Web design involves more than making a site look good; it involves making a site engaging. Therefore, finding the perfect balance between style and function is crucial when establishing your online presence. Ultimately, you have a specific goal in mind when visitors find your little slice of the web, so it’s in your best interest to ensure that the goal is met in each user experience.
But before you build a website, or work with someone to have it built for you, you need to establish a foundation. Planning is a fundamental part to any process, but you may be surprised by how few people follow “I need a website for my company” with “Here’s what I want it to do”. Tight budgets and shortened timelines lead many small businesses to utilize free or inexpensive web templates, and in their frenzy of dragging and dropping information into prescribed text boxes, these business forego essential steps in establishing a website’s efficacy.
So start with a plan. Easy-to-use templates rarely improve bottom lines long-term compared to comprehensive, well-developed sites. Before you work with a developer to build a website, think about the core values of your business and your brand identity. What kind of information do you want to provide visitors and, ultimately, what kind of action would you like for them to take? These are important elements to explore in the R & D phase of your website.
After exploring your business, explore a buyer profile: what kind of clients are you looking to attract? Once you establish this, it will be easy to create a “persona” for your average visitor and develop web content that will be influential to him or her. Think about where they live, shop, dine – developing this kind of client profile will help you better target information to them and provide a more interactive user experience.
One thing businesses frequently overlook is a site map. Outlining the intended user journey in even a rudimentary fashion can go a long way in developing an effective website. How do you anticipate users arriving at your website? What page will they see first and where do you want them to go next? What information do you want them to glean from each page? The answers to these questions provide a relevant map that you can plot with informative content that links one area of your site to another.
Finally, think about your website’s persona. What kind of ambiance do you want to create on the web? Once you discuss your brand values, your web designer will have a better picture of the elements you want to portray. Explore other websites and see what colors and images they use to convey an atmosphere. What works for them and what doesn’t? It’s also beneficial to consider what devices your visitors will be using to browse your site. Will it need to be formatted for mobile devices?
Web development is an ongoing process. As your business’s needs change and those of your customers, so will elements of your design. In many cases, a website is the first element of a business that consumers will interact with; it’s the face of many modern companies. Make sure that yours is constantly fresh and you will provide users with a highly memorable online experience.
