Web design uses images cleverly to brand your business.

Images are important parts of your homepage. To help illustrate your company’s core competitive benefits, both strategies help customers visualise how you can meet their needs and requirements. Most people are visually oriented, so your imagery will quickly convey and emphasise your message. Be consistent with what you are telling your potential prospects.

Align your messaging with your visual strategies. Images are also great ways to eliminate clutter; by adding a visual component to your website, you are alleviating the need for additional reference text. Web design graphics from March 2009 covers these elements in detail.

Use web design to motivate your customers.

You have already heard a little bit about calls to action, but it is such an important strategy that we have also dedicated a specific section to it. Failure to convert online potential customers into sales leads is mostly attributable to homepages that lack primary and secondary calls to action. A call to action can be as simple as a link that states, “Contact us for more information” or “Tell us more about your needs and we will schedule a conference call.” Statistics have proven that effective web design can guide web users along your sales process and you will convert more of them into customers.

Know Your Audience

Most people can clearly state whether they are an introvert or an extrovert; your website should cater to these and other personality types. Develop your website not only for an audience that requires what you can provide, but also for disparate personalities within that audience. Some people prefer to pick up the phone to find out more information about your products or services. Some may prefer to e-mail you instead. Others may want to schedule a meeting. Your website should cater to as many of these personality types as possible, or else you will lose conversions. Make it easy for the web user to contact you . . . using whatever method they choose. More info in our web design tips from August 2005.

Smart web design ensures your homepage makes it easy to find what you need.

You must lay out your website with easy-to-navigate options and buttons. If you are a service-based company, then put an “Company . . . Services” tab on the top navigation bar. If you sell more than one service, then enable a pull-down menu showing options for your customers. Allow them to select the page that they want to research—without having to click first to find out more. Another strategy is to use sidebars to help users navigate as they read your content. You will also need to ensure that your homepage uses an interlinking strategy, so that if web users hit the wrong button, they can easily get back on track and find the information they seek.

Make it easy for a prospect to find out more about your products and/or services. Create a homepage that takes the guesswork out of it by guiding web users through the process, from understanding the message to taking action. Statistics have shown that the more clicks it takes for potential customers to find what they seek, the higher the rate at which they will abandon the website.

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