(note: I have never use an image that big in a blog post before!)
Content is King… Right?
Of course content is still King. However I’ve been hearing about more and more studies show that the site’s design will play a huge part in the success of that site and it’s business.
That has always been obvious to me, but it’s nice to see the numbers backing it up.
Why Professional Web Design is Crucial
The information I’ve been taking in has been referring to the fact that a website’s design can have a huge effect on the visitor in the following ways:
- Good, impressive professional design inspires confidence.
- Good, impressive professional design inspires trust.
Both of these are requirements to doing business online. If a visitor doesn’t get a good feeling the second they land on your page, they’re likely to leave in a hurry (and most likely will not return).
Good, impressive professional web design shows the visitor that your site wasn’t thrown together overnight on godaddy, or using some other U Build It kind of setup. When the visitor lands on a site that works for them visually, they are more likely to look and find your beautiful content.
Things that can make a visitor feel confidence upon landing on your site:
- good, effective and tastefully used color scheme.
- nice, clean layout.
- nice, clean navigation.
- high quality images and graphics.
- large, easy to read text.
Notice I’ve been repeating the phrase, “Good, impressive professional design.” That’s because just because you pay for it, doesn’t mean it’s going to be awesome.
Look through the designer’s portfolio. Make sure you love their work. Do the sites in their portfolio impress you? Inspire you?
If yes, than it’s more likely they can do the same thing for your site. If no, then keep looking.
I completely understand being on a budget, but just remember this:
Business is on the web. Your customers are on the web. Your website is the most important aspect of your business’ marketing and brand development.
Let me repeat that. Your website is the most important aspect of your business’ marketing and brand development.
If you’re going to cut back anywhere, don’t do it with your website.
