Web Design that Sells

When considering a new web design that sells your products and services it’s good to keep in mind what your customers want, not necessarily what they need. Their “wants” will drive their searches and if your website addresses what they want, your site has a better chance of coming up as a high result in a search. Thus, your chances of a click-through are much greater. After they commit to checking out your site, it’s the web design that sells your business. How is your design?

What are your Goals with your Online Presence?

Are you trying to do everything on the home page? Many landing home pages are cluttered with references for people to click somewhere, buy something, check out what’s new, connect with us through email, etc. If you clutter up that home page you will confuse your web surfer and they will literally “bounce off” your page (hit the back button).We can’t have that!  Have a clear message or two on that home page. But that’s it. Let the reader be curious about your services and products and let them click on other tabs to find out more information. If your goal is to simply collect the emails and then market directly to consumers through email direct marketing campaigns, than that type of web design that sells is a whole different design. Please make sure to communicate with your web designer your clear goals of setting up this web page. Many a successful firm has had a simple two page web design that targets email capture and the real profit comes in the direct marketing campaigns. How will you market your business?

Color in a Web Design that Sells

Let the colors help convey your message. Sassy. Dark. Lite. Nature. Zombie. Soft. Easy on the colors! I tend to overdo the colors sometimes, so I am constantly putting myself in check to stick with 2 main colors and perhaps 2 highlighting colors when creating a web design that sells. If it is way too busy with colors you will confuse people and they won’t know where to look first. Use complementary colors, be a bit trendy and dive into new palettes using assistance from such color sites as Colourlovers.com or check out Google Chromes color palette picker app. These are great ways to come up with a nice set of colors that work well together. Try to avoid asking friends or spouses until you are near the end of your process. Always keep your demographics in mind. Are you marketing to women? men? 20-somethings? kids? and their ages? Keep all this in mind.

Keep it Simple

A simple web design that sells your goods is so much better than a complicated one. If you are over zealous with a web designer they will do everything you say or want and that is not always good ($$$). Plan out your navigation – look at competitor’s sites – look at sites in your industry in different states so you don’t mimic something another competitor has done locally. Get a clear understanding of what you like and what you don’t like in these sites and be ready to convey this information to your web designer. The more you let them in on your way of thinking – the easier it will be do create a web design that sells! And less revisions, too – good communication is always a good idea.

A Web Design that Sells Includes Great Real Images

Local business Red Table Cafe uses Real Images of their Business for Marketing Pictures are key to a great web design that sells. We are so familiar with looking at images – if we go to a site with minimal images it is boring and doesn’t help convey your message. Digital cameras are inexpensive. Invest in one and take lots of shots of your business or images that convey your services. If you think that having ads on the sides with images is a good thing and you want content with no images – that is typical of a site that is made just to get clicks for affiliates or Amazon products. Try to not look like this for your small business. Be serious and save the images for your pages – not for the advertising feeds. (The picture to the left is a shot of the Red Table Cafe in Fort Collins, Colorado. Showing the outside of your business is good for a customer to familiarize themselves with your location – and makes them feel more comfortable approaching your business for the first time. Avoid just using stock photography – customers wonder what you are hiding if your images are not your own.)

Social Media Connections

Your existing and potential new customers that visit your site might want to share your information with their friends, family or strangers (like through Stumbleupon or Digg). If you don’t use social sharing buttons on your website you make it difficult for them to share. Everyone is abuzz about Pinterest now. If you don’t have a pinterest button on your site, you are totally missing out. and since Pinterest relies heavily on images you have to be sure to use nice compelling images in everything you do – and that’s a good thing! No one is going to share lame images on Pinterest. The point is to get people to re-pin and share what you have shared. (It is tapping into our egos! – ah! the life of social media continues to evolve!) A nice, easily read site has concise content, interesting images (not all stock photos! ugh), white space (empty areas), and in general it will make me want to stay on your site and pick up the phone and do business with you! At Colorado Website Redesign, I can make that happen for  you and your business. Take a few moments to think about how you want your new website to perform and then let’s schedule a meeting. We will fine tune your goals and create a new web design that sells your products and services with a strong online presence. It’s what I love to do – hit the Quote Me! tab and connect with me and let’s get started!