A website is just a website, as long as it features your products or services online, right? Wrong! That is in fact one of the most common mistakes individuals make when they’re looking to take their business online. An excellent design matters, and that’s one of the reasons you should hire a professional web design Austin company.
A well-designed, easy to navigate, and visually-appealing website can set you apart from the rest, make you a trusted business, and boost your chances of converting visitors into buyers.
Table of Contents
Why Excellent Web Design Matters for Online Businesses
1. First Impressions are Very Important
When a web visitor opens your website, you’ll want them to stay a little bit longer so that they can complete an action, maybe sign up for your newsletter or purchase something. But did you know that an average internet user spends around 15 seconds scanning a new site and deciding whether they’ll stay or not? What if you have a poorly-designed website with unclear aspects? The visitor will “bounce,” which you may not want.
That means you have 15 seconds or less to hook up your web visitors and impress them, and that’s where a well-designed website comes in to help. Depending on what you’re offering, a web design expert can help you create a site with all the right visuals that grab visitors’ attention and keep them hooked for longer.
A professional web designer can also help you strike the right balance between offering your visitors inadequate information and overwhelming them with lots of it.
2. Great Web Design Shows You as a Trustworthy Business
Let’s face it, trust is one of the most critical aspects that influence people’s purchasing decisions. If a visitor feels like they don’t trust you, they won’t feel comfortable or safe spending their hard-earned money buying your products or services. They will use your website’s design to judge your trustworthiness, and if it’s poorly done or outdated, bad luck for you.
However, if you’ve invested in a great design, web visitors will see you as a business that cares about its image. And if you care about yourself and your business’s look, they will view you as a professional business that cares about its customers.
3. It’s Crucial for SEO
Your search engine ranking affects the success of your online business. If your ranking is lower, it lowers the chances of web visitors finding your site and making a purchase. But if it ranks higher, potential customers can easily find you and maybe even buy something. How does web design affect SEO?
There are several ways it does: ease of navigation, loading speeds, etc. For instance, if your website is hard to navigate and visitors can’t clearly find what they’re looking for, then they’ll just leave. If a lot of visitors do that, you will have higher bounce rates, and consequently, search engines like Google will rank you lower. These search engines will assume visitors are “bouncing” because you don’t have useful information on your site or generally, they’re not happy.
Similarly, if your website loads slowly, potential customers will leave, which will send negative signals to search engines to rank you lower. To avoid poor rankings, it would be best to work with web design experts who know all the crucial aspects that affect SEO and handle them as necessary.
As you’ve seen, good web design is a crucial determinant in the success of your business. Think of your website as a virtual sales assistant who’s willing to work for you 24/7. Thank it by making it visually appealing and equipping it with aspects that convince people to stay longer, complete an action, and give them reasons to come back and see what’s new.
