If you want your website to be successful, the design must be user-friendly and easy to navigate. A great way to do this is by following a few simple tips that will not only make your site enjoyable for visitors but also increase their conversion rate.
Think about what your site is about
The design will depend on the nature of your business and the goal you want to accomplish. For example, if you are running a hotel website, you will want to include information about the location, the number of available rooms, and descriptions of the types of rooms. This information will help people who are making a decision about where to stay for their next vacation or business trip. If you don’t feel comfortable enough to create your own website you can always look for a hotel website design agency. A good website design will not only help people find the information they are looking for but also encourage them to book their stay.
Designers of websites that provide hotel services should understand that the site needs to attract people who are searching for a place to sleep, so many elements will be unnecessary. You don’t need pages of information for visitors to your hotel website, you just need the most important details available.
Make it mobile-friendly
More people are browsing online on their phones than ever before. Every day, more and more college students are using mobile devices to turn in papers or search for their next meal. Having a quick loading site is crucial because visitors will go elsewhere if your page takes too long to load. Optimizing your site for mobile browsing can help attract more visitors who are searching for what you have to offer on their phones.
Designing a website that works on all platforms is not an easy task, but companies including Google are working towards making it easier. There are many conferences held around the world that discuss how Web Developers can make sure their sites will work on all types of devices, especially Google’s annual I/O conference. If you feel overwhelmed by the task of designing a website with different pages for desktops and mobile browsers, consider hiring someone else to do so or asking for assistance from an agency specializing in hotel website design.
Optimizing the site for search engines
One way to reel in more visitors is to optimize your site for search engines. This can be done by creating great content that people will want to read and share, as well as utilizing keywords that are commonly searched for throughout the internet. Linking back to your social media profiles or providing an RSS feed of your posts can also help you get ahead of the game.
Make sure your site design doesn’t get in the way of search engines crawling through your pages. For example, you don’t want to have flash images because search engine bots will not be able to see them.
Make it fast!
People are impatient with slow websites, so if your site takes too long to load they will go elsewhere. Slow loading times can be caused by extraneous content embedded in images – for example, large background images that contain patterns or images that obscure text. Optimizing your photos not only increases speed but also saves storage space on your server. You can see this feature in action in our article on how to resize images in Adobe Photoshop. Keep in mind that it can take longer to load images after resizing, but the site will be faster overall.
If you have any insecurities about this there are a ton of advice online and many people willing to help you. Optimizing your website load time is crucial in this day and age when everyone wants instant gratification! Think about this next time you want to build a site or redesign it.
Color selection is important
The colors will help users find their way around your site, so if possible pick ones that are complementary. Be wary of using too many bright colors because it can make your design look cluttered. When choosing a color scheme for your website, think about what would make people want to stay there longer and read your content.
Remember that people are browsing for information on larger screens, so you want to make sure all of your text is relatively big enough to read comfortably. Don’t make the font too small because it can be hard to read and frustrating for users! A good rule of thumb is using a size 12 font for an average webpage.
Keep it simple
The most appealing sites are the simplest ones. Don’t make people wonder what to click on or where to go – direct them along with playful pop-ups that emphasize your point. Website users may not want to be given too many choices if they’re looking for one specific item. If you can, include a search bar so visitors can find things easily. Furthermore, make sure it is in a visible place (such as the top of your page) and that it leads directly to where they need to go. The easier you make everything, the more likely people are to stay on your site longer!
Create original content
Making sure that your website has original content will not only impress visitors but also let them know that you care about giving them accurate information. If these pages include videos, photos, quotes from celebrities/experts/staff members alike — even better! This type of content lures people in and gives them a reason to stay for longer periods of time, leading to increased user engagement.
Writing about original topics can be hard, but after a while, you will get a hang of it. One thing you can do is make a list post, which works great for things like “top 10” topics. Try experimenting with new ideas to see what sticks!
There are thousands of small things you can do to improve your site, but the most important ones will depend on what you’re selling and who your target audience is. Once you understand who your visitor is and what they want, you can work on increasing conversions by showing them exactly what they need in a quick-loading website.