The first thing you notice about a website is its design. From how long it takes the page to load, to its organization, and its color scheme, all make an impression on the person visiting the site. These impressions greatly impact whether first-time visitors turn into loyal customers or are driven to a competitor’s website.
In the following article, we will discuss 8 website design tricks that will get users returning to your site and increase its conversion rate.
1. Optimize User Experience
When it comes to user experience, experts agree that utilizing language that prompts action throughout your content keeps the user interested and they will be more likely to revisit in the future. When designing your page’s main menus, utilize call to actions that keep users engaged, such as “Get Started”, “Sign up for free”, and “order now”.
By sticking to open-ended phrases, such as the previously given examples, you are starting a conversation with the visitors of your website, who will then be more likely to return in the future.
You want to stay away from headlines that end the conversation between the page and the visitor such as “about us”, “what we do”, and other informative sections. While these sections are crucial to any website or business, they drive visitors away when they are emphasized on the homepage.
2. Make Responsive Websites
Designing your website to be fully functional on any platform can make a huge impression on your target audience. In 2018, 52.2% of all internet traffic throughout the world was generated by a mobile phone and mobile pages took up half of all the pages served during that year.
If your website was not formatted to be responsive and fully functional on a mobile platform, then you are losing a major portion of internet traffic. Creating a responsive website goes beyond simply formatting the content to fit on a smaller screen – it needs to be easy to use with smooth transitions and efficient page loading speeds.
Related: 8 Proven Google Ads Tips to Increase Your Conversion Rate
3. Be Aware of Human Reading Patterns
Studies have shown that humans have a specific pattern of reading web content and you should design your website around that pattern.
Visitors to your website will rarely read every single word of the page. Instead, they start on the first sentence on the left side of the page and move vertically downward to look for key points in each paragraph’s first lines.
From this, you will want to design your website in a way that will capture your audience’s attention immediately. A general rule of thumb is as follows:
- Readers focus on the first two paragraphs of the page – place your hook in the first two paragraphs.
- Using enticing keywords – your headers, menus, bullet points, and call to actions should all contain enticing and relevant keywords to keep the readers interested and on the site.
4. Optimize Page Loading Speeds
There are few situations more frustrating than when you are trying to visit a website that takes forever to load. When faced with a slow loading page, the majority of users will leave the site instead of patiently waiting and are less likely to return.
In actuality, a 2018 study conducted by Google found that 53% of mobile users leave a website that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Additionally, a marketing expert has found that a 1 second delay in page response results in a 7% reduction in conversions, on average.
To put it simply, having slow page speeds can greatly reduce the traffic on your website. It prevents new users from visiting your site and potential customers from returning. Even worse, non-optimal page speed can make your loyal customers abandon your site for a competitors. All in all, low page speed will cause you to lose visitors and paying customers, leading to you losing money.
You can design your website to have an optimal page load speed through minimizing the content the browser needs to load (images or graphics), rarely using redirect links, and reducing the number of plug-ins and widgets on your site.
5. Keep your Site Consistent
As with any facet of your website or business, you must keep your website consistent and up to date. It is important to note that consistency, in regard to website design, is referring to the reader’s expectations that the web page is designed with logical coherence and accordance to formatting normalities.
One simple way to make sure your website design meets standards is to keep the main elements of the page in their usual spot and pattern. This means the logo at the top of the page, the headers and other menus underneath the logo, having a search bar, etc.
Related: Know How Responsive Web Design Can Benefit Your Business
6. Be Deliberate with your Color Scheme
First impressions are important, and your website is no different. The first thing your visitors will see when visiting your website is its physical appearance which can greatly influence a customer’s willingness to stay on the site. A beautifully designed website can make your page memorable and stand out from others.
When choosing your page’s color scheme, you will want to keep the following in mind:
- Choose your primary color – if you have a color that dominates your brand, choose that color as your primary. The primary color will be the focus of your design.
- Choose 2 colors to compliment your primary color.
- Implement the 60-30-10 role, with 60% of your design comprised of the main color, 30% with your secondary color, and 10% with your third.
You should also take advantage of separating your main pages, headers, and sub headers through utilizing your website’s color scheme. Having the important information emphasized and visually separated streamlines your page’s user experience and accessibility.
7. Understand the Difference between Negative and White Space and How to Utilize Both
There is a big difference between negative and white space in website design. Even though “negative space” is commonly used as a synonym for white space.
In web design, white space refers to the empty space on your website that does not communicate a separate idea or image. Having ample white space on your page, such as between paragraphs or breaking up headers and subheaders, drastically increase the page’s readability and how well the visitor understands the content.
Negative space, on the other hand, is also the empty space on your website but works in tangent with the occupied space to create an image or idea in the white space. The FedEx logo is a perfect example of utilizing negative space.
Notice anything between the E and the X in the logo? You should notice the arrow created by the white space between the E and the X. The arrow is created through utilizing negative space design.
Utilizing both negative space designs along with ample white space between content can increase your page’s readability and loading speeds, as well as keep your visitors engaged with the content.
8. Simplicity is Key
Finally, the last web design tip is to keep your website simple. There have been countless studies conducted on websites to determine what design gets the most conversions, and the answer is always simple web designs.
While you may want to add in as many images as possible, or excessive notifications, or even sounds, they drive away your customers and decrease your conversions. Besides being excessive and obnoxious, overloading your website with unnecessary decorations can greatly decrease the page speed of your site, which also leaves a visitor frustrated and unwilling to come back.
Conclusion
A website’s design is important and should be treated as such. It often is your business’s first impression on potential customers and can greatly impact the user’s willingness to stay on the site and whether they will return.
Through following these web design tips; your website will be on its way to gaining more traffic and increasing conversion rates.
