What Your Website Says About You

If you have to make your business thrive in the digital space, or even otherwise, it is imperative that you back it up with a well-designed professional website. Your business website offers prospective clients a peek into who you are, what you do and how good you are at your job. In short, your website creates precious “first impressions” which can either motivate the visitor to contact you for business or bore them enough to hop over to another website. So, if you are out to create a (positive) digital identity for yourself, here are a few things you should keep in mind.

Content

Picture yourself landing on a website that is full of gibberish, or worse, bad grammar. Would you consider doing business with that individual or company? Likely not. Poor quality content reflects upon the unprofessional attitude of the owner and tells a prospective client that you couldn’t care less. Fix this aspect by drafting relevant, well-written content that is interesting and easy to read. If you aren’t confident about doing it yourself, considering hiring a professional writer for the job. Quality content not only projects your business in a positive light, it also helps you communicate better and build a connection with your clients.

Navigability

Nothing annoys visitors more than a cluttered and unorganized website. If visitors cannot find what they are looking for within the first few seconds, they wouldn’t take the pain of shuffling through pages and links. Make sure you have all the essential elements such as your introduction, services and contact details right there on the landing page. Also, plan the layout of your website such that it is easy to navigate – sorting your content under relevant tabs and pages can help you achieve this. The general guideline is to have separate “about”, “services”, “portfolio” and “contact” pages. In short, a fleeting look at the landing page of the website should tell the visitor what your business is all about.

Design

Going over the top with design is the most common mistake made by website owners. By all means a website should be visually appealing but that does not translate into stuffing it with all design elements that have ever existed. A simple, clean design with the basic elements will be far more effective than a jazzy flash website that takes hours to load. An “over-designed” website is distracting to the eye and takes the attention away from the real content, thus defeating the whole purpose of having a website in the first place.

Brand Identity

Right from the color scheme, to the pictures and fonts, every aspect of your website design should reflect the essence of your business. For example, you could use creative and fun designs if you are an artist or a photographer, and more elegant themes for a lawyer’s or doctor’s website. A professional web developer will be able to advise you on the best design for your needs. You may also want to create a business logo to establish brand identity.

Featured images:

• License: Creative Commons image source
• License: Creative Commons image source
• License: Creative Commons image source
• License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/en/new-internet-open-web-website-tab-38743/

Jenny Wadlow is a part of the team at Motto, which is a graphic design agency. She is an avid blogger and whenever she isn’t busy, she enjoys sketching and practicing her designing skills. You can catch up with her on Twitter @JennyWadlow.

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