the Founding Director at Aarav Infotech India Pvt. Ltd., a leading Web Design and Digital Marketing Company with 11+ years of experience and having headquarter in Mumbai, India, and Support Centre at Bhubaneswar, India, he is actively working with Start-ups, SMEs and Corporations utilizing technology to provide business transformation solution.
