Your website says a lot about your company and your brand. The way that it looks can determine how people see you and if they want to use your services. Which is why it is so important to have a website that looks its best. Here are a few do’s and don’ts for websites to make sure you’re on the right track.
Do keep it simple and easy. Having a website that anyone can navigate is extremely important. You want to have a clean homepage that isn’t filled with too much content or too many calls to action, and a navigation bar that is laid out by theme and importance to your customer. These things make it easier for anyone or any age to figure out and in turn will help you maintain and gain customers.
Don’t do it yourself. You might think that creating a website is easy, but when you sign up for certain sites that have a “do-it-yourself” mentality and templates to chose from you are basically picking from a selection of things other people have already used, not to mention it might end up not looking all that professional which is something you definitely want to avoid. The great thing about using a company such as CXC for your website is that we can create custom templates that fit your brand and your company so that you can stick out and have a fresh, unique feel to your site.
Do make it mobile friendly. As technology evolves we are finding that more and more people are using their phones and tablets to look up companies and therefore coming across those company’s websites. How your website looks on a mobile device or a tablet should be just as easy to navigate as your desktop website. Having a responsive site is a great way to make sure that your website looks good no matter what device it is being viewed on.
Don’t add a blog just to have one. If you aren’t going to utilize a blog consistently then don’t have one. An outdated blog, or one that doesn’t get posted on regularly makes it look like you don’t care about the maintenance of your website. It is important to only have things like a blog if you are going to be using them. The same goes for a twitter or a Facebook feed on your website. If you aren’t going to post often to social media, don’t have a feed up on your site.
Do have testimonials. A huge part of gaining new clients is those people having trust in you and your company. Testimonials from happy customers will allow those people to see that you are trustworthy and good at your job and in turn will make them trust you to do the job.
Don’t have 20 different ideas going at once. When creating your website you want it to look clean and professional. So focus on a few colors that you want to use, not 20 that’s going to make it look a lot cleaner. In that same vein you want to find one main font for your webpage, only having a different one for large logos and titles. Using 20 different fonts will make it look unorganized and unprofessional.
People want a problem-free experience whenever they visit a website. If you can’t meet their demands, they’ll go to your rivals, who might only be a mouse click away. Each design choice should be made with the user in mind to ensure the best possible experience.
The finest website designs need to follow guidelines. What counts in user experience? This web design style guide is a starting point but follows your aesthetic instincts. A high-converting, user-friendly, and attractive website requires a designer to think like an artist, end-user, and businessman.
Here at CXC Digital, we constantly encourage you to experiment and find what works best for your users. Still, we also want to emphasize to users that there are no design rules.Your website is successful if it’s simple, distinct, and direct. Unfortunately, most of us create complicated web pages to make them unique. The cleaner, the better.