Did you know that poor website design could dramatically reduce your sales?
Now more than ever, customers place a high value on the look and feel of a website. In fact, 94% of users say that a site’s design elements matter more than the content!
Think about that for a moment. No matter how awesome your product is, no one will buy it if they can’t past your sloppy or ineffective site design. And there’s no point in launching a digital marketing campaign if your website is subpar.
If you’re struggling with your online sales, it might be time to consider a website makeover. Although it sounds simple, there are a lot of important factors to consider.
Not sure where to start? Here are seven expert tips for a website redesign.
1. Evaluate Your Current Site
Your first step is to take a long, honest look at your current website design.
Does it look dated? Is it easy to navigate, or could you improve and streamline your user experience? Have you received specific complaints from existing customers?
If you haven’t already, you need to analyze your site’s traffic patterns and identify areas that need improvement.
Which page(s) receive the highest bounce rates? If visitors leave the page almost as soon as they land there, start your redesign work there.
Do you have a high cart abandonment rate? Where in the process do buyers tend to throw in the towel?
Identify what isn’t working on your current site so you know what needs to change in your website redesign. You can discover more here about website makeovers.
2. Stick with What Works
With all this talk of change, it’s worth noting that you don’t necessarily need to redesign your entire website.
It’s likely that some components of your site already work beautifully. If your color palette, images, and font choices look fresh and modern, you may not need to change those at all.
The same goes for your business logo. If you’re happy with it and you enjoy widespread brand recognition, leave it alone and focus on other elements of your website redesign.
Of course, if your logo looks outdated (or little more than a piece of clip art), you’ve identified your first project. Your logo matters more than you think, so make yours a great one.
Hire an expert graphic designer if necessary to design a new logo for your business. Then you can start building your brand and your new website around the fresh logo design.
3. Make a Wish List
Once you’ve taken inventory of your current website, branding, and logo, it’s time to make a list.
Whether you do the redesign work yourself or hire an expert, it’s vital to have clear goals in mind. Write down every new feature you want your site to have, whether it’s a new tool, a simplified checkout process, or an improved sidebar.
This is also the time to consider small structural changes that could make a big difference for your audience. As an example, do your blog URLs contain the dates they were posted?
If so, visitors may feel less inclined to read something published a few years ago (especially if newer information is available). It can also hurt your SEO, as Google places the highest value on fresh content.
Making your URLs shorter and cleaner is one example of how to improve your website. The more you study your current site and compare it with your competitors, the more ideas for your wish list you’ll come up with.
4. Focus on Strong Visual Elements
We all have shortened attention spans — and they’re getting shorter every year. The fastest way to get your visitors bouncing is to present a gigantic block of text on your home page.
What you need to reel them in is an impressive visual feature on your home page (and every other page). Photos, videos, and illustrations create a much stronger reaction than cleverly crafted words.
If possible, use custom images for your website instead of generic stock photos. Consider shooting a welcome video to pull new visitors in and introduce them to your brand.
5. Consider Contrasting Colors
To make your website redesign stand out, consider where to add carefully chosen pops of color.
If you already have your color palette selected, that’s great. Now choose one contrasting color to use for features you especially want visitors to notice.
Use this color to highlight or underline a featured product. If the color isn’t found anywhere else on your site, you’ll succeed in drawing attention to the pages or products you want to be noticed most.
6. Focus on Conversions
If you’re struggling with conversion rates, you might consider adding some new landing pages with that goal in mind.
You can have different offers on different pages, from product discounts to a signup form your email list.
Once your new site goes live, pay careful attention to your analytics. Which offers and landing pages are working–and which ones aren’t?
As you analyze your results over time, you can make changes accordingly.
7. Optimize for Voice Search
A final feature you might consider for your website redesign is optimizing for voice search.
By 2020 (that’s barely a year away!) experts estimate that 50% of all searches will be done by voice. People often speak differently than they type, so consider keywords and search terms that are optimized for voice search.
This could include something as simple as adding “nearby” or “near me” to the end of your most popular keywords. That way, people who are actively searching for a business like yours can easily discover you.
Final Thoughts on Your Website Makeover
As you can see, there’s a lot of thought and planning that goes into a successful and attractive website.
By using the tips outlined above, your website makeover will be a success–and so will your business!
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