Business owners take pride in their storefront. They order nice signage, hire landscapers, and make sure their windows are clean.
So why do business owners let their websites fall into disrepair?
Your website is your digital storefront.
It is a customer’s first impression of you online. Many customers even find businesses online before they ever lay eyes on its storefront.
That is why it is important your website tells the story of your business.
A business’s website design should be professional, personal, and functional.
Anything less than those three things and your business risks losing valuable customers, sending the wrong message, or starting a new customer relationship off on the wrong foot.
Do you have a winning website?
Tips for a Professional Looking Website
These six tips can tell you if your website is on the right path or if it desperately needs a trail guide.
1. Keep it Simple
People’s attention spans are pretty short these days. Your website should be able to quickly get to the point and highlight the important aspects of your business.
This tip goes beyond messaging. Your design should be clean and focused on highlighting the content. Don’t be afraid of whitespace!
2. Prioritize Navigation
Once a potential customer is on your website, user-friendly navigation is a top priority. Keep your page names simple and clear. No one wants to play a guessing game when they are trying to find information.
Navigation also includes prioritizing effective calls to action. Use buttons and brief action statements to draw attention to key elements.
3. Hone Your Messaging
The messaging is the bread and butter of your site. A pretty, easy-to-use site is nothing without quality information. Don’t get bogged down in industry terms. Try to keep the copy conversational and concise.
Avoid lengthy paragraphs and limit the number of fonts you use on your page. Using more than three fonts can make your page look messy.
4. Make it Eye-Catching
A well-chosen, high-quality photo can do wonders for your website. The photos on your site should accurately represent your business.
Don’t overwhelm your website viewers with too many images or something too eye-catching. It should enhance the overall design, not distract.
5. Don’t Forget Mobile Users
More than ever people are using their cellphones to navigate the web. That means your website must be designed with both desktop and mobile in mind. You cannot simply use one design.
An effective mobile design will make all of the content easy to read and convert design elements and images to better appear on a phone screen.
6. Maintain the Backend
As we said before, attention spans today are short. Even just a few extra seconds of loading time can negatively impact a customer’s browsing experience.
The other backend element that directly affects your visitors is search engine optimization (SEO). SEO helps visitors find your site on search engines and without proper consideration, all the work you put into your site will be for nothing.